Spell Points for a custom world

[LordWolfKnight]

okay so i want to use spell points for my new campaign. i want there to be three sets of spell casting, least, lesser, and greater. with that i need to set up three sets of spell points one for each grade of spellcasting. i want to use the duskblade's number of spell points found in this article ( https://goo.gl/MKatm3 ). when i calculated how many spells of each level they can cast and applied the costs to them i came out with 200 spell points, which is the same amount of spell points the article has. now could i do the same thing with say the sorcerer, which comes out to 486, and say a bard which comes out to 144, and it still be balanced?

my reasoning behind this question is that the spell point system in Unearthed Arcana has a totally different value. now i understand that having 486 points means a lot of 9th level (like 28) spells versus the normal but what if i put a limitation in the spell point variation of vitalizing which allows for up to a certain amount before side effects come into play? say after 6 ninth level spells you begin to lose hit points in the form of the level of spell, in this case 9hp. would that balance it out?

if not then i can just use the normal spell point system and just use three of the options there.

[Zaq]

I guess the fundamental line of questioning here is this: what is your intended effect of using spell points instead of spell slots? What problem are you trying to solve, and in what specific ways do you envision the game as being more fun with the point system than with the slot system?

The slot system is far from perfect, but it’s sufficiently deeply embedded in the system that making sweeping changes to it is almost certain to have some level of unintended consequences. You seem to be aware of this, which is good, but whenever one starts risking major balance concerns, it’s worth the time to examine what the prospective payoff is going to be. Knowing what you’re looking for and what you’re valuing out of this change will help determine what you’re willing to risk breaking and what other changes you might need to make in order to keep things on the rails.

I will say that in response to your proposed HP cost system, I have never seen a ruleset that links HP costs to spellcasting in a way that’s balanced. I won’t categorically say that it’s flat out impossible, but I don’t think that it’s likely to succeed if you aren’t baking it into the system assumptions from the ground up.

[LordWolfKnight]

I guess the fundamental line of questioning here is this: what is your intended effect of using spell points instead of spell slots? What problem are you trying to solve, and in what specific ways do you envision the game as being more fun with the point system than with the slot system?

The slot system is far from perfect, but it’s sufficiently deeply embedded in the system that making sweeping changes to it is almost certain to have some level of unintended consequences. You seem to be aware of this, which is good, but whenever one starts risking major balance concerns, it’s worth the time to examine what the prospective payoff is going to be. Knowing what you’re looking for and what you’re valuing out of this change will help determine what you’re willing to risk breaking and what other changes you might need to make in order to keep things on the rails.

I will say that in response to your proposed HP cost system, I have never seen a ruleset that links HP costs to spellcasting in a way that’s balanced. I won’t categorically say that it’s flat out impossible, but I don’t think that it’s likely to succeed if you aren’t baking it into the system assumptions from the ground up.

answer to the first question- to make gathering information and casting easier on roll20 to be honest. i can set up an attribute for spell points or just use the power points section to be able to keep track of where the players are sitting quickly.

answer to question 2- in my opinion, it also make casting a little more versatile. while i am not looking for the best solutions to everything, being able to use the right thing at the right time would be nice every once in a while.

i can understand that applying a hp cost is not a good mechanic it is the only thing i can think of to make casters not use the highest level spell for everything. i want them to be able to use MacGuyver solutions to problems instead of blasting their way through everything like i have seen so many casters do.