Adopting a Readied Spell System

[ShadowX]

Ala Arcana Evolved. The impetus for this project was having to sit down and play a Wizard and all of the bookkeeping that entails. Somehow I avoided the class for years and thus never realized how annoying spellbooks and spell preparation are. I like the AE system as a compromise to scrapping Vancian magic and I hope that it will increase the prevalence of lesser used, more situational spells that spontaneous casters didn't want to spend a precious spell known upon and that prepared casters didn't prepare because said situation might never come up and thus they wasted a slot.

So here are my ideas on the main casters and how to impart their flavor. Some have multiple options and this is where I would like your help. Also, I plan to borrow both the spells readied and spells known table which only has the effect of increasing a high level casters low level spell slots compared to 3rd Edition.

Note: For those uninitiated into AE, think of the readied spell system as a Sorcerer that can choose his spells known every day.

Cleric: +1 spell slot at every spell level, must ready both domain spells at every spell level(I like this better because it imparts more differentiation between Clerics, but it might be too restrictive)
or
no extra spell slot, but gain both domain spells as bonus readied spells at every spell level

Druid: As Magister

Sorcerer: Sorcerer's (and to some extent Favored Souls) are the main sticking point in this conversion. I don't want to just drop them—I like the concept of a Sorcerer; however, the readied spell system basically tramples all over their niche. I am open to ideas here because though I have a few of my own I am fond of none of them.

Wizard: The class that started this, the only challenge with Wizards is how to preserve specialization. Two options rear up:
Drop two schools, +1 spell slot at every spell level, must ready one (maybe two) spells from your chosen school
or
Drop one school, gain a readied spell from your chosen school at every spell level

 

[Arkhandus]

I don't understand some of your dilemmas here......

Also, is the cleric still getting their domain slots, or are you removing them? If you're removing them, then don't give the cleric any extra slots in their place.

You're basically allowing them to cast domain spells with normal spell slots, which is an advantage in and of itself from many domains (and no advantage with a few, though, like the Healing domain). I suggest adding a minor boost to some of the domains that don't normally provide any extra benefit from this change of yours, like increasing the Healing domain to grant another +1 or +2 effective caster levels for Conjuration (Healing) spells.

Maybe it'd be fair to give the cleric an extra spell readied of each level beyond 0-level, to partially make up for them readying both domain spells all the time. But not more spell slots to cast with.

Sorcerer: Just give them 1 or 2 more spells known of each spell level, then make them ready spells like everyone else in the AU/AE spellcasting system. Give them as many spells readied as they would normally have spells known (as in, prior to this change).

Wizard: I'm not sure where your dilemma lies. Why do you need to do something to preserve school specialization? The wizard gets an extra spell slot (to cast with, not to ready) of each level as normal, that can only be used for a spell of their specialized school. They're still banned completely from one or two schools, as normal.