A new spell system: a "token" based wizard

Here is a work in progress, a wizard that uses a token system to cast spells rather than being limited by spells per day.

As a part of my ongoing quest to find a replacement for the spell slot system, I'm going to present my newest creation: the token wizard. A token wizard uses most of the same rules as the traditional wizard, but casts all of his spells out of a reserve of magical energy that he can replenish between encounters.

The token wizard is intended to be balanced in terms of the encounter rather than in terms of the number of encounters you are expected to have in a day.

Here's the cliff notes description of the token system:

The token wizard receives a pool of tokens equal to his wizard level plus his intelligence modifier. Tokens can be in one of three states: available (ready to cast spells), in-use (actively powering a spell) or spent (used with a spell whose effects have ended).

It takes approximately five minutes of rest and concentration to refresh the spell pool, where tokens that are spent become available for use. Any tokens that are in-use stay that way until their spells end, so the token mage can't simply cast an unlimited number of duration based spells.

Casting a spell costs one token per spell level, so a first level spell costs one token, a second level spell costs two and so on. When a spell is cast, it does not always take effect at its full caster level, if you wish to cast a first level spell at caster level 10, for example, you have to spend tokens as if you were casting a 5th level spell (i.e., 5 of them).

There are some BIG changes to the dynamics of how spells work under this system, and it's also a fairly long document. Let me know what you think... and thanks much for any comments.

It might be useful to talk about some goals before suggesting you download this file. My goals were:

Increase power of low level wizards
Reduce power of higher level wizards
Increase flexibility of choice available to wizards
Make metamagic more useful
Eliminate the slot system so a wizard can participate in as many or as few encounters in a day as the GM devises.
Because of the above, make the wizard a more generic character, who is balanced by what he can do at any one point, rather than on a daily basis.
Eliminate the possibility of true unlimited casting, a necessity if you do not completely change the power level of magic.


Version 1.1: Mostly cosmetic changes, swift action reference, expended token status.
Version 1.15: Reworded the main section on spending tokens to clarify how they're used.
Version 1.2: Updated recharge costs to reflect a more standard use for concentration, modified recharge rules for in-combat to simplify them (full-round action recovers tokens that allow you to cast your highest level spell). Included rules for fatigue and exhaustion as a possible balance for the class.

--Steve

I like the idea. I have a suggestion for replenishment that might work all around. Make it take more time each successve time. So the first two times take five minutes, the second takes 15, the third takes thirty, and all following take an hour. ... Or something like that.

Very nice document. One quibble; under recovering tokens in combat, you allow high level wizards to recover a token with a free action. I hope this can be done only 1/round, in which case you should call it a swift action. Or add a note to say that it is only 1/round, like casting a quickened spell.

I estimate this wizard to be about 1/5 as strong, magically, as a standard wizard in a single encounter. So a standard wizard who has to pace himself would be about the same as a token wizard. Except that standard wizards can pull out all the stops; conversely, a token wizard can handle many, many encounters per day. I think the advantage would be slightly for a traditional wizard, but the d6 hit dice might make up for it. I estimate that they are very closely balanced.

However, there are some problems. Instantaneous spells and permanent spells are the first to come to mind. Permanent spells because the tokens are *never* recovered. Maybe there should be some rule that tokens devoted to a permanent spell eventually recover, maybe the next time you regain spells. The same is true for spells that last for days/level. A bigger problem is instantaneous spells.

Instantaneous spells are problematic because they can be cast hundreds of times a day. A 12th level wizard can cast disintegrate 1/round from sun-up to sun-down. Or cast miles and miles of walls of stone. If you want to have PC wizards in the mid to high levels, you have to consider how you will handle these powers.

Save negates spells could be problematic in some circumstances, too. A party takes a captive, and the wizard starts casting suggestion on the captive. The captive makes the save 20 times, but the wizard keeps casting it. Finally the captive fails the save. The whole process takes maybe 5 minutes. A standard wizard would take days to get to this point; the discrepancy could be a problem. The demand spell is similar- a token wizard can repeat the demand over and over until the victim fails.

Cheiromancer said:

Very nice document. One quibble; under recovering tokens in combat, you allow high level wizards to recover a token with a free action. I hope this can be done only 1/round, in which case you should call it a swift action. Or add a note to say that it is only 1/round, like casting a quickened spell.

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A very good point. This should be a swift action. I'll update the document when I have a little bit more to add to it. Thanks!

