Vadskye
2012-08-15, 10:57 AM
Spells take up nearly a third of the player's handbook, but they rarely get direct attention. Everyone likes creating shiny new classes and sweeping changes, but digging into the mechanics of individual spells is more rare. This is probably because spells are a little boring to house rule: there are no grand, elegant designs that can answer simple questions like "Why is Aid/Acid Arrow/Jump/etc. such a useless spell?"
The problem is, many spells are bad - some untakeably so. This, combined with the fact that some spells are too good for their level, means that most casters deal with effective spell lists that are actually very small.
I want to address that. Every useless spell, every nonsensical or poorly worded spell description, deserves to be remedied - either by changing its effect, changing its level, or changing who can access it.
But spells need more than just that. Casters are gods among men in the world of D&D; their utility, their ability to overshadow other classes (particularly the poor rogues), must be corrected. This is part of that effort, and it should be able to stand on its own. Alone, these changes do not fully fix that issue, but it is a step in the right direction. Moreover, I am not simply beating all casters over the head with a giant nerf bat and calling it a day. Casters need to have fun too! They just need to function at a closer level to the rest of the party.
All of these changes should combine to do one thing: Make life easier for players, particularly new ones. Removing the huge power divide between spells of the same level allows new players to choose spells that they like without worrying as much about their power. Reducing the number of spells that a new player has to understand before choosing their spells makes it much easier to level up. Using spell slots instead of memorized spells makes casting easier, with less bookkeeping.
Towards those ends, these are the new spell rules:
Every class has the spells known of a sorcerer of their level. Every class (including sorcerers) has the spells per day of a sorcerer of their level, but with 1 less spell per day at each spell level.
Every spell list was shrunk. Some, like the sorcerer/wizard list, look like someone went at them with a meat cleaver. Others, like the druid list, just got some minor trimming around the hedges.
Every spell list had spell levels shuffled around and some spell descriptions changed. It's hard to summarize, but in general, weak spells got made more powerful or lowered in level, and strong spells had the opposite.
Stacking rules have changed. Every spell gives an enhancement bonus, and bonuses from spells do not stack with each other.
In nearly all cases, bonuses to attack rolls have been replaced with temporary hit points, and penalties to attack rolls have been replaced with penalties to damage or armor class. This is intended to reduce the amount of calculation that needs to happen on-the-fly.
As a side note, the text uses Hit Values instead of Hit Dice. They are essentially the same; the name change is just intended to reflect that hit points are not rolled in my system.
Some classes need particular attention to explain.
Sorcerers and wizards:
There is a "specialist list" of spells for specialist wizards. Unless you are a specialist wizard, you can only choose spells from the general list of arcane spells. Specialist wizards automatically add all specialist spells from their school of specialization to their spell list. At odd levels (starting at 3rd level), specialist wizards gain an additional spell known. That spell must be taken from their school of specialization. Specialist wizards do not have an extra spell per day relative to generalist wizards.
At odd levels (starting at 3rd level), sorcerers and generalist wizards may add a single spell from the list of specialist-only spells to their spell list, allowing them to take it as a spell known and use items based on that spell. Generalist wizards must have a scroll (or spellbook) of the appropriate spell to gain it in this way; sorcerers do not.
For all arcane casters, the spell they choose at their odd level must be of a level no higher than half their class level. The "every odd level" features for arcane casters are based on class level, so taking a magical prestige class now actually comes at a cost.
To reduce the problem of the 5-minute adventuring day and make the slog for the first three levels more palatable, sorcerers and wizards have an "Magic ray" at-will spell-like ability identical to an eldritch blast.
All non-core spells are specialist-only.
Other casters:
Clerics automatically add all spells from their two domains to their spell list. At each spell level, they must choose two spells known (in any combination) from their domains before they gain access to the general cleric list.
Bards and druids have no special spell acquisition rules. Their lists are already specialized.
All non-core spells are added to the general lists for druids and bards. I'm still deciding what to do with non-core cleric spells.
Having said all that, you can see the revised spell information here (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9786645/Revised%20Spells.pdf).
