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May 2, 2012 -- 8:41PM, thorbardin wrote:

 
1) ars magica  for free form spell creation.  Verb + noun was a very creative, novel spell making engine that required player imagination and ingenuity. 

Basically a skill based magic system, the rote spells still existed (ie predefined spell list) but the skills were exploited when you wanted to go beyond it and might be prequisites for specific spells . .ie they could be the meat and drink of improvised magic...having just arcana for page 42 with magic is comparatively bland.

Apr 30, 2012 -- 4:53PM, draegn wrote:

An idea:

Drop the concept of spell levels. Simply have spells, that a wizard can cast at any level equal to or less than his or her caster class level. Have spells increase in power if they are cast at a higher level. Give the wizard a waiting time for higher level cast spells equal to the level cast at.

Take the 2nd Chromatic Orb (I prefer 1st ed as there were 12 levels instead of 9, gave us more to look forward to as we leveled)


Table 16: Chromatic Orb Effects

Level of         Color of Orb         Hit Points         Special
Caster           Generated           of Damage       Power
1st                   White                   1-4                Light
2nd                  Red                      1-6                Heat
3rd                  Orange                 1-8                Fire
4th                  Yellow                   1-10              Blindness
5th                  Green                   1-12              Stinking Cloud
6th                  Turquoise             2-8                Magnetism
7th                  Blue                      2-16              Paralysis
8th                  Violet                    slow              Petrification
9th                  Black                     paralysis       Death

Let the caster cast the 1st level version all he or she wants, but if he or she casts the 9th level version he or she has to wait 9 rounds before casting the 9th level version again.  

So you propose a kind of MMO type "cooldown" system for spells that don't basically have any levels. But giving spells cooldown means monitoring all those cooldowns round by round by the player and/or DM. It will be a taxing issue once you hit the upper experience levels and in big fights. And I think it will be illogical to make the cooldowns in units of rounds. Casting a 9th level death spell in every 54 seconds, from dawn to dusk? I think no.

Your initial approach is quite good, though. I was also thinking about designing the spells without levels. But instead of any cooldown, i was thinking of spending spell points to cast spells at a given level. These spell points are based on intelligence and constitution and at 1st level you have spell points equal to double the sum of your int and con modifiers. You gain spell points equal to your int modifier when you level up. By spending these spell points you cast spells at a level you want. Spend 3 points to cast a spell as a 3rd level, spend another 5 to cast another at 5th level etc. You still memorize spells but how much powerful they are depends on your spell point allocation. What happens when you're out of points? You simply regain a quarter of your spell points per hour of noncombat activity. If you can manage to put enough inactive time between your combat encounters, you can avoid running out of spells. If you do, you can still spend your actual constitution as if it is spell points to cast more spells. If your constitution reaches zero, though, you are exhausted and need a full rest to recover.

May 3, 2012 -- 7:30AM, SAR101 wrote:

This is how I'd like the Sorcerers and other spontaneous casters to play. The overchanneling mechanic seems like something they'd (they be sorcerers) do.
But it isn't for wizards. For wizards the spells per day idea worked well (well, well enough). Personally I think all that you need to do to fix the wizard is make it more costly to learn new spells (in 3.x you only learned two at level up, 3 if you were a specialist) as oppossed to just walking into a bookstore and going I need one of this and that. Sure a wizard could buff himself into a oblivion still but the oppurtunity cost to do so and be on par in melee with a fighter are utility spells and evocations. Make a wizard learning a new spell something to prized and sought after like a fighter who finds a magical longsword. Sure this doesn't solve all the problems but it lowers the curve.

Very much agreed. But I also think that other classes could be given unique, if perhaps, far more abstract rewards of equally great importance.

Several examples:

- A sorcerer could unlock some of his latent powers by defeating a dragon or some other powerful magic foe.
- A Cleric may gain some divine inspiration when meditating during his deity's holiday.
- A fighter might be taught some special moves after rescuing the over-adventurous son of a master in forbidden martial arts.