How about this idea: At-Will/Encounter/Daily for EACH spell

[RangerWickett]

Maybe some spells, when you cast them, give you the ability to either create one big effect, or to have an at-will power for the spell's duration.

So "Invoke Imix the Fire Lord" would either shoot an explosive fireball, or let you fling at-will fire bolts for 5 minutes.

Also, depending on how the game balances fighters, I wouldn't mind some sort of way to "gather mana." You can spend a standard action to get one mana. Your caster level determines the maximum amount of mana you can have at any one time.

You can cast your spells at their lowest power level at-will, or you can spend mana to make them a little more powerful. Or you can fully expend the spell for its greatest power. This would roughly emulate "encounter" powers, without putting an arbitrary limit like "you can only cast every 5 minutes." If you want to, you could cast encounter powers every other round by taking turns charging your mana and then casting.

 

[Stormonu]

So long as you can't "hold a charge" by pre-accumilating mana before an encounter starts, that wouldn't be a bad system.

If, however, you could open an encounter up with a nova strike regularly, that would be bad.

 

[Stormonu]

Wait, what I want to know is, if you can use a mystical force to open a door, why can't you use it offensively? Can you imagine what it could do to a creature's internal organs? Knock should work as follows:

<snip>

Brought to you by: the unholy union of rules lawyering, overthinking magic and ensuring all abilities are useful in combat.

Please, just no. I hope that was in jest, but spells should not exist in the game solely because they have an in-combat use.

 

[AlioTheFool]

I'd say Psionic Power Augmentation from Expanded Psionic Handbook is the best way to do that. Get the basic spell for the basic cost, or put additional spell points into it to beef up the effect considerably. You learn the spell once and any time you cast it you can decide on the fly if you want it basic or with upgrades from augmentation or metamagic.

I have been campaigning for magic to work this way for years now. I don't have any experience with pre-4E psionics, but I've long argued that the 4E psionics system is what I'd like to see for magic.

Every spell (or almost every, since there would likely be a number of exceptions in a Wizard's spell list) would have an at-will status. Most at-wills could then be enhanced via some manner of point expenditure. So a spellcaster could fire off a Flame Dart every round, spend a point to turn it into Burning Hands, or spend 2 points to fling a Fireball.

This might change spell-levels a bit, though it wouldn't necessarily overly expand spell lists. As above, Burning Hands and Fireball are already spells in the game. They are completely separate, but could be linked going forward. Perhaps this would mean that some spells are unavailable for casting in "upgraded form" until the spellcaster is a higher level? I could see that argument as valid.

Beyond that, I'd like to see this system expanded beyond spellcasters as well. I still firmly believe the answer to "I want my fighter to be awesome too" is to give the classes that people feel are wanting more interesting options. If a fighter has an at-will "I Hit It With My Sword" that she can then spend a point to boost to "I Hit THEM With My Sword" or two points to boost it to "I CLEAVE THEM WITH MY SWORD" doesn't that seem like a better answer than "Can you just stop the Wizard from casting cool spells to take my spotlight?"

I still stand on my opinion that we should be making every class more interesting, and therefore fun to play. I believe I wrote a blog post a couple of months ago about the above, but I'm about to run to work so I don't have time to check. Either way, I think this is how we make the game fun for everyone, not just the Wizards, not just the Clerics, not just the Fighters, Druids, Rogues, or whoever. Everyone.

 

[Remathilis]

I wouldn't mind some (not all) spells having an "at will" component that, as long as you keep the spell prepped, you could use at will.

Some examples.

Magic Missile: At Will: do 1d4 damage a round. CAST: 1d4+Int, 1 missile /2 levels .
Fireball: At Will: 2d4 damage in a 5' radius. CAST: 5d6+Int in a 20' radius.
Comprehend Languages: At will: gain 1 bonus language CAST: Speak/Understand ALL languages for 1 hour/lvl
Teleport: At Will: blink to any space within line of sight. CAST: Travel with allies to a predetermined spot.
Shield: At Will +1 AC CAST: +4 to AC, +6 vs. Ranged attacks.

So you had a choice: do you cast fireball early to wipe out those goblins and lose your at-will fire attack, or save it until you REALLY need it?

 

[AlioTheFool]

I wouldn't mind some (not all) spells having an "at will" component that, as long as you keep the spell prepped, you could use at will.

Some examples.

Magic Missile: At Will: do 1d4 damage a round. CAST: 1d4+Int, 1 missile /2 levels .
Fireball: At Will: 2d4 damage in a 5' radius. CAST: 5d6+Int in a 20' radius.
Comprehend Languages: At will: gain 1 bonus language CAST: Speak/Understand ALL languages for 1 hour/lvl
Teleport: At Will: blink to any space within line of sight. CAST: Travel with allies to a predetermined spot.
Shield: At Will +1 AC CAST: +4 to AC, +6 vs. Ranged attacks.

So you had a choice: do you cast fireball early to wipe out those goblins and lose your at-will fire attack, or save it until you REALLY need it?

I could certainly enjoy something like that. Making the choice between consistently having weaker spells to fire off, or going with a powerful shot is a good way to keep it simple, while allow for resource management and flexibility. I would hope, however, that a spell caster always had some at-will left, even a meager one, so he or she never had to rely on pulling out a crossbow. I'm personally a fan of always having an at-will Magic Missile left in the bag of tricks.

 

[Remathilis]

I could certainly enjoy something like that. Making the choice between consistently having weaker spells to fire off, or going with a powerful shot is a good way to keep it simple, while allow for resource management and flexibility. I would hope, however, that a spell caster always had some at-will left, even a meager one, so he or she never had to rely on pulling out a crossbow. I'm personally a fan of always having an at-will Magic Missile left in the bag of tricks.

There would still be room for cantrips in this setup. It might literally be a 1d4 blob of acid (roll to hit) but something could be permanent.