Vetril
2013-12-17, 02:12 PM
Hi, I'm writing a homebrew setting.
In this setting, magic is different (tm). All spellcasters are spontaneous casters and they can only learn one specific type of magic (it's not really important; just think of it like fire magic, shadow magic, law magic, darkness magic...). One user of a specific type of magic can either use "normal" sorcery, or High sorcery. The potential for High sorcery is innate: you either can use it, or you can't. High sorcery does exactly the same things normal sorcery does, but it does them better: it is overall an improved version.
I was thinking about using an archetype to model the mechanics tied to specific piece of lore.
The archetype would increase the dice you use to cast magic by one step.
Example: a level 6 sorcerer casts fireball, he deals 5d6 damage. A level 6 High sorcerer casts fireball, he deals 5d8 damage.
A level 1 cleric casts CLW, he heals 1d8+1 damage. A level 1 High cleric casts CLW, he heals 1d10+1 damage.
How many levels do you think such an archetype is worth?
My guesstimate is somewhere between 1 and 2. Take the fireball, for example: on average, 5d8 = 22.5, whereas 6d6 = 21, and 7d6 = 24.5.
Furthermore, ECL 2 would mean that high magic casters would effectively be 1 spell level behind any other caster, given the same amount of xp; on the other hand, high magic users would have a greater potential (10d8 vs 10d6).
Do you think an archetype like that would be balanced? Would you use it in a game if it was available to you?
In this setting, magic is different (tm). All spellcasters are spontaneous casters and they can only learn one specific type of magic (it's not really important; just think of it like fire magic, shadow magic, law magic, darkness magic...). One user of a specific type of magic can either use "normal" sorcery, or High sorcery. The potential for High sorcery is innate: you either can use it, or you can't. High sorcery does exactly the same things normal sorcery does, but it does them better: it is overall an improved version.
I was thinking about using an archetype to model the mechanics tied to specific piece of lore.
The archetype would increase the dice you use to cast magic by one step.
Example: a level 6 sorcerer casts fireball, he deals 5d6 damage. A level 6 High sorcerer casts fireball, he deals 5d8 damage.
A level 1 cleric casts CLW, he heals 1d8+1 damage. A level 1 High cleric casts CLW, he heals 1d10+1 damage.
How many levels do you think such an archetype is worth?
My guesstimate is somewhere between 1 and 2. Take the fireball, for example: on average, 5d8 = 22.5, whereas 6d6 = 21, and 7d6 = 24.5.
Furthermore, ECL 2 would mean that high magic casters would effectively be 1 spell level behind any other caster, given the same amount of xp; on the other hand, high magic users would have a greater potential (10d8 vs 10d6).
Do you think an archetype like that would be balanced? Would you use it in a game if it was available to you?