firesnakearies
Explorer
I've explained this so many times I should put it in a .doc somewhere so I can cut and paste it.
I'll explain this by looking first at the status quo for multiclass spellcasters in 3e. A multiclass spellcaster-- including the Mystic Theurge-- maintains two different classes, each with its own spell progression. The character ends up sacrificing his highest spell levels for, in effect, twice as many lower level spells. A Wiz6 or Clr6, for example, has access to 3rd level spells; a Wiz3/Clr3 only has access to 2nd level spells-- but he'll have double the number of 1st and 2nd level spells.
The problem gets much worse as we look at higher level characters. Losing out on 5th, 6th, or higher level spells ends up being a huge problem, because so many monsters encountered at those levels are expected to be countered by spells that fall at appropriate levels. If your 11th level character doesn't have access to stone to flesh, then the beholder just got a lot more difficult.
The unified spell progression works by assigning each class a base magic bonus and then comparing that base magic bonus to a single spell progression chart. A Wiz6, a Clr6, and a Wiz3/Clr3 all have a base magic bonus of +6. Each of these characters has exactly the same base spell slot allocation (the unified progression is based on the Wizard progression so I suppose it would be 3/2/2 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spells-- off the top of my head). The base magic bonus concept can be seen in Unearthed Arcana.
The table indicates the number of spell slots and ready spells that the character receives. Each rest period, the spellcaster prepares his ready spells: that is, those spells from his class spell list that the caster wants to have access to. There is no need to ready multiple "copies" of the same spell-- for example, if you ready magic missile, you can cast it as many times as you want, provided you have the spell slots to do so. The ready spell mechanic can be seen in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed.
To these two great Open Content concepts-- and what I think is a pretty good piece of design-- is how we further differentiate between the classes:
- Sorcerers gain bonus spell slots as a class feature; but they have far fewer ready spells. The more sorcerer levels you have, the more bonus spell slots of progressively higher levels you will have.
- Clerics gain bonus ready spells in the form of the spontaneous cure spells and their domain spells. The more cleric levels you have, the higher your bonus ready cure spells and domain spells.
- Wizards gain bonus ready spells as a class feature, at all levels, of progressively higher levels.
- Druids don't get bonus ready spells or spell slots. Indeed the druid loses a bit of power-- fewer spell slots as compared to 3e.
- Rangers and paladins have a caster level of 1/2-- they have a base magic bonus of 1/2. This alone gives them a power boost-- they'll be able to cast spells from 1st level and they'll eventually gain access to 5th level spells. They gain an additional boost because they gain access to the entirety of the druid spell list (for rangers) or the cleric spell list (for paladins). A 20th level paladin will have a base magic bonus of +10, so he'll cast spells as a 10th level cleric.
There are a few other little idiosyncrasies in there but I'll leave it at that as it fairly well explains the broad strokes.
That sounds excellent. I really like this idea.
Thanks for the great answer!
(And off I go to buy the Trailblazer PDF now.)
$
