Benjamin Pass
First Post
It's been a long time coming and I'm sure the suggestions provided here will be subject to at least some criticism, but I think I've finally found a way to balance epic spellcasting and make it a viable option for PCs. Before I begin with my suggested modifications to the system, let me start by pointing out what I feel is wrong with it in it's present form.
Firstly, the number of epic spells one can cast per day is based on the number of ranks a given spellcaster has in the relevant knowledge skills, divided by ten. Got 40 ranks in Knowledge (Arcana)? 4 epic spells per day. Simple enough, but I feel that this method does a poor job of rewarding spellcasters based on their key ability score. At 30th level, whether you are a Human Wizard with base inteligence 30 or a 30th level wizard who is also Mind Flayer Paragon with a Headband of Epic intellect, you're still going to be limited to the same number of epic spells per day as your comparatively feeble-minded human counterpart. As A DM, this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I think characters, monsters and perhaps even deities with very high ability scores should be rewarded with more epic spells per day than those whom have lower key ability scores, and I think I have found a way to do just that. Enter, Feanmerc.
Now, for those who aren't familiar, Feanmerc is a modified version of epic spellcasting by Dicefreaks publishing. Unfortunately for us, their forums are currently offline and may remain so indefinitely. If anyone has any inside info as to their whereabouts or if and when they will make their return, feel free to chime in on this thread or send me a PM. I'm a bit of a fanboy of those folks and would like to know what happened and what will become of them. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?136711-FeanMerc-s-Epic-Spellcasting-System
Now, this is where my opinions and personal experience come into play, so feel free to offer constructive criticisms. Feanmerc at first glance seems like a good way to go, but in my opinion it still doesn't quite solve a lot of problems facing epic spellcasters. Firstly, once you become an epic spellcaster there is virtually no more distinction between prepared and spontaneous casters. Both research and cast epic spells in exactly the same way, the only difference being that spontaneous casters are usually based on charisma whereas prepared casters are based on either intelligence or wisdom. Furthermore, if you want to make an epic spell using a non-epic spell as a seed, spontaneous casters are limited to the spells they know, whereas wizards can use any spell they have in one of their spellbooks and clerics can use any spell on their class's spell-list, barring alignment restrictions. It seems to me that spontaneous casters get the short end of the stick on this one so I propose giving them the ability to "know" an epic spell once they have researched it. For example, if a sorcerer researches a 10th level epic spell, he only has to pay the GP research cost the first time it is researched and so long as the seeds, factors and mitigating factors remain unchanged, will not have to pay the GP cost again. The XP cost remains unchanged and must be paid the first time the spell is researched and every subsequent time afterwards.When a sorcerer knows an epic spell (has researched it before and the spell remains unchanged) instead of having to spend months researching the epic spell they have already researched, they simply spend an hour in a meditative trance, pay the XP cost, and the epic spell is ready to cast again. As a DM I would allow high-level casters to do this for all their epic spells at once. I also recommend limiting them to "knowing" only one epic spell per level of epic spell they can cast. If they want to know more epic spells of a given level, they can spend one of their epic feat slots to learn and "know" another epic spell. Epic wizards could potentially be allowed to write epic spells in their spellbooks to avoid having to research them more than once, but I'm not really sure I would recommend this option.
Now, the XP cost is itself a very taxing thing. If you want to cast several epic spells during an adventure, you will likely end up losing more experience than you gain, so I propose allowing casters, both prepared and spontaneous to take an epic feat which allows them to prepare an epic spell they have researched without paying the XP cost either. This feat can be taken multiple times and applies only to a given epic spell you have already researched. This way, a given epic caster still has options to research, develop and cast new epic spells, but will likely have a repertoire of "signature" spells that they themselves use on a semi-frequent basis without having to spend massive amounts of XP and GP.
Next, I feel it is worth mentioning that for normal non-monstrous, non-paragon, non-divine epic spellcasters it is very difficult to get your key ability score high enough that when stacked with all other factors grants your spells a saving throw DC where monsters of the appropriate CR have anything less than a 95% chance of success vs. your spells. I propose allowing the following feat in addition to any other Great Ability Feats your caster may want to take to get their key ability score high enough to warrant a decent amount of bonus spells and a decently high saving throw DC.
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Great_Ability_(3.5e_Feat)
If you haven't read the variant rule from the ELH that allows epic casters to use their key ability score modifier in place of intelligence for spellcraft checks, I'd recommend using that one as well. I'd also recommend limiting spells made with the Fortify seed to +1 per caster level. Like stated in the thread, but not so in the PDF version of Feanmerc, Mitigating factors should not be allowed to reduce the final spellcraft DC to less than half of what it was before applying mitigating factors.
