Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 2539771" data-attributes="member: 3051">Well, I didn't want to come off too negative here... even with the problems, I like these flexible sorts of system much more than the "slot" system we all know and love.  So, here's some suggestions; mix and match all you want:1> If you still want to use dice, switch from d4s to d6s.  Everyone's got a lot of them around, and they don't plop when you roll them.  Up the number of mana per level to d10s or d12s to compensate.2> Math note: with 1d8 mana per level, but with spell cost scaling with spell level, under your system it'd be VERY hard for a high-end caster to cast more than one or two high-level spells per day.  The number of mana per level should scale, IMO; say, for levels 1-5 you get a d6, for levels 6-10 you get a d8, for 11-15 you get a d10, and for 16-20 you get a d12.  It should probably be even more pronounced, actually; see the Psion power point tables for a guideline.3> Instead of every 5 points allowing a d4 reduction (average 2.5), just make it a flat rate: For every 2 points you beat the DC, the cost drops by 1.  Same effect, less rolling; you still have randomness when rolling the cost.4> Concentration's already used heavily, and you wanted to tie CHA into it, so do it as 1d20+caster level+CHA versus a simpler DC (the 10 + 2*level is okay, although you might need to drop it with this change.)  That way, you're not quite as skill-locked, you can still use CHA, and the DC scales the right way.  Plus, it avoids one other abuse I forgot to mention: if you key it off Concentration skill, then everyone will get an item that gives +10 to Concentration.  That'd instantly knock two full spell levels off the cost of every spell.  By making it be something other than a skill, this allows you to avoid that.  Plus, you can't Take 10 then.5> Minimum mana cost = 1 point per spell level; no matter how high you roll, there's always a cost.6> On a natural 1 on the drain check, the spell backfires.  You don't reduce the cost, and can't use that spell until the next time you do the hour meditation to recover points (i.e., the next day).  (This and #5 shut down the endless strings of CLWs.)  On a natural 20, though, the spell is automatically Extended and Empowered, where applicable (throw in a variant of the Wild Magic rules).Anyway, it's still all workable.  But, I'd point out that with Psions and Wilders available, there really isn't a great need for another point-based flexible spellcaster; you could take the existing Psionics system, replace the powers with the Wiz/Sor spell list, and you'd have something close to this.  It's not quite so random, but you won't have as many balance headaches as a homemade class gives.</blockquote>

Verification