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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3166341" data-attributes="member: 19675">I'm designing a campaign in which, due to a global catastrophe, most written texts- spellbooks included- have been lost or destroyed along with civilization.  Thus, anyone looking to learn a spell will have to research it themselves, using Spellcraft, since there will be few written sources from which to learn, and as a result, any spellbook or scroll found will be incredibly valuable...Base Spellcraft DC to learn a new spell from the PHB: DC =15 + 3/spell level adjustment.  A die roll of 20 is a success, regardless of the DC.When the PC is created, the player can choose his spells freely, but for every increase in spellcasting power, instead of choosing spells normally, he must make Spellcraft checks.  Instead, he picks a spell and rolls a spellcraft check- if the check is unsuccessful, he cannot learn that spell that level, and must wait until next level, and must choose another spell to research. Non-PHB spells: +6/spell level instead of +3/spell level adjustment.  This modifier does not apply to non-PHB spells that are part of a class' base spell list, like the Warmage has spells from Complete Mage, or Wu Jen have spells from Oriental Adventures.  (The campaign will allow non-PHB spells from the Completes, Spell Compendium, and the Book of All Spells- and possibly more as well.)  Rationale: PHB spells were more common, and there weill be more scraps and rumors of what they did, making the research much easier.  Specialist modifier: -2d4/spell level Specialist School.  Rationale: Specialists find it easier to learn spells within their specialty.  Even non-PHB spells within their specialty are only moderately more difficult for them to learn than a non-specialty PHB school.Opposed-school modifier: + 3d4/spell level.  The inexperience of Specialists with their opposed schools means they are unable to accurately comprehend variables unique to the school.    Each opposed school they try to learn is a mystery to them.  Rationale: Specialists find it more difficult (but not impossible in this campaign) to learn spells from Opposed Schools.  They treat an opposed school spell as being at least as difficult as a non-PHB spell.  However, a Specialist may only learn one opposed-school spell per level.  Thus, a 20th level mage can only know 10 opposed-school spells, 1 each levels 0-9.PCs with levels in classes with limited spellcasting treat all spells not on their class list (from any source) as an opposed school.  Thus, a 20th level bard, with only 6 spell levels, could learn 6 "opposed-school" spells, 1 each levels 1-6.Metamagic Adjustment: Treat LA of Feat as part of the spell's level for purposes of level adjustment.  Spellcasters may research a spell in an already modified form- essentially creating a new spell- since they are working with only minimal research sources.  They may still take metamagic feats and apply them normally, even to spells they learned in modified form.  Example: a spellcaster who researches a version of Magic Missile (a PHB spell) that does 5 points per missile (as if it had been Maximized) would have to beat a DC of 27 to learn the spell, and it would be a 4th level spell.   If that same spellcaster tried to learn a Maximized version of a 1st level spell from the Book of All Spells would have to  beat a DC of 39 to learn the spell.  Rationale:  The research process will introduce some happy discoveries, so some spells may be created in a more powerful form.Weakened Version of spell- level adjustment by mutual agreement, a mirror image of the Metamagic adjustment, above. Rationale: The research process will introduce some errors, so some spells may be created in a less powerful form.I'm looking for a little math-fu to see if my formulae are reasonable.</blockquote>

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