I think that's about it. I may edit this post at a later time if I think of anything else or notice any errors.
Firstly, the number of epic spells one can cast per day is based on the number of ranks a given spellcaster has in the relevant knowledge skills, divided by ten. Got 40 ranks in Knowledge (Arcana)? 4 epic spells per day. Simple enough, but I feel that this method does a poor job of rewarding spellcasters based on their key ability score. At 30th level, whether you are a Human Wizard with base inteligence 30 or a 30th level wizard who is also Mind Flayer Paragon with a Headband of Epic intellect, you're still going to be limited to the same number of epic spells per day as your comparatively feeble-minded human counterpart. As A DM, this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I think characters, monsters and perhaps even deities with very high ability scores should be rewarded with more epic spells per day than those whom have lower key ability scores, and I think I have found a way to do just that. Enter, Feanmerc.
Now, for those who aren't familiar, Feanmerc is a modified version of epic spellcasting by Dicefreaks publishing. Unfortunately for us, their forums are currently offline and may remain so indefinitely. If anyone has any inside info as to their whereabouts or if and when they will make their return, feel free to chime in on this thread or send me a PM. I'm a bit of a fanboy of those folks and would like to know what happened and what will become of them. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?136711-FeanMerc-s-Epic-Spellcasting-System
Now, this is where my opinions and personal experience come into play, so feel free to offer constructive criticisms. Feanmerc at first glance seems like a good way to go, but in my opinion it still doesn't quite solve a lot of problems facing epic spellcasters. Firstly, once you become an epic spellcaster there is virtually no more distinction between prepared and spontaneous casters. Both research and cast epic spells in exactly the same way, the only difference being that spontaneous casters are usually based on charisma whereas prepared casters are based on either intelligence or wisdom. Furthermore, if you want to make an epic spell using a non-epic spell as a seed, spontaneous casters are limited to the spells they know, whereas wizards can use any spell they have in one of their spellbooks and clerics can use any spell on their class's spell-list, barring alignment restrictions. It seems to me that spontaneous casters get the short end of the stick on this one so I propose giving them the ability to "know" an epic spell once they have researched it. For example, if a sorcerer researches a 10th level epic spell, he only has to pay the GP research cost the first time it is researched and so long as the seeds, factors and mitigating factors remain unchanged, will not have to pay the GP cost again. The XP cost remains unchanged and must be paid the first time the spell is researched and every subsequent time afterwards.When a sorcerer knows an epic spell (has researched it before and the spell remains unchanged) instead of having to spend months researching the epic spell they have already researched, they simply spend an hour in a meditative trance, pay the XP cost, and the epic spell is ready to cast again. As a DM I would allow high-level casters to do this for all their epic spells at once. I also recommend limiting them to "knowing" only one epic spell per level of epic spell they can cast. If they want to know more epic spells of a given level, they can spend one of their epic feat slots to learn and "know" another epic spell. Epic wizards could potentially be allowed to write epic spells in their spellbooks to avoid having to research them more than once, but I'm not really sure I would recommend this option.
Now, the XP cost is itself a very taxing thing. If you want to cast several epic spells during an adventure, you will likely end up losing more experience than you gain, so I propose allowing casters, both prepared and spontaneous to take an epic feat which allows them to prepare an epic spell they have researched without paying the XP cost either. This feat can be taken multiple times and applies only to a given epic spell you have already researched. This way, a given epic caster still has options to research, develop and cast new epic spells, but will likely have a repertoire of "signature" spells that they themselves use on a semi-frequent basis without having to spend massive amounts of XP and GP.
Next, I feel it is worth mentioning that for normal non-monstrous, non-paragon, non-divine epic spellcasters it is very difficult to get your key ability score high enough that when stacked with all other factors grants your spells a saving throw DC where monsters of the appropriate CR have anything less than a 95% chance of success vs. your spells. I propose allowing the following feat in addition to any other Great Ability Feats your caster may want to take to get their key ability score high enough to warrant a decent amount of bonus spells and a decently high saving throw DC.
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Great_Ability_(3.5e_Feat)
If you haven't read the variant rule from the ELH that allows epic casters to use their key ability score modifier in place of intelligence for spellcraft checks, I'd recommend using that one as well. I'd also recommend limiting spells made with the Fortify seed to +1 per caster level. Like stated in the thread, but not so in the PDF version of Feanmerc, Mitigating factors should not be allowed to reduce the final spellcraft DC to less than half of what it was before applying mitigating factors.
I think that's about it. I may edit this post at a later time if I think of anything else or notice any errors.
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