Alternate Magic System (Instead of spells per day.)

[Angcuru]

I believe I have thought up a good alternate magic system. Instead of spells per day, you have spell power. Converting from the spells-per-day system, you assign a number of points per spell +1 level in place of the memorized spell. I.E.

Spells per day 3 LVL 0, 1 LVL 1, would give the caster 5 spell points. 1 for each lvl 0 spell, and 2 for the lvl 1 spell. So instead of 3 lvl0 and 1 lvl1, the caster could toss out 2 lvl1 and a lvl0, using up all his points.

Simplified: Instead of having 3 cantrips and 1 lvl 1 spell memorized, you have 5 spell points, which you can use at will. A cantrip costs 1 spell point, and a lvl 1 spell costs 1 spell point. Simple and easy.

So if you were to have (as example) in SPD, 5 cantrips, 4 lvl 1 spells, 3 lvl 2 spells, 2 lvl 3 spells, and 1 lvl 4 spell, you would in my alternate system have:
5(5cantrips)+8(4 lvl 1 spells)+9(3 lvl 2 spells)+8(2 lvl 3 spells)+5(1 lvl 4 spell)=for a total of 25 spell points. A lvl 4 spell costs 5 spell points, so instead of casting all those other low level spells, the mage could unleash it all in 5 lvl 4 spells. The mage would burn out quickly, but would have been better able to display his mastery of the magical arts by unleashing his power as he so desires.

it doesn't upset the balance between sorcerers and wizards either. sorcerers still have WAY more power points, but know fewer spells. this works out fine, since magic is a learned ability for wizards, so they can unleash it in a great variety of ways, but not as often as the sorcerer, who has magic as an innate ability, and can cast more frequently, but in a less versatile manner.

Whatcha think of this one, guys? It would still have to use the mage's spells per day to figure out his spell points, but it's much easier on both the mage and the DM.

 

[DreamChaser]

1) House Rules

2) Have you read the Psionics Handbook

 

[Angcuru]

1) House Rules

2) Have you read the Psionics Handbook

1) But of course.

2) No I have not.

 

[Hypersmurf]

1) But of course.

No, he doesn't mean "Those are House Rules".

He means "This thread belongs in the House Rules forum, and you're far more likely to get useful responses there, because everyone who frequents the Rules forum will read the phrase 'alternate magic system' and do just what Dreamchaser did, specifically, point you at the House Rules forum."

He's being helpful.

-Hyp.

 

[Pirotess]

I played in a game where the DM used a very similar system and it was a disaster. Wizards & sorcerers had spell points based on their level and INT or CHA bonus. Each spell used 1 spell point per level of the spell and all level 0 spells cost 1 spell point. Additionally, the damage cap was removed from spells. Fireballs did 1d6 per caster level, so a 15th level caster was throwing 15d6 fireballs.

It was fairly balanced at low levels, but a higher levels it made wizards & sorcerers incredibly more powerful than the other classes.

Every encounter went something like this:

Round 1 - Wizards cast haste on themselves and fireball bad guys
Round 2 - Wizards cast 2 more fireballs on bad guys
Round 3 - Wizards cast 2 more fileballs on bad guys
etc...

Of course, if the bad guys were fire resistant, they just cast a different boom spell (ice storm, cone of cold etc.).

Essentially, the combats were pretty much over before the fighters and rogues had a chance to do much of anything. The folks playing wizards and sorcerers had a great time, while the folks playing fighters and rogues pretty much lost all interest in the game as there was really nothing for their characters to do.

Our DM at the time was a lousy tactician could not run the bad guys effectivelty agains the barrage of spells our wizards were unleashing every round. For some reason, he almost never used bad guys with high SR. We were mostly fighthing orcs and other humanoids with levels in fighter and rogue. We almost never went up against an enemy sorcerer or wizard.

Before you implement such a system, carefully consider how much more powerful you will make your arcane spell casters than your non spell casters. I'd hate for your campaign to go down the tubes like mine did.