A few system thoughts... [3.5 "Rewrite", PEACH]

[Amechra]

Alright, I'm going to start work on a new system fix for 3.5.

Salient Parts
-Only 15 levels long. Why? Because, as people have said before, that is the point where the math starts to fall apart. Also, I like the number 15, for some other reasons.

-CL will removed and replaced by Base Magic Level and Magic Bonus (BML and MB, respectively). Base Magic Level will function as a magical BAB; as such, there will be only one level for casting.

-You know how I said there would be only one level of casting. I wasn't lying. Casting isn't associated with any one group of classes. I know, I know, it is kinda "whuh?", but the basic idea boils down to: "magic is a bloodline (see UA or Welkneir elegant works", which functions off of BML instead of actual level. (with a neeto reducing mechanism. See that later.)

-BAB and BML goes from Poor (+1/3 per level), to Average (+2/3 per level), to Good (+1 per level). As to BML, having a Least Magical "Bloodline" results in every level being treated as 1/3, having a Lesser results in every level being treated as it's own value or +2/3, whichever is worse, while Major just uses the value as written.

-HP is based of BAB, following the following table (If BAB is equal to 0, no bonus HP is given):

Spoiler

Show

{table=head]Constitution Modifier|+1|+2|+3|+4|+5|+6|+7|+8|+9|+10|+11|+12|+1 3|+14|+15

<1|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0|+0

+1|+0|+1|+1|+2|+2|+3|+3|+4|+4|+5|+5|+6|+6|+7|+7

+2|+1|+2|+3|+4|+5|+6|+7|+8|+9|+10|+11|+12|+13|+14| +15

+3|+1|+3|+4|+6|+7|+9|+10|+12|+13|+15|+16|+18|+19|+ 21|+22

+4|+2|+4|+6|+8|+10|+12|+14|+16|+18|+20|+22|+24|+26 |+28|+30

+5|+2|+5|+7|+10|+12|+15|+17|+20|+22|+25|+27|+30|+3 2|+35|+37

+6|+3|+6|+9|+12|+15|+18|+21|+24|+27|+30|+33|+36|+3 9|+42|+45

+7|+3|+7|+10|+14|+17|+21|+24|+28|+31|+35|+38|+42|+ 45|+49|+52

+8|+4|+8|+12|+16|+20|+24|+28|+32|+36|+40|+44|+48|+ 52|+56|+60

+9|+4|+9|+13|+18|+22|+27|+31|+36|+40|+45|+49|+54|+ 58|+63|+67[/table]

*Just quickly: This is meant to help blasters out. One of the reasons they don't work as an archetype in 3.5 is that people just have WAY too many hit-points. A 5th level 3.5 character with a Constitution of 16 will have 15 extra hit-points, on top of his HP from HD (which can range from an average of 14 to 38, by the way.) At this level, your average blaster is doing an average of 17.5 damage a round. Doesn't seem too bad, right? How about at level 15? Same character has 45 extra HP from his Constitution (assuming he was stupid, and didn't increase his Constitution; if you are looking for that value, 24 is a safe number to use, resulting in a whopping 105 extra HP), along with between an average 39 and 103 HP from HD. Your average blaster is doing around 52.5 damage. This is a problem.

Using this system, that 15th level character with a Constitution of 24 would have only 52 extra HP, a much more exciting number (a higher damage/HP ratio tends to be more exciting, as there is more of a threat.

I will add more later.

[Domriso]

Actually, I really like that idea of a Base Magic Level. Why shouldn't it scale like other forms? Though, I might separate divine and arcane or the like.

[Siosilvar]

HP table boils down to "½ x BAB x Con mod".

And here's tables for 1/3 and 2/3 if anybody needs to see them:
{table=head]Level | Medium | Poor
1|0|0
2|1|0
3|2|1
4|2|1
5|3|1
6|4|2
7|4|2
8|5|2
9|6|3
10|6|3
11|7|3
12|8|4
13|8|4
14|9|4
15|10|5[/table]

[Amechra]

So what if I like hiding my math under a little pretention...

I might make a separate Arcane and Divine BML, though, since most people will only be able to grab one or the other...

Also, having BML means that I can rewrite Divine Wrath to just swap BML and BAB for a short amount of time. Yay!

[Yitzi]

Definitely interesting, although looks to me like it's different enough from 3.5 (or any D&D version for that matter) to really be its own system rather than a rewrite.

Also, one problem: If magic is always as a bloodline, then how do you represent someone who got their magical ability through study or calling on a higher power rather than inborn talent? Or is that not possible in your setting?

[Timeless Error]

I'd say the math is already starting to fall apart (not wholly, but it's already beginning to get out of whack) around level 8 or so, but I guess that it's approximately level 15 is when it gets really bad.

Since you're tampering around with the way magic works, you may have thought of this already, but as it stands, wizards will be head and shoulders over sorcerers due to the fact that they gain access to level 8 spells and sorcerers don't get there until level 16 (which they'll never reach, due to the cutoff). However, since magic is clearly undergoing some drastic alterations already, this little insight is probably completely irrelevant.

Similarly, you might have to shift around the levels that some class features are gained at so you can make sure everyone gets something when they hit their final level of advancement. Which reminds me, is this an "E15" sort of system, where characters gain bonus feats every so often so that they can continue growing, or do you have a system for epic levels in the works?

Overall, I like what you've done, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.