An examination of the cost of magic.

[nijineko]

Now if all source books are available and I was running a Sorcerer, Bard, Duskblade or other fixed-list caster, I'd invest in a Runestaff as quickly as possible. They effectively add to the known spells list, are relatively cheap for what they are, and are powered by your own spell slots so they never run out of charges.

please don't forget the 3 times per day per spell limit! (some staffs only allow 2 or 1 per day, btw) or the attunement restriction! while it is true that runestaffs have no charges, they are limited per day items, which might be beneficial to specifically point out.

My observations are as follows;

1) The Wizard and Cleric ran out of spells. Frequently. Especially before level 7.
2) After level 5, the Sorcerer began running out of spells more frequently.
3) Towards level 10, all casters began slow playing their magic for more important roles.
4) The Wizard (lv9) took Craft (Wand), although it was not a part of his original build.
5) The martial classes dominated much of the combat from lv1 to lv7.
6) There was more downtime during and between adventures.
7) The Sorcerer constantly bemoaned the fact that he didn't pick Artificier or Warlock.
8) The Cleric found that the majority of his spells were going to healing, instead of buffing (as was his original intent).
9) The Barbarian (rageaholic) died six times by lv10.
10) The Rogue's UMD score became more important than it traditionally is.
11) Although the Crusader and Barbarian were not played by experienced players, the party agreed that they were integral to unit cohesion.
12) The Sorcerer felt less than useful after level 10.
13) The Wizard and Cleric felt less useful than usual, but still enjoyed the game and are interested in trying new, similar characters under the same rules.
14) The martial classes rarely felt outshined by the casters.
15) The casters generally agreed that the martial characters felt more important than in normal games.

i usually give out one free reserve feat to wizards and sorcerers, plus the material cost reduction feat for sorcerers. it may not be much damage, but at least they have something they can "swing at the bad guys all day long". it does not upset game balance, and it improves the feeling of contribution and usefulness at lower levels.

i have found that my casters tend to unexpectedly end encounters at higher levels, which i think is awesome. i get to praise them for clever thinking, and it challenges me to come up with something even more interesting - it's like i get to be a player at my own games. ^^ i like it when players pull off awesome combos. it keeps the game fresh, and helps me to come up with different mixes of encounters which allow certain combos while negating others. by changing up the mix, i can easily prevent them from spamming a given combo without having to "take it away" from them. makes for more fun for everyone. =D

so i have the opposite conclusion from you, don't remove bonus spells. just change up the encounter to encourage and perpetuate innovation.

though i did adjust one aspect of the game in favor of melee over casters. cold iron versus arcane magic. cold iron is effective when directly applied against magic, but not against secondary effects. that may have been poorly stated, so i'll give some examples: cold iron cuffs on a caster negate arcane casting requiring somatic, a cold iron breathing mask on a caster negate casting requiring verbal, cold iron gauntlets cannot touch magical components or items, etc.. cold iron armor would protect against a possession attempt or magical control of the body, but would not protect against energy produced magically (fireball, cone of cold, sonic lance, wall of iron falling on you, etc.). wax earplugs laced with cold iron dust would protect against magic involving you hearing and understanding someone, but would not protect against sonic damage. a cold iron weapon striking a caster auto-disrupts arcane casting in progress (ie: auto-fail concentration check). magic items are suppressed when encased or in major contact with cold iron - ie: wearing that full body cold iron armor means that none of your magic items work. and so forth.


and speaking of sorcerer versus artificer, i'm playing an artificer in one game, and it is so fast moving that i seldom, if ever, have time to craft anything, which makes it less fun for me, but i hang in there. ^^