Changing magic and spell durations...

[ZiggZagg]

So I home brewed up a new system for spellcasting in my campaign. Basically, the spellcasters are able to cast spells all day long. They never run out. Now, to mitigate one issue with this, do you think it would be a problem to nerf all the durations down to round/level? Such as mage armor, shield, etc? I'm thinking of doing it this way and then letting potions and scrolls still use the old durations, and justify it that is is part of the alchemical/scribing process that allows the spells to last longer. Do you think this is going to far for a new system?

[Dr.Epic]

All day? Because casters aren't broken enough?:smallconfused:

[Tvtyrant]

If by going too far you mean doesn't take balance into account at all, then yes. It would be a better plan to find a few of the weaker spells (scorching ray) and let them shoot that all day. Otherwise you get them spamming SoD or SoS spells till the enemy fails a save.

[Cog]

Yeah, I really don't see this working out.

You might want to look at the Recharge Magic (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/rechargeMagic.htm) variant. Even that version is considered a step up from normal casting.

[ZiggZagg]

Ok, maybe I worded that wrong. The system is already written and in use that allows them to cast all day long. It doesn't work off recharge magic. It works off of a dice pool system that doesn't guarantee they are going to cast the spell and stuff. To look at it, just check out the link in my signature.

What I'm looking for advice on is do you think if using a system that caster's can cast all day if it would be uncalled for to change all durations to 1 round/ level. It would help keep them from renewing their spells every 5 minutes or so, and would make feats like Persistent Spell viable. Or do you think it would be uncalled for to nerf all the durations of ongoing spells like that, even if they never run out of them?

As for the balance of the system, it has actually gone a long way to knocking casters down a few notches. It's much harder for them to go nova and shoot more than 2 spells a round, and if they decide to cast a lot of spells enhanced by metamagic, it becomes much more difficult to even manage to cast the spell...but I digress. I didn't mean this thread to be a discussion of the system. Although, if you would like, I can make a separate thread for it LoL

[Cyrion]

Sounds like you've taken the idea behind the warlock and given it infinite versatility. I think you'd do much better by starting with the warlock and carefully expanding their versatility by adding a few extra spells as possible invocations.

Your current plan is going to result in an entirely wizard-focused campaign because every other class is now irrelevant. For example, what value in being a rogue when the wizard actually can cast knock on every single lock, hide perfectly with invisibility, climb flawlessly with spider climb, etc.?

[ZiggZagg]

Well, if the durations were nerfed, they wouldn't last long enough to completely sidetrack an adventure.

As for hiding perfectly and always casting their spells, a counter spell system that actually works has been implemented with the new spellcasting system. Therefore, it can be harder for spellcasters to control the battlefield.

[Tvtyrant]

Its good for in combat, sure, but they can stand there and attempt to cast knock till it works. Same with healing spells, teleport, etc. It nerfs combat, but it makes them much stronger out of combat; why would you play anything but one of these or a charger?

[Cyrion]

Even if it doesn't sidetrack the adventure, it escalates every encounter into rocket tag. Any creature not buffed to the gills with spells or SLAs becomes irrelevant after the party gets 3rd level spells at the latest, and the whole affair becomes an issue of who can't make four (assuming the "standard" party size) consecutive saves in a round.

[ZiggZagg]

People would play something else because we don't play it as a game of numbers and enjoy the idea of a character rather than a character sheet.

Yes, the encounters can get to be lethal as powerful spells can be launched a lot, but like I said, there is a very effective counter spell system in place, and if you run out of dice in battle too fast, you can't cast spells until you recover enough "energy" to cast again.

Teleport was removed from the campaign, the way healing works has been changed to have degrading effects from infusing a body with too much unnatural energy, and anything that causes instant death, negative levels, or has the evil descriptor has the possibility of tainting a character.

So now that the concerns with the system have been addressed again, what is everyone's thoughts on changing durations of ongoing spells all down to 1round/level? :smallbiggrin:

[Cyrion]

Honestly, it seems pretty irrelevant. Most spells are either rounds/level or seconds/level. Mage armor has little effect on your thumpers and is only really useful to the mages and the very lightly armored. People usually use magic vestment to boost armor class for the people getting into heavy combat, and that spell scales slowly, so it's disposable if it's not convenient. Same goes for magic weapon, especially since there's no need for anything over a +1 in 3.5 in most situations. Unless you're nerfing feats, you're still going to persist spell as a work around for the absolute "must have" spells for duration.

[ZiggZagg]

I know mage armor is only useful to the mages. That is why I was asking...you know what, never mind. It's fine. I have the information I wanted, I guess. Thanks everyone.

[ZiggZagg]

By the way, made a thread to actually fully discuss the magic system being used, since it turned into the topic of this thread anyway. Cheers!

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11023831#post11023831