Reworking Sorcerer Casting

[Evoker]

An idea that came to me: What if, rather than choosing a few spells, Sorcerers got access to a limited version of spell creation on the lines of Epic Spellcasting crossed with metamagic crossed with all of the eldritch blast modification stuff that Warlocks use. Rather than choosing X spells per level, Sorcerers chose a number of "Aspects" they could use to modify some basic spells.

EG: A sorcerer could apply the aspect of power to a "Damage Core" to up its damage. Or, they could apply the aspect of expansion to that same core to increase it's area from a single target to a small radius. Then, they could add another aspect of expansion to the core, increasing the radius further, before adding an aspect of mind to deal int damage to anyone in the blast radius. However, if they had just stacked three aspects of mind to the damage core, they would deal a bunch of int damage to one target. And if they applied area/area/mind to a "Bolster core" they would end up with something like mass foxes cunning

Does anything like this exist already? Has anyone proposed it, but found it unworkable? Would there be any way to balance this, or would it be too complicated? I was imagining that sorcerers got access to X cores at level 1, and then more at every Y levels after that, and got aspects similarly. And they can have up to Z spells "crafted" at once, swapping them out when they rest.

I don't have any skill at designing home-brew, but sorcerers should really be more distinct from wizards and this would be an interesting way to do it, preserving the idea that sorcerers focus on a few elements of magic granted to them through innate talent, while allowing them to show off novel applications of those elements in the way a wizard, who studies already created applications of those elements, can't.

[Nifft]

Have you had a chance to look at the Spheres of Power system?

It might save you some time, or give you a framework to build upon.

[Evoker]

That's somewhat along the lines of what I was looking at, but it's a different sort of modular from what I was hoping for. That's super flexible on fluff, but in the end there's still X groups of things you can do, and Y things in each of those groups. So there's a lot of flexibility in character creation, choosing what talents and feats you want. But in game-play, it seems like there's a lot fewer ways to "change up" what you're doing on the fly.

I'm looking for a system closer to this:
Damage Core:
A spell created from this core deals 1d6 damage per class level (Max 5d6) to a single target at medium range with a successful ranged touch attack.
Aspects can be applied to this core in the following ways:
Expansion Aspect. The spell affects all targets in a 10 ft sphere, or increases the radius by 5 ft in the case that the spell already has a radius. If the spell would normally require a touch attack , targets are entitled to a Reflex save for half damage. This requires (X) customization points.
Heighten Aspect. The spell's cap on effective caster level for determining effect increases by five. This requires (Y) customization points.
Empower Aspect. Any dice rolled to determine the spell's effect increase by one step. This requires (Z) customization points.
Health Core:
A spell created from this core heals 1d6 damage per class level (Max 5d6) to a single target at touch range. Undead and other creatures damaged by positive energy must be hit with a touch attack to be affected.
Aspects can be applied to this core in the following ways:
Expansion Aspect. The spell affects all targets in a 10 ft sphere, or increases the radius by 5 ft in the case that the spell already has a radius. Rather than a ranged touch attack, targets are entitled to a Reflex save for half damage. This requires (X) customization points.
Heighten Aspect. The spell's cap on effective caster level for determining effect increases by five. This requires (Y) customization points.
Empower Aspect. Any dice rolled to determine the spell's effect increase by one step. This requires (Z) customization points.

So you can re-use the same aspects for multiple cores, rather than what spheres does.
Is there anything like that already existing? Spheres of power is close, but not quite right as far as I can tell.

[Elves]

Instead of a ground up modular system, maybe take real spells as a basis and give them a way to modify them on the fly.

With the "innate magic" fluff, sorcerers in 3.5 should probably be SLA-based, basically what warlock was.

[Nifft]

That's somewhat along the lines of what I was looking at, but it's a different sort of modular from what I was hoping for. That's super flexible on fluff, but in the end there's still X groups of things you can do, and Y things in each of those groups. So there's a lot of flexibility in character creation, choosing what talents and feats you want. But in game-play, it seems like there's a lot fewer ways to "change up" what you're doing on the fly.

I'm looking for a system closer to this:
Damage Core:
A spell created from this core deals 1d6 damage per class level (Max 5d6) to a single target at medium range with a successful ranged touch attack.
Aspects can be applied to this core in the following ways:
Expansion Aspect. The spell affects all targets in a 10 ft sphere, or increases the radius by 5 ft in the case that the spell already has a radius. If the spell would normally require a touch attack , targets are entitled to a Reflex save for half damage. This requires (X) customization points.
Heighten Aspect. The spell's cap on effective caster level for determining effect increases by five. This requires (Y) customization points.
Empower Aspect. Any dice rolled to determine the spell's effect increase by one step. This requires (Z) customization points.
Health Core:
A spell created from this core heals 1d6 damage per class level (Max 5d6) to a single target at touch range. Undead and other creatures damaged by positive energy must be hit with a touch attack to be affected.
Aspects can be applied to this core in the following ways:
Expansion Aspect. The spell affects all targets in a 10 ft sphere, or increases the radius by 5 ft in the case that the spell already has a radius. Rather than a ranged touch attack, targets are entitled to a Reflex save for half damage. This requires (X) customization points.
Heighten Aspect. The spell's cap on effective caster level for determining effect increases by five. This requires (Y) customization points.
Empower Aspect. Any dice rolled to determine the spell's effect increase by one step. This requires (Z) customization points.

So you can re-use the same aspects for multiple cores, rather than what spheres does.
Is there anything like that already existing? Spheres of power is close, but not quite right as far as I can tell.

For pricing out damage effects, you might take a look at the Expanded Psionics Handbook (or the SRD (https://www.d20srd.org/indexes/psionicPowers.htm) version, specifically all the stuff starting with "Energy").

In that system, each power is an "area" type, and you pay for extra damage.

Also, each of the four damage types has a bonus:
- Fire inflicts +1 damage per die
- Cold inflicts +1 damage per die, and imposes a Fort save (not Reflex)
- Electricity save DC is +2 from baseline (or an attack bonus), and +2 to overcome SR
- Sonic reduces damage by -1 per die, but is a rare damage resistance and ignores object hardness

Each area type has a level requirement -- the power level -- so that's effectively guidance on how to price each area effect.