The Shadow
Hero
Crazy idea that probably has no chance at all time!
Here is what I take 'Vancian spellcasting' to be, in essence. A mage carefully prepares spells in whatever manner you please; memorization of formulae seems like a common choice. Then, once cast, the spells disappear from his memory and cannot be prepared again until the next suitable opportunity. (Whether that be the next day, after a long rest, whatever.) The spells in a mage's workday are fixed that morning; afterward he can control only when he casts them.
There are some complications involving leaving slots open to be prepared later; ignore that for now. Can we agree that this is the essence of Vancian spellcasting?
What about that essence requires that a 5th level wizard be able to cast precisely 4 1st level spells, 3 2nd level spells, and 2 3rd level spells in a day? Obviously nothing - different editions have played with those exact numbers.
Doesn't freezing the number of slots per level seem needlessly restrictive, though? If Vancian casting is limited in the number of spells, and the power of spells, one can memorize - why doesn't one have any flexibility in terms of how one allocates one's disk space, so to speak?
It just occurred to me that something like the Next sorcerer's Willpower would work fine for a wizard, too. It's just instead of Willpower, it's something like Memory, or Magical Mastery; and the spells are prepared in the morning, instead of spontaneously. (With, again, perhaps some points left unprepared for later preparation.)
No doubt the costs of spell levels might need to be tweaked. Maybe it would be better for 2nd level spells to cost 4 and 3rd level 9, or 3 and 5, or whatever. I'm sure it can be worked out.
But given that necessary design work, where's the downside? You save a big chart of spell slots for each spellcasting class; you need only an extra column in the level table to give the amount of 'Magical Oomph' or 'Spell Levels per Day' or whatever. You give wizards a touch more flexibility, and perhaps even find it easier to balance them against sorcerers. And it sure seems to me to enhance verisimilitude, tricky subject though that may be.
The only thing that suffers is tradition. Or am I missing something?
P.S. Hm, I thought of something just before posting. It might lead to even more 'option freeze' on the part of wizard players?
Here is what I take 'Vancian spellcasting' to be, in essence. A mage carefully prepares spells in whatever manner you please; memorization of formulae seems like a common choice. Then, once cast, the spells disappear from his memory and cannot be prepared again until the next suitable opportunity. (Whether that be the next day, after a long rest, whatever.) The spells in a mage's workday are fixed that morning; afterward he can control only when he casts them.
There are some complications involving leaving slots open to be prepared later; ignore that for now. Can we agree that this is the essence of Vancian spellcasting?
What about that essence requires that a 5th level wizard be able to cast precisely 4 1st level spells, 3 2nd level spells, and 2 3rd level spells in a day? Obviously nothing - different editions have played with those exact numbers.
Doesn't freezing the number of slots per level seem needlessly restrictive, though? If Vancian casting is limited in the number of spells, and the power of spells, one can memorize - why doesn't one have any flexibility in terms of how one allocates one's disk space, so to speak?
It just occurred to me that something like the Next sorcerer's Willpower would work fine for a wizard, too. It's just instead of Willpower, it's something like Memory, or Magical Mastery; and the spells are prepared in the morning, instead of spontaneously. (With, again, perhaps some points left unprepared for later preparation.)
No doubt the costs of spell levels might need to be tweaked. Maybe it would be better for 2nd level spells to cost 4 and 3rd level 9, or 3 and 5, or whatever. I'm sure it can be worked out.
But given that necessary design work, where's the downside? You save a big chart of spell slots for each spellcasting class; you need only an extra column in the level table to give the amount of 'Magical Oomph' or 'Spell Levels per Day' or whatever. You give wizards a touch more flexibility, and perhaps even find it easier to balance them against sorcerers. And it sure seems to me to enhance verisimilitude, tricky subject though that may be.
The only thing that suffers is tradition. Or am I missing something?
P.S. Hm, I thought of something just before posting. It might lead to even more 'option freeze' on the part of wizard players?
