Deepbluediver
2013-05-01, 12:50 PM
If you want more of an intro/explanation, read the spoiler'ed part. Otherwise skip straight to the rules.
I've been thinking a lot about simplicity in game design lately. Normally I'm the kind of person who would rather see something done right than done quick (my Monk fix runs about 15 pages), but I can appreciate the value in not needing to print a cheat-charts on poster board or stop to reference a binder full of notes every 30 seconds during gameplay.
This was mostly brought on by reading Grod_the_Giant's thread about simple tweaks for a whole pile of base classes, and how he converted several of the full casters from prepared to spontaneous for (I assume) the sake of reducing bookkeeping and increasing ease of use.
On a whim, I took a look at the Sorcerer's spells-known table, and found it to be completely lacking in any rhyme or reason.
I'm one of those weird people who likes to play around with charts, so here is a visual depiction of how many new spells a sorcerer gets at each level:
Level|New Spells
1st|
6
2nd|
1
3rd|
1
4th|
2
5th|
2
6th|
2
7th|
3
8th|
2
9th|
3
10th|
2
11th|
3
12th|
1
13th|
3
14th|
1
15th|
3
16th|
1
17th|
2
18th|
1
19th|
2
20th|
1
You gain new spells the fastest between levels 7 and 11, for no aparent reason, tapering off significantly as you go up in level. :smallconfused:
Many of the spells/day charts or progression of spells know for other casting classes seem similarly arbitrary.
I started to wonder if there wasn't some way we could make the spells known and spells/day for all casters more regulated, so that you could learn one basic set of rules and not need to consult seperate tables for every other class. Of course, for the sake of flavor or mechancis we can have small exceptions, but they should be things that can be explained in a sentence or two. At it's core, we should have one, unified, easily indentifiable mechanic.
Also, on a tangential topic, I've never disliked the vanacian casting system. It seems a little illogical, yes, but I filed that sort of thing under "It's just how the game works; deal with it". And I'm not in fan of converting all magic into a psionic-power points system; I think the two different styles make a nice contrast. But I wouldn't mind tweaking it to alter some of the more...counter-intuitive aspects.
Primary Casters- Prepared Casting
All prepared primary casters (classes that get access to 9th level spells) use the following spells/day chart to determine how many spells they can cast each day.
Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
2nd|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
3rd|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
4th|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
5th|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—
6th|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—
7th|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—
8th|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—
9th|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—
10th|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—
11th|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—
12th|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—
13th|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—
14th|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—
15th|6|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—
16th|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—
17th|6|6|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1
18th|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2
19th|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|4|3|2
20th|7|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3
Learning new spells- Casters of this type begin play knowing three 1st level spells, and five 0th level spells. They learn 2 new spells at every level, of any level they can cast.
Preparing & Casting- Casters of this type spend 1 hour each day (in study, prayer, meditation...whatever) to prepare which spells they plan to cast that day. For the highest level of spells they can cast they can prepare 1 spell, plus 1 additional spell for every +4 bonus from their primary casting stat. For every other spell level, they can prepare 2 spells, plus 1 additional spell for every +3 bonus from their primary casting stat.
They can then cast any spell they have prepared that day, so long as they have not used up their available spell-slots of that level. They cannot prepare a spell at any level other than it's own, unless you are applying metamagic, in which case it counts as a different spell at a different level.
For example: rather than a Wizard preparing 3 copies of [I]Burning Hands, and 1 copy each of Magic Missle and Feather Fall, he just prepares those three spells and casts whichever he wants, as needed.
Edit: Since first posting, it has been pointed out to me that Spirit Shamans already use a system nearly identical to this one. I have never played a Spirit Shaman before, but I'm glad that this sort of thing has precedent in-game. It should make it easier to gain acceptance for anyone who wants to present this system as an option to their group.
Primary Casters- Spontaneous Casting
All spontaneous primary casters use the following spells/day chart to determine how many spells they can cast each day.
Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|4|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
2nd|5|3|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
3rd|5|4|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
4th|6|5|3|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
5th|6|5|4|2|—|—|—|—|—|—
6th|7|6|5|3|—|—|—|—|—|—
7th|7|6|5|4|2|—|—|—|—|—
8th|8|7|6|5|3|—|—|—|—|—
9th|8|7|6|5|4|2|—|—|—|—
10th|8|8|7|6|5|3|—|—|—|—
11th|9|8|7|6|5|4|2|—|—|—
12th|9|8|8|7|6|5|3|—|—|—
13th|9|9|8|7|6|5|4|2|—|—
14th|10|9|8|8|7|6|5|3|—|—
15th|10|9|9|8|7|6|5|4|2|—
16th|10|10|9|8|8|7|6|5|3|—
17th|11|10|9|9|8|7|6|5|4|2
18th|11|10|10|9|8|8|7|6|5|3
19th|11|11|10|9|9|8|7|6|5|4
20th|11|11|10|10|9|8|8|7|6|5
Learning new spells- Casters of this type begin play knowing two 1st level spells, and four 0th level spells. They learn 2 new spells at every level after first. 1 spell must be of the highest level spell they can cast, and the second must be of any other level.
