What do you think mechanics wise: Up to level Five slots only

[Balor01]

So ... I'd like your opinion on caster classes being nerfed in this way:

- highest spell slot/psionic power in the world available is lvl 5

- when character would get additional slots above 5, these slots are instead added to existing lvl 5 slot pool.

- that goes for all creatures and equivalent SLA-s are included. (SLAs equivalents of spell level 6 and on are nerfed and added to existing SLAs. For an example Creature with Fireball 2x/day and AMF 1x/day now gets Fireball 4x/day)


And I'm asking how would in your opinion this affect the game, crying about "bohoo caster nerfs" is NOT welcome.

thank you

[Hazrond]

So ... I'd like your opinion on caster classes being nerfed in this way:

- highest spell slot/psionic power in the world available is lvl 5

- when character would get additional slots above 5, these slots are instead added to existing lvl 5 slot pool.

- that goes for all creatures and equivalent SLA-s are included. (SLAs equivalents of spell level 6 and on are nerfed and added to existing SLAs. For an example Creature with Fireball 2x/day and AMF 1x/day now gets Fireball 4x/day)


And I'm asking how would in your opinion this affect the game, crying about "bohoo caster nerfs" is NOT welcome.

thank you

Im pretty sure what you just described is a variant of E8

[Tvtyrant]

Saves would out run spell DCs by a bit, and the Dusk blade and mystic ranger become the best classes outside of Psionics.

[Trasilor]

First, Level 5 has some very nice spells - just to keep that in mind...

Instead of limiting to highest slot, why not let the level progression function as normal thus allowing PCs to meta-magic their spells?

Without access to higher level slots, you may find you have the unintended consequence of more multi-classing with spell casters. Unless you want that :smallamused:

[eggynack]

The implementation seems a bit awkward. You just have all these casters hitting this crazy plateau after which there is no power growth. A better fix that I've seen sometimes in the past is just putting full casters on bard progression. Casters progress higher, but they do so slower.

[Svata]

Well, with only up to fifth level spells, the Sorc/Wiz list is still more powerful than non-casters, the fixed-list casters lose utility past level 12 or so, bard is mostly unaffected, and CoDzilla still smashes face, justslightly less so. Also, raising dead characters now has a worryingly short timeframe.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Casters still get tons of utility and more than enough to fulfill any role they want. Mundanes still hit things with sticks and use a skill every now and then.
You'll get rid of some of the gamebreakers and ultimate cosmic power but intra-party balance will largely stay the same.

Most of the spells that make primary casters so good are 5th level or below. A lot of 6th level and higher spells just add insult to injury, the rest deals with breaking the game to one degree or another.

Summoning is an exception. Without 6th+ level summoning spells using summons for combat is pretty much dead after level 10 or 11. Blasting will still suck unless you use lots of metamagic. BFC will still rule, and most good BFC spells are level 1-5.

If you want to nerf casters you won't get by with a quick fix. You'll have to rework the whole system, evaluate every spell, rebuild all higher CR monsters to bring them in line with the parties lowered defenses... you may actually be better served just learning a new system because in D&D 3.5, casters rule, not only based on raw power but also on versatility. It's a fundamental fact of the game.