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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DreamChaser" data-source="post: 4021334" data-attributes="member: 1190">If you are going this route, I would suggest a CL check (BCB) but I would also implement the recharge rules from Unearthed Arcana or some other method to remove the per day limits on spell casting. Spells are more powerful than weapons and so generally work (at least to some extent) while weapons can be swung all day but require a role to use. If you make it likely that spells will fail, you need to remove the limit on use. If it won't be likely to fail (ie DCs are low) then there is really no point in using BCB at all.These are really a plot device not a standard part of a system. If they are so common that a spellcaster can never trust his or her powers then again you need to compensate them with something (better weapons training / more skills). If the are rare enough that most spellcasters won't encounter them, then have them do whatever random things you want.I think the dragonmarks from Eberron and the bloodlines from Dragon have this right: make it a feat (or for negative ones a flaw). If the character wants darkvision as a result of a 3rd eye, then a feat. Perhaps there are advanced feats that he could use to eventually gain true seeing. If he wants a penalty (-4 to gaze attacks, double duration of dazzle or blindness) then it would be a flaw. The same mutation could in theory be both a boon and a penalty.This is a matter of what I was talking about above. A few rules to keep in mind:** Randomness favors the DM (bad guy). If a player has to roll for something for his character's action to succeed he stands more to loose than an equivalent NPC or monster because over the life of character, he will roll far more often and at least 1 in 20 times, he will fail.** Randomness is rarely fun. One of the best things about Eberron is that the dragonmarks are random in the game world but not random in the game. A player chooses the path for his character even if the character has no control over the circumstance. Mutations should be the same way.** A variable resource should (generally) not be a finite resource. Take the weapon / spell comparison above. A wizard casts fireball: he knows it will work. He knows that something will get damaged. He knows about how much damage. He knows that (Evasion aside) everything in the fireball will take some damage. This knowledge makes it worth casting the spell instead shooting his crossbow.A fighter swings his sword. He doesn't know if he will hit but he knows that if he misses he can swing again next round.(note, this issue is the reason that SR is so utterly lame. It takes what is balanced out to be a dependable resource and removes that dependability without giving the caster anything in return. at least with energy resistance you have a hope of dealing enough damage to overcome it or bypassing it by using a different type. with SR your spell either works or it doesn't and you loose the spell either way)Honestly, with the current rules as they stand, Warlock is perhaps the best option for reflecting what you're going for but using sorcerer and wizard with the recharge system could work as well. DC</blockquote>

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