I estimate this wizard to be about 1/5 as strong, magically, as a standard wizard in a single encounter. So a standard wizard who has to pace himself would be about the same as a token wizard. Except that standard wizards can pull out all the stops; conversely, a token wizard can handle many, many encounters per day. I think the advantage would be slightly for a traditional wizard, but the d6 hit dice might make up for it. I estimate that they are very closely balanced.

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That's what I was going for in mid to high levels. For low levels, the token wizard is actually a little more powerful, but I tend to think of wizards as being balanced by "too weak at low levels, too powerful at high levels." This is my attempt to balance things out.

However, there are some problems. Instantaneous spells and permanent spells are the first to come to mind. Permanent spells because the tokens are *never* recovered. Maybe there should be some rule that tokens devoted to a permanent spell eventually recover, maybe the next time you regain spells. The same is true for spells that last for days/level. A bigger problem is instantaneous spells.

Instantaneous spells are problematic because they can be cast hundreds of times a day. A 12th level wizard can cast disintegrate 1/round from sun-up to sun-down. Or cast miles and miles of walls of stone. If you want to have PC wizards in the mid to high levels, you have to consider how you will handle these powers.

Save negates spells could be problematic in some circumstances, too. A party takes a captive, and the wizard starts casting suggestion on the captive. The captive makes the save 20 times, but the wizard keeps casting it. Finally the captive fails the save. The whole process takes maybe 5 minutes. A standard wizard would take days to get to this point; the discrepancy could be a problem. The demand spell is similar- a token wizard can repeat the demand over and over until the victim fails.

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These are some excellent comments. I am not exactly sure how to handle permanent effects, as no one decided to use them during playtesting. I think it may have something to do with how often NPC wizards cast dispel magic in my campaigns. Off the top of my head, I think I'd say that any spells that cost XP go into the "spent" pool automatically, since they have a different and more permanent cost to them.

As far as casting instantaneous spells all day long, there is a slight balancing issue with the time need to recover and recharge the pool. An 11th level wizard with an Int of 24 could cast disintegrate 3 times before having to recharge their pool, which would take the five minutes. They would also have to carry a heck of a lot of lodestones with them . Still, your point is a good one. This is another issue that didn't arise in playtesting, although the suggestion was made about limiting the total number of recharges per day to the GM's campaign encounter levels. In this way, you could limit the caster to 3 or 4 recharges if that was desired. Much to think about!

Thanks for your EXCELLENT suggestions!

--Steve

I like this system. It is a simpler version of the Recharge magic system from UA.

In terms of permanent spells, I think that they should become spent when the wizard prepares spells for the next day, as suggested above. I agree that XP cost spells have their own deterent and should be spent immediately.

In terms of limiting the ability of wizards to refresh, perhaps offer an alternate rule that every time a wizard refreshes during the day, he refreshes one fewer token, to a minimum of 1 token per refresh. Essentially, the first "Spent" Token of any given refresh is set aside until the wizard rests and prepares spells. That way it becomes a slow spiral of degeneration, similar to fighters with hit points. Essentially, applying the idea of diminishing returns.

I actually think that the ability to freely cast 0-level spells offsets many other factors (especially considering ray of frost and acid splash). Raising the HD to d6 may be unnecessary.

Just my thoughts.

DC

SteveC said:

As far as casting instantaneous spells all day long, there is a slight balancing issue with the time need to recover and recharge the pool. An 11th level wizard with an Int of 24 could cast disintegrate 3 times before having to recharge their pool, which would take the five minutes.

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So he can't use 4 full actions to recharge those tokens? I realize that table 4 is for use in combat, but it seems strange to think that it is easier/faster to recover tokens in the midst of battle than when you have peace and quiet around. How about when you are trying to charm a captive? Do you have to take 5 minutes between attempts at "persuasion" or can you just take a few full actions?

Upon reflection, though, I think I see the point. Combat is strenuous, and you can't maintain that pace all day. A wizard probably should treat table 4 like running, and the 5 minute recharge rule like hustling. So you just can't use table 4 all day long. In fact, if a wizard spends hours on the recharge/cast cycle, that should start causing non-lethal damage, as per the rules regarding overland travel. Unlike the damage from overland travel, I'd suggest that this damage be magical in nature, and must be healed naturally.

Not that the 5 minute rule really provides an effective limit on the numbers of spells; at 3/5 minutes, a 12th level wizard can cast 270 6th level spells in an 8 hour work day (vs 2055 if he can recharge in 4 rounds). As you say, a heck of a lot of lodestones! It might be wise to take eschew materials, just to avoid arguments with the DM about how easy it is to restock one's spell component pouch, and what the capacity of the pouch is.

