Post/Author/DateTime	Post
AriesOmega 02-11-05, 10:04 AM	Okay....I posted this on a different board and told to move it. So here goes. I plan on using a spell point system similar to the one in US, but I want to use it in such a way that Sorcerers and Wizards are different somehow. As is I give Sorcerers Eschew Material Components to represent how magic is natural to them. I mean sorcers's biggest advantage is that they can cast spells more often then a wizard. The Wizards advantage is they have more spells to chose from. What do you all think? Also I like the idea that magic can make you tired. The channeling option. I think it may be to harsh as it's presented in UA though. Any thoughts on using one or both of these systems? Aries
Ra-Tiel 02-11-05, 02:05 PM	Hello AriesOmega. I've read your post in the "DM rules" board. I can only recommend the spell points system presented in Unearthed Arcana. If you come up with some homebrew system and one player goes for a psionic character either the psion/wilder/psychic warrior is screwed or are the arcane/divine casters. My current Eberron group has just in the last session changed from spell slots to UA's spell point system. The first thing we noticed: the wizard didn't just fireball everything! :D He had to really decide if he wanted to throw some serious damage around or if he saved his spell points for a repair serious damage for my warforged fighter/paladin. The casters must really be played smart because they are quite reduced in spellcasting stamina. The wizard's player is not that amused by it because he's a great fan of "Ars Magica" where mages are SUPERIOR AND CREAM EVERYTHING EVEN IN MELEE AND ARE IMMUNE TO THIS AND THAT AND EVERYTHING! Argh...I'm get headaches from even thinking about "Ars Magica" (blaeh!). But back on topic: if you want do give your players something to worry about besides running low on spell points, why not just add some non-lethal damage? Something like: for each spell make a Will Save DC 10 + 3*spell-level. If they succeed they get 1 point of non-lethal damage per spell-level. If they fail, they get 1d4 points of non-lethal damage per spell-level. If they fail by 5 or more half of the damage is lethal (from magical feedback blasting your braincells or so; like the magic drain in Shadowrun). That would encourage them to really weight the pros and cons of using magic right now seriously and not just walk "[spell-] trigger-happy" through your campaign. As far it goes making sorcerers/bards different from wizards... hmm... perhaps you could give the spontaneous casters (and only them!) some kind of "damage reduction" against the non-lethal damage from the non-lethal feedback I've mentioned? Like 1/5 casterlevel. So that your level 1 sorcerer has never to worry about a magic missile while for wizards playing with magical energies would still be risky. And at level 20 your sorcerer would be better off even if he failed his save because 9d4-5 is less damage than just 9d4. Please tell my your opinion on my suggestions, I'd really like to her it. Some people on this boards suggest multiplying the base number of spellpoints a character has at a given level with 1.3. But that's the roof as far as you ask me. Eg a psion will ever know no more than 36 powers, 42 if he chooses additional powers by spending feats on them. Our FR wizard is now level 7 and has almost that number of spells known. With spellpoints wizards and clerics get just insanely versatile and the sorcerers/bards/favored souls get just handed their brains by them. The psion is meant as the ultimum considering flexibility in the d20 system, so you'd be adviced to take care that the wizard doesn't intrude in that territory. A very good suggestion I've read somewhere either in the Psionics board or in the House Rules board (can't recall which one it was) is that all casters who normally must prepare with spell slots must now prepare with spell points. So if your level 6 wizard has 27 spell points he could prepare 27 magic missiles (at casterlevel 1), or 9 scorching rays (at casterlevel 3), or 5 fireballs (at casterlevel 5) and 2 magic missiles (at casterlevel 1), or... I guess you got the idea. With this method casters are still much more versatile and flexible as with standard spell slots and you avoid giving effectively spontaneous casting to wizards and clerics. As always: Just my :twocents: _Ra-Tiel. ______ P.S.: If you've read my signature you will notice that my beloved warforged in Eberron is no more. That wasn't the wizard's fault or due to our change in the casting system, but bad dice luck. A critical hit from a minotaur zombie did a whopping 59 points of damage to my character. Because I still carried damage from an earlier fight, I was down to 40 of 63 hit points when we met the zombie. My nameless mithril clad warforged was down to -19 instantly. Yet a reason for also considering the "Death and Dying" variant rule from the UA. In that variant your hitpoints cannot go below 0, but instead you have to make Fort Saves to calculate your condition. With that system my fighter/paladin could have survived. I can only warn you: do not pit a mino-zombie against your 3 member level 6 party! "3d6+7 (20/x3)" ain't funny! ;)