Would anyone prefer spellcasting to stay as it is?

[Doug McCrae]

The magic system is a sacred cow that needs a good hard kick in the udders.

 

[SJ]

Vancian (daily) magic has to go. Maybe not completely, but I think there are a many things they can do to improve it.

Playing a wizard is fun when you wield magical might. Saving your spells for the right time, or not having any left to use, is not fun.

Get that cow out here and let's have 'er done.

 

[Sledge]

I'm very surprised to see so many people complaining about preparing spells being too hard. I expect that in my epic games, but at 15th level, 40 spell slots is pretty easy to figure out. Maybe if you have never played that character through those levels I could see it being a problem.
In any case though I like the daily prepared spells vs spells per encounter. Every method of making it to per encounter makes things much more complicated or has to be nerfed to avoid abuse.
The per encounter thing also seriously messes with my suspense of disbelief. The idea that a completely random amount of time absolutely restricts how many times you can do something is unexplainable in game.
Something else to be considered is that I like extra complex stuff. Preparing and rationing spells for a wizard isn't a challenge for me. A sorceror or warlock type is about as dull for me to play as generic fighter.

 

[ZombieButch]

The magic system is a sacred cow that needs a good hard kick in the udders.

Right on; it's long past time to carve some steaks.

 

[JRR_Talking]

im in two minds

i kinda like Vancian magic but

knowing that at each encounter the party will be at more-or-less full assests will make thing so much easier to prep and prepare, and the lets sleep as we are a bit worn down even though its only 11am is probably sensible, it is also a bit naff gaming/continuity-wise

john

 

[Kahuna Burger]

The per encounter thing also seriously messes with my suspense of disbelief. The idea that a completely random amount of time absolutely restricts how many times you can do something is unexplainable in game.

This complaint seems strange to me - per encounter magic could be as simple as keeping the system exactly the same for wizards with the addition of :

A wizard with access to a spell book may refill any used spell slots or swap out one prepared spell for another by spending [15 minutes? half an hour? an hour?] in undisturbed study. If circumstances prevent undisturbed study, the wizard must make a DC X concentration check for each 5 minutes of study. Failure causes those 5 minutes not to be counted towards the total time, two failures in a row force the wizard to begin the preparations again. (see Accelerated Spell Preparation and Combat Spell Preparation feats for further details.)

How would this effective restriction to per encounter spell slots be unexplainable in game without the same being said for vancian magic in general?

 

[F4NBOY]

- Logically, how can a wizard just walk around all day shooting spells? Doesn't he get tired?

LOGICALLY????
I'm sure you don't want to use the word "logically" in any sentence regaring magic!
Why should the caster get tired? The fighter can attack all day long without getting tired.
If you want rules for weariness, than that's whole different thing.

I want a magic system like this!
And i think we're gonna get it!

 

[Doug McCrae]

There's already an encounter-based mechanic in 3e core - barbarian's fatigue after rage.

 

[SJ]

Kahuna is almost saying what I'm saying. We're used to Vancian methods because it's what we learned. It's not any more 'realistic' to me than knowing all spells all the time. (which is probably not balanced, but how is a day more explainable than 5 minutes or an hour?)

One house rule some guys I knew of was that all magic was ritual magic, which meant casters could fire off anything they wanted provided they performed the ritual. They used a sliding scale of difficulty/length of ritual vs. material components as spells got more powerful. They claim it worked great. I never tried it.

I think one of the underlying things that has bothered me is that the game somehow balanced itself when a character did or did not have the correct spell ready. The spells are there for a reason. If a player always outwitted the encounter when he didn't have the right spell, why bother ever having it?

I'm really not disgruntled, just optimistic that they're trying to revisit the rule. And I stick to my point; it might be balanced, or consistent, or believable, but it's not fun.

 

[F4NBOY]

The per encounter thing also seriously messes with my suspense of disbelief. The idea that a completely random amount of time absolutely restricts how many times you can do something is unexplainable in game.

You definately should take a look at Iron Heroes. It's all about per encounter abilities, and none of them look irrealistic.