I was going to suggest putting a nominal value on these spell components (maybe 1 sp/ spell level) but the book-keeping is a headache. And it really doesn't help when the wizard is hired to build a 15 foot high stone wall across the kingdom. He just has the king supply the little granite blocks and the 180 gp they cost. (The wizard can make about 1 mile of wall per day, I think, using the 3/5 minute rule. If his labor is essentially volunteer, that's an incredible savings over building the wall without magic.)

The limits on recharges/day threatens to take away one of the selling points of this system; that a wizard should always stop and recharge between encounters, no matter how many encounters there are in a day; that a wizard can always be at full strength. (kinda like a warlock) Making it 3+int bonus or something would kinda ruin it. Making each recharge do 1 less than the previous is equally problematic.

Still, if only to deal with permanent spells, you might need to develop a 4th state that tokens can be in; spent until after the next rest period.

Thanks for your EXCELLENT suggestions!

--Steve

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You're welcome, Steve.

Cheiromancer said:

So he can't use 4 full actions to recharge those tokens? I realize that table 4 is for use in combat, but it seems strange to think that it is easier/faster to recover tokens in the midst of battle than when you have peace and quiet around. How about when you are trying to charm a captive? Do you have to take 5 minutes between attempts at "persuasion" or can you just take a few full actions?

Upon reflection, though, I think I see the point. Combat is strenuous, and you can't maintain that pace all day. A wizard probably should treat table 4 like running, and the 5 minute recharge rule like hustling. So you just can't use table 4 all day long. In fact, if a wizard spends hours on the recharge/cast cycle, that should start causing non-lethal damage, as per the rules regarding overland travel. Unlike the damage from overland travel, I'd suggest that this damage be magical in nature, and must be healed naturally.

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You've got it: the idea is that recharging with the five minute charge up period represents a gradual refilling of the pool, and doesn't need any die rolls to do, while the in combat recharge requires a concentration check to be successful. Some of the playtesters suggested adding damage (1D6 subdual per token you were attempting to recover), but the general consensus was that wasting an action and still being unable to cast further spells was more than enough of a penalty.

Not that the 5 minute rule really provides an effective limit on the numbers of spells; at 3/5 minutes, a 12th level wizard can cast 270 6th level spells in an 8 hour work day (vs 2055 if he can recharge in 4 rounds). As you say, a heck of a lot of lodestones! It might be wise to take eschew materials, just to avoid arguments with the DM about how easy it is to restock one's spell component pouch, and what the capacity of the pouch is.

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Another good point. The "five minute" rule was really put into place as something of a compromise so that there was some recharge needed, but the wizard could use his spells in every encounter. The exact time frame could easily be adjusted, and it's something I will have to think about.

The limits on recharges/day threatens to take away one of the selling points of this system; that a wizard should always stop and recharge between encounters, no matter how many encounters there are in a day; that a wizard can always be at full strength. (kinda like a warlock) Making it 3+int bonus or something would kinda ruin it. Making each recharge do 1 less than the previous is equally problematic.

Still, if only to deal with permanent spells, you might need to develop a 4th state that tokens can be in; spent until after the next rest period.

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That's the idea: removing the "you have these tokens available in an encounter" makes the class just another variant on a wizard or other spell slot character. I'm going to have to think about what you've written, however, because I think it's a good point. My gut reaction is to give the token wizard his normal set of tokens for encounters, and then give another set for use in general. The idea would be that tokens spent outside of combat only refresh when you rest. I would still keep any tokens in-use for spells that you cast with a duration.

This makes things a little more complicated than I like, and it's largely meta gaming, which I don't normally like, but I think it would work.

Comments?

SteveC said:

The "five minute" rule was really put into place as something of a compromise so that there was some recharge needed, but the wizard could use his spells in every encounter. The exact time frame could easily be adjusted, and it's something I will have to think about.

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I was thinking that 15 minutes would help reduce the "cast spells all day" exploit by a factor of three, which would certainly help. But five minutes is a nice timeframe. Five minutes is short enough that some 1 minute/level spells by non-token spellcasters will still have some duration left. It is also enough time for non-spellcasters to take 20 on search checks for a few key areas. At mid to high levels efficient adventurers will be keeping track of time on this scale, and people will generally have enough to do; nobody will feel that their time is being wasted. But if 5 minutes is just right, 15 minutes will often be too long.

I wonder if we can have the best of both worlds by saying that a wizard can recover their tokens about 1 minute of concentration per token. After a short encounter the party can move on after five minutes or so, while a major encounter will require a longer rest; people would understand and respect that, I think. Besides, it takes longer to loot all the bodies and check for secret doors after a major battle; lots of time for the wizard to get his tokens back.

