how bad/good of an idea is this?

[vasilidor]

for a homebrew campaign magic mix of systems: arcane: the sphere system as described in spheres of power. game story reason and dm reason: your learning how to reach out and grab magic through force of will, spells as described in players handbook never made sense as per day by level to me. psionics: dreamscarred press. Why: using your mind to affect the world around you and you can only hold so much energy within. divine casters: for followers who gain their spells from a specific god/spirit: as from the core book/system. why: the gods are careful in how much they dole out to their followers, but allow for more powerful spells to their more proven/trusted followers (is the only reason spells per day have ever made sense to me). those that get their magic from a connection to nature: spheres of power. also thinking of limiting available spheres by theme (druids cannot take death sphere etc.)

[tsj]

Sounds to me like an interesting and viable concept

[Ruethgar]

Would make clerics potentially quite potent(not that they already weren't) but I like the idea as long as your players know to build to a certain power level. I say this because it is hard for a spheres character to reach T2, especially depending on how you limit the spheres, and here the Cleric is still sitting comfy at T1.

[iDesu]

I'd argue having the death sphere available to druids makes sense since death is a huge part of nature.

[MisterKaws]

The only problem is that this puts the divine casters on an even more unreachable spot that the one they're normally at; you're toning everyone down except the ones who need the most nerfing. I understand your reasons if it's for the lore, but you should come up with some toned-down form for divine as well, instead of just letting them rule the world.

... Unless your campaign world is dominated by churches, in which case, having CoDzilla npcs could be quite funny.

[vasilidor]

I am aware there is some (okay a lot) of power discrepancy between the vancian casting system and the sphere of power system. I don't think I ever had a game go over level ten, unless it started there so that is where my experience ends. That said I think the Incanter can hit tier 2 if the right sphere combo is picked.

[tsj]

To even out inter party power problems...

Maybe if all tier 1 classes got access to spheres and all players were gestalt,
then exactly 1 of the classes must be a tier 1 clas and the other class can be whatever th player wants ?

or all was gestalt wizard / some other class

...

I think a game where all party members were "above" tier 1 could be interesting.. as long as all party members were at about the same power level

[nuaragonis]

Just make everyone a wizard/(something else) vs. The Big Bad Church. TBBC could be total anti-magic templars.

[TheIronGolem]

I am aware there is some (okay a lot) of power discrepancy between the vancian casting system and the sphere of power system. I don't think I ever had a game go over level ten, unless it started there so that is where my experience ends. That said I think the Incanter can hit tier 2 if the right sphere combo is picked.

Eh, the power discrepancy isn't so much between the magic systems as it is between classes. Like you said, the Incanter probably has the potential to reach Tier 2, whereas the Bard and Investigator are practically the gold standard for Tier 3. The Tier 1 classes of core aren't Tier 1 because they're Vancian, but because of the spells they have access to.

[nedz]

Eh, the power discrepancy isn't so much between the magic systems as it is between classes. Like you said, the Incanter probably has the potential to reach Tier 2, whereas the Bard and Investigator are practically the gold standard for Tier 3. The Tier 1 classes of core aren't Tier 1 because they're Vancian, but because of the spells they have access to.

Sorcerer has access to exactly the same spells as Wizard yet it's definitely Tier2. Artificers aren't really Vancian, and yet they are Tier 1, so you are partially right. Tier 1 is about being able to handle any kind of threat - with preparation.