A Weird idea for variables in spellcasting

[Sravoff]

Ok, so I was thinking about making magic strange again, making itmagical, instead of being a wizards version of a sword. Albeit a very useful and universal sword, ok, more like a swiss army knife.

Ok, so I came up with this idea, a scaling system for randomly determining caster level, and wether or not a spell actually went off. Thats how I see magic. A strange power, that isn't as grand as everyone thinks it is, though they don't know that.

So, that said, here is what I have so far. Whenever a spell is cast, its caster rolsl his or her caster level. If the rolled number is greater than the spell level, the spell goes off. ones on all dice backfire, creating devestating effects. Any time all but one die come up as ones, the spell fails, regardless of how easy the spell was. I'm not yet sure how high for each spell level wil aehv to be rolled, this is just a base idea.

Level  Caster Level
 1       3d2-3
 2       3d2-2
 3       3d2-1
 4       3d2-0
 5       3d3-3
 6       3d3-2
 7       3d3-0
 8       3d4-3
 9       3d4-2
10       3d4-1
11       3d4-0
12       3d6-4
13       3d6-3
14       3d6-3
15       3d6-2
16       3d6-1
17       3d6
18       3d6+1
19       3d8-3
20       3d8-2

Any one ever done anything like this? Or know of any cool variant spell casting skill based systems?

 

[airwalkrr]

Interesting idea, although I would caution that it adds what some consider unnecessary complexity to the game. In order to run with an idea like this, I would do it a bit differently, just to make it easier and a bit more intuitive. I am unable to come up with something right now, but think about it.