At Will Spells in 3.5

[WhatThePhysics]

Removed by author.

[Thunderfist12]

What you're looking for is similar to invocations. See the warlock (Complete Arcane) or dragonfire adept (Dragon Magic) for examples.

I've tweaked the rules to make them all invocations before, simply ruling that levels 0-1 were least, 2-3 were lesser, 4-5 were greater, and 6-7 were dark, and giving the classes a progression of up to two invocations of each type, depending on spellcaster power.

I then left level 8-9 spells as rituals, which the spellcaster had to have the book/materials for, bargain with some outsider, circle-cast, and take quite a while to use (hours or days).

When I used it, the players usually didn't use incantations, but one of them had to use a wish to save the party. Poor soul had to write up a new character, and his old one became the next major villain (soul-bound).

[Maginomicon]

I implemented Spell Points but with huge changes to the Vitalizing subvariant. This makes all spells effectively At-Will for the most part. However, when you do, you also have to make tweaks to psionics and artificers. Then I implemented "Spell Burn" and "Mana Restoration Potions" to make it even MORE like a videogame.

To see the details, click here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/17ilqkPbae23E2MiF6qVD1GyVz7JrZaRGe4ArlJly5FE/edit?usp=sharing).

The catch is that you have to move the plot along at a faster pace. GMs absolutely must have more than 4 encounters per day if they don't want the mundane characters to be left in the dust (the long haul is where mundane characters shine).

[Vadskye]

Many spells are broken when usable at will. See Explosive Runes, Illusory Wall, Summon <Stuff>, essentially anything with a faster than standard action casting time are blatantly abusable. Any buff with a duration longer than round/level will be active all day long. Basically, you can't just slap at-will casting on to the existing spell system.

[Maginomicon]

Many spells are broken when usable at will. See Explosive Runes, Illusory Wall, Summon <Stuff>, essentially anything with a faster than standard action casting time are blatantly abusable. Any buff with a duration longer than round/level will be active all day long. Basically, you can't just slap at-will casting on to the existing spell system.
Yeah I should clarify that I convert a lot of spells/powers into "charged" incantations/communals. Basically anything that I determine to be either have too short a casting time or too powerful I converted into a 4e skill challenge. This prevents those kinds of broken spells from being spammed.

[NichG]

Advanced d20 Magic basically does this - yes, there are casting checks and drain and so on, but you can cast things far more flexibly than in a spells/day system. And yes, some things do end up breaking as a result - it tends towards a very high-powered version of D&D. That said, I've enjoyed using those rules in something like 3 campaigns now (twice as a player) and despite (perhaps because of) the brokenness it was still pretty fun.

It also has the amusing side-effect of being a system where fighters can be better wizards than wizards because casting runs off of a Fort save. One of our best casters in the Slayers d20 game was basically a mostly mundane melee build that picked up a single level of a casting class and then Abjurant Champion.

Anyhow, for this (and in general) if you want spells to be at-will, avoid spells that create something permanent in the world. Or get used to people building mega-structures out of walls of iron or decorating an entire city with persistent images in a single day.

[Hanuman]

Part of balance is sustain, a caster is balanced because she may only have limited usages of her abilities.

Warlock invocations and such are balanced because it can be drawn a parallel to an archer, the whole point is combat over context. An arrow cannot allow you to fly, make your party invisible, or teleport you miles away. Those are concepts, not numbers.

You may want to check out 4e, at that point you are basically throwing arrows made of energy anyway.

[D20ragon]

I have been trying to do something like this.
It always bugs me when this happens:"I'm a pyromancer!...aww,I'm all out of fire spells."

[jaybird]

Reserve Feats, guys.

[ben-zayb]

On the contrary, I'd probably stick with the Wizard's schtick of being a more versatile caster. To offset however, I'll have him lag a spell level behind (sort of) the other arcanes.

[ddude987]

Reserve Feats, guys.
If only there was a like button for posts.

Maybe wizards learn a certain amount of spells, X of which must be off their specialized school. Then they have slots they put spells into and they can cast those spells at-will for the day. As spell levels increase they go from at will to per encounter et cetra.
Or, if you didn't mind getting to complex, they start with at-will cantrips and maybe an at-will 1st level spell. They gain spells for at a per encounter and/or per day basis. As they get better spells old per encounter spells become at-will and per day become per encounter.

[Debihuman]

Does this oblivate the need for Quicken spell feat?

Debby

[ben-zayb]

If only there was a like button for posts.

Maybe wizards learn a certain amount of spells, X of which must be off their specialized school. Then they have slots they put spells into and they can cast those spells at-will for the day. As spell levels increase they go from at will to per encounter et cetra.
Or, if you didn't mind getting to complex, they start with at-will cantrips and maybe an at-will 1st level spell. They gain spells for at a per encounter and/or per day basis. As they get better spells old per encounter spells become at-will and per day become per encounter.

Have you, by any chance, read Tome of Magic? Try the Shadowcaster. Same concept, lousy execution.