[PF/3.5]Spreading the Magic

[Another_Poet]

Hi everyone,

Here is a rule I am considering for future games. I occurred to me as I was posting a new "Personal" range spell in the homebrew forum - whereas most buff spells are at least available to the party fighter via the party caster, "personal" spells never are (until a wondrous item or wand + UMD are affordable), which further limits fighters' options in combat.

I think this rule might spread the magic love around, and in the process, give a lot more options to the fighter class without taking anything away from casters.

Feat: Martial Magic
Prereq: Fighter level 1
Benefit: Choose any three 0-level or 1st-level spells with a range of Personal from the Sor/Wiz and Clr spell lists. You can now spontaneously cast those spells in any combination up to a total of (Con bonus) times per day. The save DC, if applicable, is 10 + spell level + Con modifier. You can take this feat multiple times, choosing new spells each time.

Feat: Spirit Warrior
Prereq: Barbarian level 1
Benefit: Choose any three 0-level or 1st-level spells with a range of Personal from the Sor/Wiz and Drd spell lists. You can now spontaneously cast those spells in any combination up to a total of (Con bonus) times per day. The save DC, if applicable, is 10 + spell level + Con modifier. You can take this feat multiple times, choosing new spells each time.

Feat: Martial Magic II
Prereq: Fighter level 3
Benefit: Choose any three 2nd level or lower spells with a range of Personal from the Sor/Wiz and Clr spell lists.....

Feat: Spirit Warrior
Prereq: Barbarian level 1
Benefit: Choose any three 2nd level or lower spells with a range of Personal from the Sor/Wiz and Drd spell lists.....

And so on with III being 3rd level personal spells at Ftr/Brb5, IV being 4th level at Ftr/Brb7, etc.

I freely admit that these feats are more powerful than existing means (such as rogue talents) for melee types to gain spells. They are not "balanced" with other feats, they are meant to make Fighter and Barbarian more balanced with full casters.

What does the Playground think? Would this be a fun & useful house rule?

ap

[PId6]

To stave off entry hax, you might want to change those to SLAs rather than actual spells (with a proviso that you still have to spend XP/expensive material components if it's required). Spells also have the problems of arcane spell failure and needing high ability scores. SLAs just make things so much neater.

My problem with these is that they're incredibly powerful, and allow for many of the same broken shenanigans on melee characters that casters have. With feats like these, every fighter/barbarian will be sporting Alter Self, Contingency, Draconic Polymorph, Time Stop, Shapechange, etc, before sorcerers get them, and with as many or more uses than wizards initially. You're also making it so that any optimal melee builds need to spend all their feats on magic, since these are just way better than nearly all other feats.