I have been throwing around this idea for a little while in my head, and would like some help from those with more experience than me to tell me if it is bad. Basically I want to play a wizard, but he cannot cast standard spells. Instead, whatever spells he has prepared can be tied to an object with something like a rune. There would be things like weapon enchanting, but then you would also have the ability to tie fireball to a pebble before throwing said pebble as a fire bomb. Not sure how to work it out, so any help is appreciated. Also, if this is already a thing I am sorry, did not see it anywhere in my looking.
Fluff wise, you can make up whatever you want among:
extra prelude <---> the standard action happens here <---> extra fluff <---> the standard result happen here <---> extra postlude
etc
Crunch?
Artificer
some of the spells do this already
Rituals have plenty of greyzone as to whats going on in the 10 minutes, so they have extra Fluff built in
partially Gish your build with say Non-Caster 6 / Caster 14, and eat the more problematic stuff for your concept
mini-refluff on M and S components
larger but still mini-refluff on Arcane Focus('s)
cheap "expensive" material components
Ultimately you're going to run into a Concept vs. not big enough ruleset quite yet, problem.
If this doesn't both you or your homegame, you're fine. Go for it.
There is a beta version of the artificier here: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-eberron
But it has already been announced that a much different version is in the works, so take it with a grain of salt.
Thanks for the help both of you. Is there by any chance there is a glossary for player made terminology? I can figure out most of golem's post from context clues, but I would like to be one hundred percent sure I understand, as well as being able to understand anything I read later.
Ahh well my kitty avatar's Tail charges double for translation services (wink).
You certainly could use a Rune as:
a) ... improvised weapon
b) ... arcane focus
c) ... alternative scroll equivalent
d) ... alternative page of a "spellbook"
e) ... alternative material component
f) ... any or all of the above
So let's say you have a Sleep Rune.
You draw the rune.
You wave it around (somatic component)
brandishing it (material component)
whispering sweet nothings toward the target (verbal component)
dm rolls result
bad guy's buddy tries to punch you in the nose (opportunity attack)
so you punch "buddy" in the nose with the rune (uhh d4 minus 1 damage roll)
you shove the Rune into your pouch
dance of the grave(s) of the bad guy party for 8 hours
draw the rune
stare at it like it's a super secret of Thor
good to go for another pass through the loop
See the Artificer in my sig (PDF here (includes Eberron races), thread to discuss it here). It's my take on the same idea; "runes" as you describe them are one way of visualizing what I call "arcane devices" (I use a generic name because the same rules also work for scrolls, clockwork gizmos, alchemical infusions, or any number of possible devices you can imagine. That's more than I can imagine, so I leave it to the player.) However, it more or less does exactly what you were looking for.
Alternatively, you can just change the description of what you're doing as a wizard, while following the wizard rules entirely. This is actually my preferred solution - my first advice to any would-be class writer is "do you need to make a new class?" - but I had the artificer handy already, so...
Lanliss wrote:
Changing the fluff or flavor of all of your spells would definitely be the easiest. It's something a lot of people do anyways, because seeing the same fireball a million times over is boring. So maybe your Necromancer summons a green flaming skull and it shoots toward the enemies and erupts in a shriek and conflagration of green flame, then a sinister laugh reverberates through the area. Did that change anything? Nope, but it's a lot more bad ass than saying, "I cast fireball."
My Gnome Warlock has a big bag of gizmos that he uses to activate his spells/invocations. Want to cast detect magic as a ritual? He pulls out his tools and fiddles with these goggles, muttering to himself in some weird language the whole time. His bag is just a component pouch, any component that doesn't involve a gp cost is represented by what he pulls out the bag.
a D M (-g) and Tempest Storm (-wind)
. . ebony . . . . . . . . . . . . . ivory
live together in perfect harmony
side by side Il Piano In-fer-i-ore , why don't we?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . on . . . . . . . . keyboard oh lord
Sounds like you could use the spell points option in the DMG, use the spell points to imbue objects with the spell/property you want. Then you no longer have any spell components needed, just the object. The big question is so you want short rest powers, long rest powers or a combination of the two. Maybe the "normal" spell points are on long rest, then class abilites that let you put/charge runes on weapon or armor as short rest?