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2018-10-20, 12:56 AM
Hello all, wanted your advice on some things and maybe some help with a problem I am having.
First off, the homebrew part of this campaign I am currently running. For starters, and the biggest impact on the players, is this is a closed world. By that, I mean there is NO access to any Planes other than the Prime Material, no summoning (Huge impact on magic users I know), no teleportation, no spells that deal with or use other planes of existence, with the exception of Dimension Door, which utilizes a slightly different mechanic and can be quite dangerous to use beyond line of sight. So as far as mages and such, I realize this is a major nerf, particularly the losss of summoning spells.
In an attempt to make up for this nerf, I have given all mages the following abilities.
Elemental Attunement: You are attuned to a certain element and can change the damage type of any of your offensive spells that normally deals acid, cold, electrical or fire elemental damage to deal elemental damage of your chosen element instead. Doing so does not change any other variables of the spell, except the spell changes to an elemental <xx> school spell. This does not increase the spell level nor does it require you to spend additional spell points.
1) You gain a damage bonus to all elemental air spells that deal damage of +1 per level.
2) You gain Resistance to your chosen element of 5 points plus an additional 5 points every 5th level.
Elemental Potency: Your control over your chosen element has increased.
1) The DC to resist spells of your chosen Elemental sub school has been increased by 2.
2) You treat all 1’s rolled for damage as 2’s instead when casting spells that deal damage of your chosen elemental type.
Arcane Versatility: You can change any spell that deals damage to an area, i.e. bursts, cones, lines, spreads, etc. to a single target spell. All other variables of the spell remain the same but in all other ways they are treated as a ray, requiring a ranged touch attack to strike its target but allowing no saving throw against damaging effects.
In addition to the two new abilities above, I also use a spell point system. Doing this for two reasons, #1, it gives casters much more flexibility in spell choices, especially with Mages, and thus more choices as to what spells they want to use in combat. And #2 because it means that mages last much longer in a given day as far as not requiring to take a rest every other encounter, or more, to gain spells back.
Now, I realize that this makes for much blastier mages than a normal game would have, but I feel I have to give them something to make up for the lack of summoning spells and other such stuff. And I am not sure what else to do to make up for this lack and telling a player "Hey, a good chunk of your spell lists are unusable, sorry" is not exceptable and would probably turn off a lot of players.
So, basically what I am looking for is feedback or ideas to improve this, or is it fine as a replacement for extra[-planer spells not being usable?
Now on to the second part of my post, ie. The Problem. All of my players have so far been enthusiastic about the spell point system, and seem to love it. The person playing the Cleric would in fact, likely burn me at the stake if I suggested going back to the old Vancian system. And the others, after a period of getting used to it, have all been positive in their reactions to this system. I am no longer having to remind them about spending the points, and they have all been calling out the spell point usage whenever they cast a spell without me asking.
All except one. Who flat out refuses to use the system, and sticks to the old system with religious fervor. And then complains when he is over-shadowed by the others, is constantly complaining about its use, and causing a problem in general. Unfortunately, this is not the only problem this guy is causing. I have to fight like crazy to get him to do anything at all in a session other than his stock response of "I watch." Literally, no matter what is going on, he is not interacting, or adding anything to the group. And to be clear, this is not just me saying this, my other players are getting more and more frustrated and vocal about it, often turning to him in game and asking him to "please do something". Last time we got together, the players practically had to beg him to cast a simple greater dispel magic to get past a nasty magical Circle of "turn you to ash" they had run across and that was blocking their path. This lead to a 15 minute argument and a lot of anger at the table. All because he didn't want to "waste" a spell slot on a "useless spell". His words. He's a 15th level wizard that refuses to buff the party, cast utility spells, or anything other than the occasional, and by that I mean, once a combat, damage spell.
Unfortunately, he is friends with a lot of the people who are part of our gaming group and a good guy, just frustrating as all hell to deal with in game. So, booting him isn't an option, and we have a pretty small player base to begin with, so one "almost" useless player is better than ) player. But anyone out there have any idea how I can get this guy to participate? I'm at my wits end here and it's causing problems.
