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Feeb 11-21-05, 10:30 PM

First and foremost, I want to apologize if this idea has alread been posted on, commented about, dissected, published or otherwise communicated. I have a sinking feeling that I've taken this idea, rather wholesale, from another source, but cannot identify that source to save my life (a push in the right direction would be appreciated, I based the idea in part off of feats found in Complete Arcane but think there might be other material out there that covers the same idea.) Anyways, I'm toying around with the concept of a low-magic campaign and am looking for some feedback. The principle idea is that the "pure" caster classes (Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard) won't exist in the campaign world. Hybrid casters (Bard, Druid, Paladin, Ranger) do exist, but are completely stripped of caster abilities, i.e the ability to prepare, memorize or otherwise cast spells as a class ability. All other abilies of the aforementioned classes remain (so the Bard can still fascinate, Druid still gets Wild Shape, just no spell casting or progression.) I’m not getting rid of magic entirely, however. Rather, you can take feats that grant the ability to cast a few spells once per day as a spell-like ability. There will be an entire feat chain and by progressing through the chain, you can either improve the spells you have, increase the number of times per day the spells can be cast or increase the number of spells you can cast. I'm planning on allowing spells to be selected from the Cleric, Domains and Wizard/Sorcerer lists in PHB 3.5 The goal is to have players develop a theme to their character in terms of the magic that character weilds. So perhaps there's a barbarian character who takes the feat a couple of times to develop a limit repetoire of [cold] type spells. A note on Prestige classes: You can still pretty much qualify for prestige classes that require divine or arcane spells, it will just require a bit of feat investment. There are essentially two kinds of caster prestige classes. PrC’s either have their own, unique spell lists and progressions (Assassin) or increase the caster level/progression of your character’s existing caster class(es.) In the former case, I will leave things as is, the latter case is a bit more complicated. I figure the simplest way to resolve the second kind of PrC is to have the character progress as if they had gain a level of Sorcerer, in terms of spells they can cast per day only. So if Rrothgar has taken a feat that allows him to cast mage hand 1/day, and he takes three levels of Eldritch Knight, he gains however many spontaneous castings a 2nd level Sorcerer has. He can only cast spells he knows, but doesn’t have to prepare them. All other rules from the “Spell Feat” apply. Here’s the previously mentioned feat chain: Least Spell Feat [GENERAL] Benefit: You can cast one 1st level spell and two 2nd level spells of your choosing once per day as a spell-like ability. The spells you select are permanent and cannot be exchanged for other spells. You may only take this feat once. All numeric effects of these spells are calculated as if cast by a first level caster. Special: Designate on skill as being tied to this feat. You can take a full round action to increase the caster level of your spell. Make a skill check using the associated skill; every five points above 10 increases the effective caster level of the spell by one. This action provokes an Attack of Opportunity from nearby enemies. You may not take 10 or 20 on this skill check. Lesser Spell Feat [GENERAL] Prerequisites: 3rd level, Least Spell Feat Benefit: You can cast one 2nd level spell or two 1st level spells of your choosing once per day as a spell-like ability. The spells you select are permanent and cannot be exchanged for other spells. You may only take this feat once. All numeric effects of these spells are calculated as if cast by a first level caster. You may select spells you have already selected with a previous Spell Feat. Special: Designate on skill as being tied to this feat. You can take a full round action to increase the caster level of your spell and then cast that spell. Make a skill check using the associated skill, every five points above 10 increases the effective caster level of the spell by one. This action provokes an Attack of Opportunity from nearby enemies. You may not take 10 or 20 on this skill check. Special: If you select as spell you already know, you can either increase the caster level of that spell by one or cast that spell one additional time per day. This selection cannot be altered by any means. You may choose this option more than once and the effects stack. You cannot increase the caster level beyond the maximum caster level indicated in the spells description. Example: Rrothgar, having previously taken the Least Spell Feat, can cast chill touch 1/day. Upon attaining third level, he takes the Lesser spell feat. Rrothgar takes chill touch twice more. He chooses to increase his caster level for chill touch by 1 and to increase the amount of time he can cast chill touch to 2/day. Spell Feat [GENERAL] Prerequisites: 6th level, Lesser Spell Feat Benefit: You can cast one 3rd level spell, or three 1st level spells, or any combination of three spell levels of your choosing once per day as a spell-like ability. The spells you select are permanent and cannot be exchanged for other spells. You may only take this feat once. All numeric effects of these spells are calculated as if cast by a first level caster. You may select spells you have already selected with a previous Spell Feat. Special: Designate on skill as being tied to this feat. You can take a full round action to increase the caster level of your spell and then cast that spell. Make a skill check using the associated skill; every five points above 10 increases the effective caster level of the spell by one. This action provokes an Attack of Opportunity from nearby enemies. You may not take 10 or 20 on this skill check. Special: If you select as spell you already know, you can either increase the caster level of that spell by one or cast that spell one additional time per day. This selection cannot be altered by any means. You may choose this option more than once and the effects stack. You cannot increase the caster level beyond the maximum caster level indicated in the spells description. And so on. I figure I can adjust the level or magic (low vs high) in the campaign world by setting at what level the feats become available and by setting how many additional spell levels are gained over the prequisite feat. Feedback/comments appreciated!