[Pathfinder] Houserules where anyone can be a wizard?

[harpy]

This is a campaign twist that I've been toying with for awhile, but haven't gone very deep into the crunch. So I guess it makes sense to see if someone else has done something similar.

The basic idea is to remove the wizard class from the game and instead allow any character that qualifies to be able to cast arcane spells as a wizard.

Magic is just a kind of tool use. It's information and if you put in the time to study it then you can then just use that information.

You'd still need to be smart enough to grasp the information, so the Intelligence qualifications for spells would still be in effect, so if you wanted to be able to cast 3rd level spells, then you'd need to have at least a 13 Int.

You'd need a spellbook to prepare the spells. While I dislike Vancian magic, I don't want to modify things too greatly, just to make the campaign run smoother.

In order to cast spells you need to spend feats. A feat for each spell level is required. Unlike a wizard, you wouldn't get the full compliment of spells per day for a wizard. The idea here is that if everyone can cast spells then the group as a whole would have more spells spread out over the party as a whole. So the number of spells per day would be cut back quite a bit.

Casting in armor would need some overhaul. The idea here is to make it so that everyone can do it, if they are smart enough, so the old legacy issue of balancing out the tank versus the blaster doesn't need to be followed so closely. At the very least the arcane armor training feats would have their prerequisites removed.

The overall goal is that magic is just an inherent property of the world to be manipulated. Just as anyone can pick up a sword and swing it around, likewise anyone who can read and process information can cast spells.

Has anyone tried anything like this?

[Salbazier]

Do you know midnight campaign setting? It have things like that. Everyone can spellcast by spending a feat spellcasting classes is replaced with a Chaneller class that got those spellcasting feat as bonus feats plus ability to cast more spells.

It use spell point system rather than vancian magic though.The potential brokenness is prevented by the setting mostly conquered or having war with a Dark god' Army that hunt every spellcasters mercilessly and MUCH less spell points to spent.

[kestrel404]

If you're going to let anyone cast arcane spells, it makes sense to remove some of the 'autocast' capability - you could also use this to change the 'casting in armor' problems.

I would suggest having to roll a Spellcraft skill check any time you want to cast a spell - and have armor check penalty apply to this roll. The difficulty would be the same as a UMD check for a spell of that level cast off a scroll. Instead of a feat for each spell level (that would basically be an unreasonable feat tax on EVERYONE), I'd say you just need one feat - the continual investment of skill points should cover the 'cost' of keeping current. And you could have minimum skill levels to cast specific spell levels (like bard songs have minimum perform levels). Perhaps 3 ranks for 1st level spells, and 2 additional ranks for each level of spells above that? And a second feat that reduces that by 2 ranks, for someone who wants to progress as though they were a wizard?

As for spells/day, I recommend they only get to memorize 1 spell of each spell level, plus bonus spells as normal. If someone wants to specialize, then they can spend feats for extra spell slots (One feat gets them an extra 1st and 2nd level slot, a feat requiring you to take the first one twice which gives an extra 3rd and 4th level slot, etc.).

Hope that helps.

[Salbazier]

I forgot a bit about spelcasting detail in Midnight, but instead a feat fot every spell level it feat for every school (except universal, which didn't exist, and Evocation and Conjuration got spilt into Lesser and Greater) that could be another alternative.

[Prime32]

Have you considered gestalt (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm)?

Maybe give everyone the adept (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/npcClasses/adept.htm)'s spells per day?

If you go with a spell point system (with SP based on character level) it would prevent the "gain a new level of spells" feats from being too powerful (since they don't increase the number of spells you can use per day).

[Murphy80]

I been thinking about trying something similar, but without Vancian spells/day, more of a Warlock mechanic. If you know a spell, you can cast it at any time.

A summary of my idea;
- 1 spell/feat
- You must know more of the next lower level spell
(to cast a 3rd level spell, you must know 2 2nd and 3 3rd)
- You would need to tweak some spells to account for being able to cast it all the time
(healing only up to 1/2 max hp; charm only 1 person at a time; etc...)



Otherwise I like the Gestalt mechanic.

Do clerics, druids, etc... still exist?

[Jallorn]

Actually, this sounds like it might be a good idea to give everyone gestalt, and on one side of the gestalt it has to be Truenamer. That covers the skill requirement. You might want to ban all 2nd and 1st tier casters though.