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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class [3.5/Pathfinder] Arcane Spellcasting Variant (preliminary idea)



bahamut920
2017-10-07, 08:56 PM
I've been thinking about a mechanic where arcane spellcasters would work more like the factotum, with a limited number of spell slots that they can fill with spells of any level, although the highest-level spells they can cast would likely end up limited even further, perhaps to one or two like the factotum. Wizards and other prepared casters would prepare spells like the factotum (although multiple copies would be allowed), while spontaneous casters would still be able to choose their spells on the fly. The amount of spells the factotum gets seems pretty solid for this option (8 at 20th level), at least for prepared full casters. Spontaneous casters would probably get at least 10 or 12 spell slots per day. Progression would need to be re-worked, though, and I still want bonus spell slots for high casting stat modifiers. The actual progression of spell levels would be the same for both prepared and spontaneous casters with the same maximum spell level (so full casters like the wizard and sorcerer would have one progression, "half-casters" like the bard or the Pathfinder magus would have another, and "dabblers" like the Pathfinder bloodrager would have a third). I'm undecided whether to leave spells known progression for spontaneous casters alone or to use something more like what the duskblade gets (a specific number of spells of any level the character can cast at every level); I might go with 2/level for full casters, 1/level for half-casters, and 1/2 levels (or 0.5/level) for dabblers.

To give a more varied set of options at a lower power level, I was also thinking of something along the lines of the shadowcaster, where some of their lower-level spells eventually become at-will, possibly also eventually becoming spell-like or supernatural abilities (although any expensive material components/XP would still need to be provided). I'm having trouble exactly deciding how many levels below maximum spell level this should occur, and how many spells should get this treatment over the course of the 20 levels. I'm definitely thinking it should be specific spells chosen when you gain the ability for both spontaneous and prepared casters, though.

Cantrips would always be at-will, and one or two cantrips per class (right now I'm thinking detect magic and read magic for wizards and detect magic and prestidigitation for sorcerers) would be spell-like, and those spells would be the first ones to become supernatural.

Here are some of the options I've thought up so far:

When selecting spells to become at-will/SLAs, you can pick a spells a specific number of levels below your maximum, most likely 3. This would mean that for 9-level casters, the first time you'd get this ability would be at level 7 or 8 for 1st-level spells. I'm concerned that 9-level casters having access to at-will 6th-level spells might end up a bit OP, however.
The other main option is to have the character pick their first at-will spells at some relatively low level (like perhaps 3 or 4 for the full casters) and have the maximum spell level be something like 1/2 the level of the highest-level spell you can cast. This is what I'm currently leaning more towards, because it would give low-level casters the edge when they need it more, while limiting the maximum power level of the spells better. That would still leave the possibility for at-will polymorphs, though, so I'm not sure.


Note that this is not an attempt to "balance" arcane casters; I fully realize that without alterations to spell lists and individual spells, as well as broad changes to non-spellcasting classes, actual balance between the two is impossible. I'm simply trying to differentiate all of the different "power sources" from one another by making them mechanically different. As it stands, arcane and divine spellcasters use largely the same mechanics, with the only major difference between the two being how much armor they can wear.