Another spellcasting thought

[Naszir]

Limit spellcasting to number of spells you can cast per level instead of cast per day.

You'd have to balance this out by possibly giving a caster a reliable power similar to a warlocks eldritch blast that doesn't count against spells cast per level.

Maybe make a mechanic that allows a caster to exceed the spells cast per level but at a significant cost.

Cantrips could still be limited to per day.

I know, no magic wand. Sometimes you just have to throw shit out there and see what sticks.

[shau]

The problem with that is that you have to enforce leveling at a constant rate to ensure that mages don't run out of gas. If you play like I always did and change XP charts so that the middle levels (the so called sweet spot of DnD) last for a while everything goes to hell. It also encourages high level wizards to go back and grind on kobolds or something if they run out of spells.

[Naszir]

It make Reserve Feats more interesting and like I said you'd have to give spellcasters a reliable power like eldritch blast that scales with their spellcasting level.

[Username17]

Not one step back!

Since characters would be unable to cast any more spells ever if they didn't win in the final confrontation, they seriously might as well just kill themselves and start new characters if they don't in.

Never retreat, never surrender. Fight until victory or death be your reward!

-Username17

[Naszir]

What about a reliable power that can still be used and Reserve Feats?

The reliable power could also have feats associated with it that allow it to be added to or have it do different effects. I guess this is not unlike merging the Warlock and Wizard together.

Let's not forget scrolls as well.

[Bigode]

I know, no magic wand. Sometimes you just have to throw shit out there and see what sticks.

Wrong. You've to not make shit.

What about a reliable power that can still be used and Reserve Feats?

The reliable power could also have feats associated with it that allow it to be added to or have it do different effects. I guess this is not unlike merging the Warlock and Wizard together.

Let's not forget scrolls as well.

The way to make reserve feats not suck's to make reserve feats not suck (maybe I needed to be reminded about doing that), not make them the way to merely suck instead of being useless. And yeah, we want more of characters either using the same crap all the time, or using equipment not particularly related to what they actually know.

Also this.

[TarkisFlux]

Limited spells per level is a terrible plan, but what's wrong with reducing their spells per day and supplementing with at-will effects similar to the reserve feats (but given for free) or Warlock (but expanded)?

[Bigode]

Nothing, if done correctly. I even attempted that, see here. But implementing other rules for the purpose of making reserve feats interesting's a really bad idea - making reserve feats be good in themselves isn't.

[RandomCasualty2]

I've though of doing a solution like this for spellcasting. It actually encourages a lot of heroic stuff that you want, like getting rid of the 5 minute workday, and it makes the resource depletion paradigm a lot more stable, instead of the current set up where a PC party may or may not have its spell drained in the final encounter.

Though I think spells per day for everything is a bit harsh, just because it means that sometimes a caster may be totally useless for a given battle. I actually think the 4E paradigm may be the best, except swap out "daily" with "per level". Most of your utility magic like scrying and teleport could be per level, which encourages people to adventure as opposed to just sit in a tower spamming scry.

[Crissa]

I'm all for at-will or once-per-minute spell conversions.

But I'm still wondering on how to graft in a good method to reduce alpha-striking.

A game I'm currently playing gives bonuses to spells by how many times your team has struck an enemy team since the last special ability. Of course, what that means is you benefit hugely from very fast, light attacks; and slow attacks therefore need to be almost as powerful as special attacks.

-Crissa

[Bigode]

I'm all for at-will or once-per-minute spell conversions.

Plan for non-combat magic?

[Draco_Argentum]

Non-combat magic works pretty well if you get the slot back after 24 hours. The difficulty is spells that are combat and non-combat, like charm. That can't be allowed as an at will because it messes up non-combat usages with spam.

[Crissa]

...Or you can change how the spell works and limit the number of people that spell can work on 'you can only have one person charmed at any one time' or 'this spell can only be attempted once per person' or all sorts of solutions which are probably better than ones relating to 'you can cast speak with animals three times a day'.

I would limit the number of spells you can have as at-will, (does anyone worry about a sorcerer casting a single spell near infinitely?) while key spells or spellbook spells could come from a limited pool of slots; in other words, you're limited at your breadth at any one time.

Suggestions would be 'exchange a spell slot to cast a single spell at will' upon leveling; or 'cast one evocation spell at will for the whole day'; or 'once per minute you can cast a spell n levels above your at-will spells'.

Some spells would fit the conversion nicely - no one cares how many fireballs you have, for instance - and some will take tweaking like charm. And some no one wants to fill their limited spells with at-will versions of, like wizard's lock or resistance.

-Crissa

[Bigode]

Not for divination/teleportation, I suppose.