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Theodoxus
2010-08-30, 04:22 PM
My last session, I had a player get confused about spells, thinking he could cast and attack as part of an iterative attack. (He had wanted to cast mage armor and then swing at the bad guy in front of him.) I'm using gestalt rules, so he has a good BAB (in fact, he mentioned he wouldn't have chosen Fighter as his passive if he'd known the iterative rules didn't work as he thought), and I'm using the Spell Point variant, so typically lower levels spells are used much more often than in a typical Vancian setting.

Well, I gave his mistake some thought, and I've come up with a rather simple (in my opinion) way to give casters iterative spell attacks without them becoming incredibly overpowered:


Any spell caster can cast a spell as part of an iterative attack instead of making a full attack action with a weapon. The highest level spell you can cast is determined by your BAB. Casting in melee range still provokes an attack of opportunity, though you can cast defensively as part of an iterative cast sequence. You don't have to use the spell level indicated, it can be lower.

Here is the following spell levels based on BAB

Poor BAB (iterative = spell level)
6/1 = 1
7/2 = 2
8/3 = 3
9/4 = 4
10/5 =5

Medium BAB (iterative = (spell level / 2), rounded up)
6/1 = 1
7/2 = 1
8/3 =2
9/4 = 2
10/5 = 3
11/6/1 = 3/1 (you can cast one 3rd level (or lower) spell and one first level as part of your iterative sequence).
12/7/2 = 4/1
13/8/3 = 4/2
14/9/4 = 5/2
15/10/5 = 5/3

Full BAB (iterative = (spell level / 3), rounded up)
6/1 = 1
7/2 = 1
8/3 = 1
9/4 = 2
10/5 = 2
11/6/1 = 2/1
12/7/2 = 3/1
13/8/3 = 3/1
14/9/4 = 3/2
15/10/5 = 4/2
16/11/6/1 = 4/2/1
17/12/7/2 = 4/3/1
18/13/8/3 = 5/3/1
19/14/9/4 = 5/3/2
20/15/10/5 = 5/4/2

Milskidasith
2010-08-30, 04:25 PM
No need to give casters more power. Also, it doesn't make sense to have a different table for each BAB list; it should just be based on your BAB, period, if you do this (10 BAB from 20 levels in a poor BAB class or 10 levels in a good BAB class should both get you the same spell levels).

Temotei
2010-08-30, 04:28 PM
give casters iterative spell attacks without them becoming incredibly overpowered:


without them becoming incredibly overpowered:


incredibly overpowered:

Ha. :smallamused:

Aran Banks
2010-08-30, 04:40 PM
euhh... if it's like a 17th-level wizard casting a 4th level, 2nd level, and then a 1st level spell... I guess that's OK. If it's a 17th-level wizard casting a 9th level, 7th level, and then 5th level spell... that's not OK.

lightningcat
2010-08-30, 08:33 PM
Normally I'd say no way, it would be beyond broken. But since you're using gastalt (which is already beyond broken), I'd let him cast spells that require an attack roll as iterative attacks.
Just my 2 cp.

EDIT: Yes, I know gastalt works for some people, and it may be fun, but still...