First off, the homebrew part of this campaign I am currently running. For starters, and the biggest impact on the players, is this is a closed world. By that, I mean there is NO access to any Planes other than the Prime Material, no summoning (Huge impact on magic users I know), no teleportation, no spells that deal with or use other planes of existence, with the exception of Dimension Door, which utilizes a slightly different mechanic and can be quite dangerous to use beyond line of sight. So as far as mages and such, I realize this is a major nerf, particularly the losss of summoning spells.
In an attempt to make up for this nerf, I have given all mages the following abilities.
Elemental Attunement: You are attuned to a certain element and can change the damage type of any of your offensive spells that normally deals acid, cold, electrical or fire elemental damage to deal elemental damage of your chosen element instead. Doing so does not change any other variables of the spell, except the spell changes to an elemental <xx> school spell. This does not increase the spell level nor does it require you to spend additional spell points.
1) You gain a damage bonus to all elemental air spells that deal damage of +1 per level.
2) You gain Resistance to your chosen element of 5 points plus an additional 5 points every 5th level.
Elemental Potency: Your control over your chosen element has increased.
1) The DC to resist spells of your chosen Elemental sub school has been increased by 2.
2) You treat all 1’s rolled for damage as 2’s instead when casting spells that deal damage of your chosen elemental type.
Arcane Versatility: You can change any spell that deals damage to an area, i.e. bursts, cones, lines, spreads, etc. to a single target spell. All other variables of the spell remain the same but in all other ways they are treated as a ray, requiring a ranged touch attack to strike its target but allowing no saving throw against damaging effects.
In addition to the two new abilities above, I also use a spell point system. Doing this for two reasons, #1, it gives casters much more flexibility in spell choices, especially with Mages, and thus more choices as to what spells they want to use in combat. And #2 because it means that mages last much longer in a given day as far as not requiring to take a rest every other encounter, or more, to gain spells back.
Now, I realize that this makes for much blastier mages than a normal game would have, but I feel I have to give them something to make up for the lack of summoning spells and other such stuff. And I am not sure what else to do to make up for this lack and telling a player "Hey, a good chunk of your spell lists are unusable, sorry" is not exceptable and would probably turn off a lot of players.
So, basically what I am looking for is feedback or ideas to improve this, or is it fine as a replacement for extra[-planer spells not being usable?
Now on to the second part of my post, ie. The Problem. All of my players have so far been enthusiastic about the spell point system, and seem to love it. The person playing the Cleric would in fact, likely burn me at the stake if I suggested going back to the old Vancian system. And the others, after a period of getting used to it, have all been positive in their reactions to this system. I am no longer having to remind them about spending the points, and they have all been calling out the spell point usage whenever they cast a spell without me asking.
All except one. Who flat out refuses to use the system, and sticks to the old system with religious fervor. And then complains when he is over-shadowed by the others, is constantly complaining about its use, and causing a problem in general. Unfortunately, this is not the only problem this guy is causing. I have to fight like crazy to get him to do anything at all in a session other than his stock response of "I watch." Literally, no matter what is going on, he is not interacting, or adding anything to the group. And to be clear, this is not just me saying this, my other players are getting more and more frustrated and vocal about it, often turning to him in game and asking him to "please do something". Last time we got together, the players practically had to beg him to cast a simple greater dispel magic to get past a nasty magical Circle of "turn you to ash" they had run across and that was blocking their path. This lead to a 15 minute argument and a lot of anger at the table. All because he didn't want to "waste" a spell slot on a "useless spell". His words. He's a 15th level wizard that refuses to buff the party, cast utility spells, or anything other than the occasional, and by that I mean, once a combat, damage spell.
Unfortunately, he is friends with a lot of the people who are part of our gaming group and a good guy, just frustrating as all hell to deal with in game. So, booting him isn't an option, and we have a pretty small player base to begin with, so one "almost" useless player is better than ) player. But anyone out there have any idea how I can get this guy to participate? I'm at my wits end here and it's causing problems.