tedcahill2
2017-02-15, 02:49 PM
So I'm kicking around some concepts to turn all casters into spontaneous casters, but each one needs a something unique about how they cast.
My thoughts for the wizard is to replace their familiar with a grimoire. The grimoire would be bound to the caster just like a familiar is, following all the same rules for hit dice, hit points, attacks and saves, etc. They would get the natural armor increase that familiars get, but they would not get an increased intelligence. They would however, get an intelligence score of 3. A grimoire, that hasn't been commanded otherwise by it's wizard, will always attempt to return to it's wizard, but will not do so at the expense of it's own safety. The empathic link ability that is gained on the familiar table allows the wizard to provide basic commands from a distance, such as come or stay.
The wizard's grimoire is an animated object and can fly at a speed of 30ft (clumsy). The wizard's spells per day would remain unchanged, however the grimoire replaces spellbooks, and due to it's page limit, does limit the number of a spells a wizard can know. The wizard can spontaneous cast any spell in his grimoire, but the grimoire must be open and readable for him to do so, so a blinded wizard would not be able to cast a spell from his grimoire. Wizard cannot cast any spell without his grimoire, however if they have learned a spell through the spell mastery feat they can cast it without their grimoire. When the wizard casts a spell the grimoire must actually be in front of him to read from (it hovers in front of the wizard and flips pages to the any spell the wizard wants to cast, the wizard then completes any verbal, somatic, material components needed to cast it, the spell actually discharges from the grimoire). The grimoire is essential a magical focus for the wizard.
The pages within a grimoire increase as a wizard gains levels, see below. This limits the number of spells that a wizard has access to, but is a bit less than double the spells known a sorcerer would have. In addition, unlike the sorcerer, who knows only a certain number of spells of each level, the wizard can fill his grimoire with any combination of spells, as long as they fit within the pages. So a wizard could choose to load their grimoire with as many high level spells as they can, but they would have a much smaller list of low level spells to choose from. The wizard continues to learn 2 new spells per level, and can copy spells into his grimoire just like a spell book.
Grimoire Pages
1st 4
2nd 9
3rd 15
4th 22
5th 30
6th 39
7th 49
8th 60
9th 72
10th 85
11th 99
12th 114
13th 130
14th 147
15th 165
16th 184
17th 204
18th 225
19th 247
20th 270
I really want the grimoire to feel like an integral part of the wizard. The ability to deliver a touch spell is great, but can we do more without affecting the balance too much? One thing I thought was that the grimoire could be used to cast a silent and still spell x/day. Basically the wizard would telepathically command the grimoire to cast the spell, and it would.
I also thought it might be cool if the grimoire earned spell slots of it's own, and could cast some low level spells without the wizard needing to complete the casting. Not sure how to balance that.
Love to here you're thoughts.
My thoughts for the wizard is to replace their familiar with a grimoire. The grimoire would be bound to the caster just like a familiar is, following all the same rules for hit dice, hit points, attacks and saves, etc. They would get the natural armor increase that familiars get, but they would not get an increased intelligence. They would however, get an intelligence score of 3. A grimoire, that hasn't been commanded otherwise by it's wizard, will always attempt to return to it's wizard, but will not do so at the expense of it's own safety. The empathic link ability that is gained on the familiar table allows the wizard to provide basic commands from a distance, such as come or stay.
The wizard's grimoire is an animated object and can fly at a speed of 30ft (clumsy). The wizard's spells per day would remain unchanged, however the grimoire replaces spellbooks, and due to it's page limit, does limit the number of a spells a wizard can know. The wizard can spontaneous cast any spell in his grimoire, but the grimoire must be open and readable for him to do so, so a blinded wizard would not be able to cast a spell from his grimoire. Wizard cannot cast any spell without his grimoire, however if they have learned a spell through the spell mastery feat they can cast it without their grimoire. When the wizard casts a spell the grimoire must actually be in front of him to read from (it hovers in front of the wizard and flips pages to the any spell the wizard wants to cast, the wizard then completes any verbal, somatic, material components needed to cast it, the spell actually discharges from the grimoire). The grimoire is essential a magical focus for the wizard.
The pages within a grimoire increase as a wizard gains levels, see below. This limits the number of spells that a wizard has access to, but is a bit less than double the spells known a sorcerer would have. In addition, unlike the sorcerer, who knows only a certain number of spells of each level, the wizard can fill his grimoire with any combination of spells, as long as they fit within the pages. So a wizard could choose to load their grimoire with as many high level spells as they can, but they would have a much smaller list of low level spells to choose from. The wizard continues to learn 2 new spells per level, and can copy spells into his grimoire just like a spell book.
Grimoire Pages
1st 4
2nd 9
3rd 15
4th 22
5th 30
6th 39
7th 49
8th 60
9th 72
10th 85
11th 99
12th 114
13th 130
14th 147
15th 165
16th 184
17th 204
18th 225
19th 247
20th 270
I really want the grimoire to feel like an integral part of the wizard. The ability to deliver a touch spell is great, but can we do more without affecting the balance too much? One thing I thought was that the grimoire could be used to cast a silent and still spell x/day. Basically the wizard would telepathically command the grimoire to cast the spell, and it would.
I also thought it might be cool if the grimoire earned spell slots of it's own, and could cast some low level spells without the wizard needing to complete the casting. Not sure how to balance that.
Love to here you're thoughts.