PDA

View Full Version : Pathfinder How do I encourage spontaneous, natural magic?



ArcanaGuy
2016-08-27, 05:57 PM
I'm putting together a homebrew world based on Pathfinder rules for a campaign I'm starting next year, and one of the elements of this world is that there's a new god of magic. This new god of magic favors spontaneous spellcasters over Wizards, and he's been throwing blessings around all over the place - primarily because the new god of magic is an orc god, and he wants spellcasters to be out and doing things, not hiding in a library studying.

Now, that being said, I don't necessarily need 'levels of sorcerer' all over the place, but that is the first aspect of this. My random tables for NPC populations have a larger section for 'sorcerers' than usual. However, I want to do more than just have a larger population of sorcerers.

First houserule: every race that has a penalty to charisma essentially gets an offset bonus to charisma specifically for the purposes of calculating sorcerer abilities (just like Tieflings) For instance: Orcs no longer make worse sorcerers than everyone else.

Second houserule: I am thinking of buffing the feat "Arcane Talent" so that any race can use it, and so that instead of only 3 times a day, they can use that 0-level spell without limit, just like a sorcerer can.

Third houserule: Because of a recent apocalypse, a lot of knowledge has been lost. Even a wizard's 2 spells per level are limited to what's available to them to study. Plus side: Finding lost spells while adventuring and spreading them around the local wizard population can earn big money and renown.

Here comes the question: What are the potential drawbacks to these ideas? And what are some alternate / additional ways I could encourage this trend?

VoodooPaladin
2016-08-27, 06:22 PM
he wants spellcasters to be out and doing things
a lot of knowledge has been lost

So let Sorcerers get extra spells known as quest rewards. Or just give them training rules for learning new spells, similar to the book-learning of wizards, but more public. Recovering and decoding spellbooks are good adventure hooks.

This sounds a lot like Might and Magic, where Wizards get a handful of spells to learn from each settlement they visit, plus the occasional quest reward. The boost to Arcane Talent reminds me of Dark Sun's ubiquitous psionics as well.

ArcanaGuy
2016-08-27, 07:01 PM
So let Sorcerers get extra spells known as quest rewards. Or just give them training rules for learning new spells, similar to the book-learning of wizards, but more public.

Oooo... I like the idea of that ... but how do I do that mechanically? I'm going to have to think on that. But I do like it.

Training, I can imagine, would let them 'change' their spells known instead of just give them new ones. Anything past that and they're multiclassing into wizard.

But quest rewards... I *like* that. Either granted by powerful beings like gods or great spirits... or as a side effect of being involved in some powerful magical event... it's like being given an extra feat, though, so have to be careful on that route. Definitely gotta think about that.


Recovering and decoding spellbooks are good adventure hooks.

Thank you very much! I hope my players feel the same way.


This sounds a lot like Might and Magic, where Wizards get a handful of spells to learn from each settlement they visit, plus the occasional quest reward. The boost to Arcane Talent reminds me of Dark Sun's ubiquitous psionics as well.

I've never done much with either of those, but they have good reputations, so that's good.

Sayt
2016-08-27, 11:24 PM
Possibly give each race a table of SLAs that they can gain (Possibly in place of feats?) as they accrue HD dice, so perhaps a Dwarf with 10 HD can use Move Earth half their wisdom mod times per day?

ArcanaGuy
2016-08-28, 07:28 AM
Ah ha! More racial / cultural feats granting Spell Like Abilities (SLA)! great idea! Perhaps combine that with the previous example ... instead of just 'quest reward extra spells for sorcerers', introduce the idea of a 'quest reward feat'. It can involve an SLA, or perhaps training under some famous warrior for a non-magical bonus feat... Keep it balanced for those who don't want their characters to do magic, but provide that outlet for sudden magical ability... do it through feats, not enough to dip into Mythic rules, but ... hrmmm... yes, that's valid.

Thank you! I love this idea!

dragonjek
2016-08-28, 10:55 AM
Encourage players of mundane classes to take archetypes that provide supernatural, spell-like, or outright magical abilities. It would show the spread of magic reaching into every facet of life.

You could possibly make the Magic domain--but only with the Arcane subdomain--available for any cleric or domain-gaining class, regardless of deity.

Amechra
2016-08-28, 12:22 PM
1. Swap the effects of metamagic for prepared/spontaneous casters. Wizards increase the casting time when they want to cast a metamagic'd spell, Sorcerers don't.

2. Spontaneous casters can swap out either Somatic or Verbal components for Emotion components (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/occult-adventures/psychic-magic).

3. Spontaneous casters can counterspell as an Immediate action. If they do so, they are Dazed until the end of their next turn.