Credit goes to Lanaya for ideas on choosing spells for the cleric domains. Credit also goes to Rogue Shadows, RobbyPants, and Pathfinder for some of the spell fixes that I used.
The problem is, many spells are bad - some untakeably so. This, combined with the fact that some spells are too good for their level, means that most casters deal with effective spell lists that are actually very small.
I want to address that. Every useless spell, every nonsensical or poorly worded spell description, deserves to be remedied - either by changing its effect, changing its level, or changing who can access it.
But spells need more than just that. Casters are gods among men in the world of D&D; their utility, their ability to overshadow other classes (particularly the poor rogues), must be corrected. This is part of that effort, and it should be able to stand on its own. Alone, these changes do not fully fix that issue, but it is a step in the right direction. Moreover, I am not simply beating all casters over the head with a giant nerf bat and calling it a day. Casters need to have fun too! They just need to function at a closer level to the rest of the party.
All of these changes should combine to do one thing: Make life easier for players, particularly new ones. Removing the huge power divide between spells of the same level allows new players to choose spells that they like without worrying as much about their power. Reducing the number of spells that a new player has to understand before choosing their spells makes it much easier to level up. Using spell slots instead of memorized spells makes casting easier, with less bookkeeping.
Towards those ends, these are the new spell rules:
Every class has the spells known of a sorcerer of their level. Every class (including sorcerers) has the spells per day of a sorcerer of their level, but with 1 less spell per day at each spell level.
Every spell list was shrunk. Some, like the sorcerer/wizard list, look like someone went at them with a meat cleaver. Others, like the druid list, just got some minor trimming around the hedges.
Every spell list had spell levels shuffled around and some spell descriptions changed. It's hard to summarize, but in general, weak spells got made more powerful or lowered in level, and strong spells had the opposite.
Stacking rules have changed. Every spell gives an enhancement bonus, and bonuses from spells do not stack with each other.
In nearly all cases, bonuses to attack rolls have been replaced with temporary hit points, and penalties to attack rolls have been replaced with penalties to damage or armor class. This is intended to reduce the amount of calculation that needs to happen on-the-fly.
As a side note, the text uses Hit Values instead of Hit Dice. They are essentially the same; the name change is just intended to reflect that hit points are not rolled in my system.
Some classes need particular attention to explain.
Sorcerers and wizards:
There is a "specialist list" of spells for specialist wizards. Unless you are a specialist wizard, you can only choose spells from the general list of arcane spells. Specialist wizards automatically add all specialist spells from their school of specialization to their spell list. At odd levels (starting at 3rd level), specialist wizards gain an additional spell known. That spell must be taken from their school of specialization. Specialist wizards do not have an extra spell per day relative to generalist wizards.
At odd levels (starting at 3rd level), sorcerers and generalist wizards may add a single spell from the list of specialist-only spells to their spell list, allowing them to take it as a spell known and use items based on that spell. Generalist wizards must have a scroll (or spellbook) of the appropriate spell to gain it in this way; sorcerers do not.
For all arcane casters, the spell they choose at their odd level must be of a level no higher than half their class level. The "every odd level" features for arcane casters are based on class level, so taking a magical prestige class now actually comes at a cost.
To reduce the problem of the 5-minute adventuring day and make the slog for the first three levels more palatable, sorcerers and wizards have an "Magic ray" at-will spell-like ability identical to an eldritch blast.
All non-core spells are specialist-only.
Other casters:
Clerics automatically add all spells from their two domains to their spell list. At each spell level, they must choose two spells known (in any combination) from their domains before they gain access to the general cleric list.
Bards and druids have no special spell acquisition rules. Their lists are already specialized.
All non-core spells are added to the general lists for druids and bards. I'm still deciding what to do with non-core cleric spells.
Having said all that, you can see the revised spell information here (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9786645/Revised%20Spells.pdf).
Credit goes to Lanaya for ideas on choosing spells for the cleric domains. Credit also goes to Rogue Shadows, RobbyPants, and Pathfinder for some of the spell fixes that I used.