You should mention that while it looks restful, it is a bit of a strain on a wizard to channel energy back into the tokens; maybe equivalent to hustling. PCs who try the "cast all day" exploit can thus be warned that they will take subdual damage, become fatigued, etc. (I don't know what set of rules to adapt for this; overland movement, or environmental conditions, or both?)

Using table 4 would thus be even more strenuous; I'd say it would be, at best, about half as efficient as resting. Maybe each use could be as tiring as 10 minutes of regular recharging, even though you get back a lot less than 10 tokens. If people want to use the mechanics from table 4 outside of combat they can, but they have to keep score to see when fatigue damage will set in. They would only use this mechanic once or twice in a typical encounter, so these calculations wouldn't have to interfere with the flow of battle.

SteveC said:

The idea would be that tokens spent outside of combat only refresh when you rest. I would still keep any tokens in-use for spells that you cast with a duration.

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The metagame distinction between time in combat and time out of combat is *not* a good basis for game effects. The fact that party stays in initiative order shouldn't affect whether tokens spent during that time are gone for the day or not.

And the logic is backwards from what in-game expectations should be; casting spells during combat should be more wasteful of the wizard's energy than spells cast under controlled conditions. If tokens are going to be lost during the day, logic would predict that they are the ones spent during combat, not ones spent out of combat.

I guess I'm saying that it wouldn't feel right to do it that way.

Tokens spent on permanent spells, really, any spell whose duration is longer than a day, should come back after one day. It would make sense that spells that create permanent effects should take a day to recharge as well. In other words, I am arguing that spells like wall of stone are really permanent, not instantaneous; they are just labelled instantaneous because they can't be dispelled afterwards.

And so I guess I would recommend that spells that "count as permanent" have tokens that recharge only after 1 day. I'd then go through the SRD and make a list of those instantaneous spells that fall into this category. I doubt there are many of them. DMs could then make rulings on non-SRD spells on a case by case basis.

That by itself resolves the "mile long wall of stone" problem. But I would revise the recharging rules as stated above so that a metagame distinction between in combat and out of combat doesn't have to be maintained. If people want to use table 4 to recharge, they can; but it tires them out a lot faster than using the regular method.

Ok. I went through the Instantaneous spells that I thought could be problematic if cast dozens of times a day. Most of them are controlled with long casting times like simulacrum or move earth, or by their material or xp components, like animate dead or clone. Some are cleric or druid spells. If you make a "token cleric" you'll have to watch out for create water (cantrip- can be used infinitely) and all the curing/healing spells. Token druids might be too powerful with infinite plant growth and soften earth and stone spells.

Anyways, these are the wizard/sorcerer spells that seem most in need of using daily tokens, like a permanent spell would use, instead of a rechargeable token, like most spells use:

Demand
Disintegrate (applied to objects- applied to creatures uses a rechargeable token)
Fabricate
Nightmare
Stone Shape
Stone to Flesh
Wall of Iron
Wall of Stone

Demand and nightmare are special cases. They aren't limited by range, so can be cast on targets who can't fight back. That's ok if it's once or twice or three times, but 20 times or more is a little much.

The other spells are ones that directly create, destroy, reshape or alter the properties of physical objects. Not indirectly, by inflicting damage on them, as, say, a fireball does, but directly. Such spells should use a daily token. Spells like the druid's wood shape would fall in the same category; so would a spell that permanently instantaneously improves an item's hardness, for example.

For your reference, the mechanics for hustle are as follows:

Hustle: A character can hustle for 1 hour without a problem. Hustling for a second hour in between sleep cycles deals 1 point of nonlethal damage, and each additional hour deals twice the damage taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued.

A fatigued character can’t run or charge and takes a penalty of –2 to Strength and Dexterity. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

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Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted.

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So if you are fatigued and take more nonlethal damage from hustling, you become exhausted. I don't know what happens after that- I guess you stay that way?

Treat recharging as hustling, and incombat (rapid) recharging as 10 minutes of hustling. So you are good as long as you don't overdo it. And as I suggested earlier, damage from excessive recharging should only be curable by natural means, not by magic.

There are some great ideas here, and it's definitely worth further work and testing. The whole token mechanic is sublimely perfect for magic, and I was astonished to hear that Iron Heroes' Arcanist class actually wouldn't be using it. Somebody's got to come up with a token-based spellcaster, and this is looking like a great possibility.