Post/Author/DateTime	Post
LorienSilverbow 06-03-07, 10:42 AM	Hi all, just a question: in Unearthed Arcana, pag 155, "Casting spell" (with mana system) it says that spells that deal a number of dice of damage based on CL deal damage as if cast by a character of the minimum level of the class capable of casting the spell (and then it is "upgradable" with 1 mana/1 CL) My question is, why this rule inflences only spells which deal damage, and not all spell? For example, why an Invisibility spell casted by a 10 level mage lasts 10 minutes, and not 3 minutes and then it is "upgradable" with 1 mana/1 CL as damaging spells do? Forgive me if this is a silly question...:confused:
Naderion 06-04-07, 06:36 AM	The idea behind it probably is, that damage dealing spells are much more powerfull, if you can cast them much more often per day, than other spells are. But there are a lot of equally powerfull or even more powerfull spells, where damage is not depending on caster level, so it's probably the best idea to drop this rule and have all spells cost only the minimum cost and still calculate damage with full caster level.
LorienSilverbow 06-04-07, 07:24 AM	Thanks for your answer. By the way, if we drop this rule, a 10 level mage will never use cone of cold instead of fireball (10d6 for both, 5 mana for the first, 9 for the second), except in case of immunity or weakness... Someone has got a way to rebalance this rule? EDIT=> Another problem of this rule is that, if a 10 level mage would like to cast a 10d6 fireball must expend 5+5 mana, so he can't use more mana to apply some metamagic effect... In the normal rules a 10 level mage could have enhanced a 3rd level spell till it became a 5th level spell...
RobbyPants 06-04-07, 01:57 PM	You have two limiting factors with UA's spell point system and direct damage spells: You can't spend more SP than your level. You can't spend more SP than the damage cap of the spell (10d6 for a fireball, 15d6 for a cone of cold, etc...) A lot of people want to take out the "augmenting" entirely from the system. This is easy to understand. Direct damage really isn't that powerful (as you have to overcome saving throws, spell resistance, and energy resistance and immunity). Often, save-or-die spells are much better (and cheaper with this system). It might seem broken to be able to cast a 9d6 fireball for 5 SP at 9th level, and a 9d6 cone of cold for 9 SP, but remember that this is really only an issue for two levels. After 10th level, the cone of cold will begin dealing more damage. Not to mention its saving throw DC is 2 points higher. Not that you necessarily care, but I did come up with my own varient spell point system (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=850433), that takes that into account. There is no extra cost for direct damage spells. Without going into much detail here, the idea is to give out fewer SP at one time (preventing casters from going nova), but allowing them to refill quicker. This results in more of a per-encounter SP total as opposed to a per-day total. Also, I worked in a fatigue and exhuastion mechanic for overcasting.