Magic Variant: Spellcraft checks

[brian c]

I'm not sure if anything like this exists already, but it might. Anyway, the general premise of this idea is that especially for Wizards, casting a spell requires certain words, motions and thoughts. Just as a fighter needs to make an attack roll every time he swings his sword, a mage shall make a spellcraft roll every time he casts a spell.

The Crunch: To successfully cast an arcane spell, a wizard must succeed at a spellcraft check with DC = 10+(twice the spell's level)

Use the level of the spell slot taken up by the spell when there are metamagic feats applied (The DC for a Silent Mage Armor is 10+2*2=14).

The spellcaster may choose to Take 10 on this spellcraft check when cast outside of combat.


and uh... I'll explain more of my thought process on this later. Feel free to comment now, but keep in mind that it's not done. :smallsmile:

[Matthew]

There was a similar Thread to this a couple of days ago. [Edit] Here you go: Low/Difficult Magic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45596)

The gist of things is that at Low Levels Characters will find Spell Casting harder, whilst at High Levels they will find it very easy. Also, you have to take into account that Spell Craft doesn't use everybody's Primary Casting Attribute, so a Wizard is going to have the edge on everybody who uses Wisdom or Charisma.

Consider making Spell Craft similar to a Knowledge Skill and having a Skill for every 'School'. You'd have to assign more Skill Points to Wizards, but it's another alternative.