Casting- Caster of this type can cast any spells they know at any time, provided they have not used up all their daily spell slots of that level. They can apply metamagic to a spell at any time, making it act as a spell of it's modified level.
Summary
So basically, prepared casting gets bit more like spontaneous, to help reduce the accounting necessary to use it, and in exchange spontaneous casting isn't penalized for metamagic and is no longer 1 level behind.
The tables follow (IMO) a fairly basic pattern, so it can be expanded into epic play or even just to give casters 10th level spell slots (if you want) without needing a whole 'nother chart.
Alternatively, if you think casters now have too many spells, feel free to reshuffle things downward or reapply a cap.
Individual Class Rules
Wizard-Prepared Caster: Wizard can cast any spell from their spellbook at any time that does not consume a spell slot, except that it takes 10 minutes per spell level (5 minutes for a level 0 spell), or the spell's normal casting time, whichever is greater. [This was Grod's idea, and at first I was a bit wary, but eventually I warmed up to it. It changes the fluff to be that limit isn't on how much magic a wizard can use each day, but on how much he can keep "locked and loaded" at any one time]
Sorcerer-Spontaneous Caster: no special rules at this time
Cleric-Prepared Caster: Unlike other prepared casters, Clerics begin play knowing all spells of their deities' domains. They learn 1 spell from the clerics spell list at evey level (including first). [Again, this was Grod's idea, and this one I liked from the start because it makes the selection of diety much more meaningful]
Druid-Spontaneous Caster: no special rules at this time
Wu Jen-Prepared Caster: WIP
Shugenja-Spontaneous Caster: Learns only one spell from his spell list at every level instead of two. The Shugenja learns an order spell at every odd level and at every even level he learns a spell of his favored element.
Favored Soul-Spontaneous Caster: WIP
Spirit Shaman-Prepared Caster: no special rules at this time
+anything else I haven't had the chance to look into closely yet
Partial and half casters are in the next post. Feel free to offer whatever criticisms you wish, or ask for further explanation if it is still confusing. If any of it is confusing, let me know.
I've been thinking a lot about simplicity in game design lately. Normally I'm the kind of person who would rather see something done right than done quick (my Monk fix runs about 15 pages), but I can appreciate the value in not needing to print a cheat-charts on poster board or stop to reference a binder full of notes every 30 seconds during gameplay.
This was mostly brought on by reading Grod_the_Giant's thread about simple tweaks for a whole pile of base classes, and how he converted several of the full casters from prepared to spontaneous for (I assume) the sake of reducing bookkeeping and increasing ease of use.
On a whim, I took a look at the Sorcerer's spells-known table, and found it to be completely lacking in any rhyme or reason.
I'm one of those weird people who likes to play around with charts, so here is a visual depiction of how many new spells a sorcerer gets at each level:
Level|New Spells
1st|
6
2nd|
1
3rd|
1
4th|
2
5th|
2
6th|
2
7th|
3
8th|
2
9th|
3
10th|
2
11th|
3
12th|
1
13th|
3
14th|
1
15th|
3
16th|
1
17th|
2
18th|
1
19th|
2
20th|
1
You gain new spells the fastest between levels 7 and 11, for no aparent reason, tapering off significantly as you go up in level. :smallconfused:
Many of the spells/day charts or progression of spells know for other casting classes seem similarly arbitrary.
I started to wonder if there wasn't some way we could make the spells known and spells/day for all casters more regulated, so that you could learn one basic set of rules and not need to consult seperate tables for every other class. Of course, for the sake of flavor or mechancis we can have small exceptions, but they should be things that can be explained in a sentence or two. At it's core, we should have one, unified, easily indentifiable mechanic.
Also, on a tangential topic, I've never disliked the vanacian casting system. It seems a little illogical, yes, but I filed that sort of thing under "It's just how the game works; deal with it". And I'm not in fan of converting all magic into a psionic-power points system; I think the two different styles make a nice contrast. But I wouldn't mind tweaking it to alter some of the more...counter-intuitive aspects.
Primary Casters- Prepared Casting
All prepared primary casters (classes that get access to 9th level spells) use the following spells/day chart to determine how many spells they can cast each day.
Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
2nd|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
3rd|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
4th|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
5th|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—
6th|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—
7th|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—
8th|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—
9th|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—|—
10th|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—|—
11th|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—|—
12th|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—|—
13th|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—|—
14th|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—|—
15th|6|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1|—
16th|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2|—
17th|6|6|5|5|5|4|4|3|2|1
18th|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3|2
19th|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|4|3|2
20th|7|6|6|6|5|5|4|4|3|3
Learning new spells- Casters of this type begin play knowing three 1st level spells, and five 0th level spells. They learn 2 new spells at every level, of any level they can cast.
Preparing & Casting- Casters of this type spend 1 hour each day (in study, prayer, meditation...whatever) to prepare which spells they plan to cast that day. For the highest level of spells they can cast they can prepare 1 spell, plus 1 additional spell for every +4 bonus from their primary casting stat. For every other spell level, they can prepare 2 spells, plus 1 additional spell for every +3 bonus from their primary casting stat.
They can then cast any spell they have prepared that day, so long as they have not used up their available spell-slots of that level. They cannot prepare a spell at any level other than it's own, unless you are applying metamagic, in which case it counts as a different spell at a different level.
For example: rather than a Wizard preparing 3 copies of [I]Burning Hands, and 1 copy each of Magic Missle and Feather Fall, he just prepares those three spells and casts whichever he wants, as needed.
Edit: Since first posting, it has been pointed out to me that Spirit Shamans already use a system nearly identical to this one. I have never played a Spirit Shaman before, but I'm glad that this sort of thing has precedent in-game. It should make it easier to gain acceptance for anyone who wants to present this system as an option to their group.
Primary Casters- Spontaneous Casting
All spontaneous primary casters use the following spells/day chart to determine how many spells they can cast each day.
Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|4|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
2nd|5|3|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
3rd|5|4|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
4th|6|5|3|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
5th|6|5|4|2|—|—|—|—|—|—
6th|7|6|5|3|—|—|—|—|—|—
7th|7|6|5|4|2|—|—|—|—|—
8th|8|7|6|5|3|—|—|—|—|—
9th|8|7|6|5|4|2|—|—|—|—
10th|8|8|7|6|5|3|—|—|—|—
11th|9|8|7|6|5|4|2|—|—|—
12th|9|8|8|7|6|5|3|—|—|—
13th|9|9|8|7|6|5|4|2|—|—
14th|10|9|8|8|7|6|5|3|—|—
15th|10|9|9|8|7|6|5|4|2|—
16th|10|10|9|8|8|7|6|5|3|—
17th|11|10|9|9|8|7|6|5|4|2
18th|11|10|10|9|8|8|7|6|5|3
19th|11|11|10|9|9|8|7|6|5|4
20th|11|11|10|10|9|8|8|7|6|5
Learning new spells- Casters of this type begin play knowing two 1st level spells, and four 0th level spells. They learn 2 new spells at every level after first. 1 spell must be of the highest level spell they can cast, and the second must be of any other level.
Casting- Caster of this type can cast any spells they know at any time, provided they have not used up all their daily spell slots of that level. They can apply metamagic to a spell at any time, making it act as a spell of it's modified level.
Summary
So basically, prepared casting gets bit more like spontaneous, to help reduce the accounting necessary to use it, and in exchange spontaneous casting isn't penalized for metamagic and is no longer 1 level behind.
The tables follow (IMO) a fairly basic pattern, so it can be expanded into epic play or even just to give casters 10th level spell slots (if you want) without needing a whole 'nother chart.
Alternatively, if you think casters now have too many spells, feel free to reshuffle things downward or reapply a cap.
Individual Class Rules
Wizard-Prepared Caster: Wizard can cast any spell from their spellbook at any time that does not consume a spell slot, except that it takes 10 minutes per spell level (5 minutes for a level 0 spell), or the spell's normal casting time, whichever is greater. [This was Grod's idea, and at first I was a bit wary, but eventually I warmed up to it. It changes the fluff to be that limit isn't on how much magic a wizard can use each day, but on how much he can keep "locked and loaded" at any one time]
Sorcerer-Spontaneous Caster: no special rules at this time
Cleric-Prepared Caster: Unlike other prepared casters, Clerics begin play knowing all spells of their deities' domains. They learn 1 spell from the clerics spell list at evey level (including first). [Again, this was Grod's idea, and this one I liked from the start because it makes the selection of diety much more meaningful]
Druid-Spontaneous Caster: no special rules at this time
Wu Jen-Prepared Caster: WIP
Shugenja-Spontaneous Caster: Learns only one spell from his spell list at every level instead of two. The Shugenja learns an order spell at every odd level and at every even level he learns a spell of his favored element.
Favored Soul-Spontaneous Caster: WIP
Spirit Shaman-Prepared Caster: no special rules at this time
+anything else I haven't had the chance to look into closely yet
Partial and half casters are in the next post. Feel free to offer whatever criticisms you wish, or ask for further explanation if it is still confusing. If any of it is confusing, let me know.