Dealing with the 8-Hour Rest rule

[LoneWolf23]

If there's one thing that's always annoyed me about the Vancian Magic System is that it makes spellcasters utterly useless for the rest of the day after they've expended their spell slots. I've once played a gnome wizard who expended all his slots at the start of a dungeon, and let me tell you it's just not the same, using a crossbow from the back row for the rest of the adventure.

I wondered if anyone had any suggestions on how to make spellcasters effective for a longer period during the day? ...And preferably without saying "just use magic items" please.

I was considering either the Recharge Magic variant from Unearthed Arcana, or creating something like "Mana Potions" allowing spellcasters to recouperate a certain number of spellslots upon drinking. Maybe stuff like a Minor Mana Potion could allow to recuperate 1d4 slots...

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Mages should I always carry around a couple of wands/staves in order to still be useful after they're burnt out and to prevent burning out as quickly.
A simple wand of fireball, even with a low DC and later a low CL is better to use against week oponents than one of your own slots of example, and can be used once your own slots are depleted.

Pearls of power work sorta like your mana potion suggestion. Each can be used once a day to reprepare a spell previously cast up to a certain level. See the DMG.

 

[smootrk]

Look to a spell-point system. One that allows regaining those spell points at a rate that allows spellcasters to effectively recharge in a quicker way (like a certain amount of points per hour of resting/meditating). I have seen such a system work well, although it hampers the higher-level mages who often have much more points to recover and may need multiple days of rest to 'recharge'.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Look into a skill based magic system, such as Elements of Magic, Mythic Earth. This will allow your gnomish mage to toss spells off all day long...

However, using a variant like that changes the game signifactantly. Vancian magic tends to be more powerfull that swinging a sword so the game design limits how often a mage can do the 'nuke' thing.

Personally I am of the opinion that any caster who burns through the available spells, powerpoints, manapoints, whatever.. should be happy with sitting in the back for the rest of the day and letting the sword swingers take the limelight for a while.
{This said while my current character is completely out of spells and the group is at the front door of the 'dungeon'... something about a +3 CR encounter that soaked up everything we could throw at it...trusty Mace and Healing Potions ready and waiting! }

 

[ValhallaGH]

A feat was introduced in the d20 Dark*Matter book. It allows a caster to continue to cast available spells,

you can cast a spell without using up the slot by taking 2d6 x Spell Level damage.

Suddenly slotted spells are the ones you can cast for free but not your only available power if you are willing to make the sacrifice.

It should help, if you're unwilling to simply replace the existing magic system.

 

[Nel]

Allow spell recovery during day time with different rates depending of what activities the character performs.

For example, rates for a full recovery of all spells:
-8 hours of restful sleep;
-16 hours of total rest (stay in bed watching TV);
-32 hours of doing menial things (read books in front of the fireplace, do the cooking, etc);
-64 hours of normal activity (being blocked in traffic, shout back at your boss because he doesn't want to give you a pay raise);
-you don't recover any spell level when you perform activities that greatly strain your mind (arguing with your wife to decide you will keep the house after the divorce, explaining to your twelve year old son why he shouldn't get his girlfriend pregnant right now, talking to your mother-in-law).

Now, knowing that, you will be able to sum up the total number of spell levels your character can cast in a day and divide it by the rates to know how many of them the caster will recover every hour/minute/second depending of what he does.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

My concern with breaking down the refresh rates like that is getting into the video game mentality of 'resting' whenever... not paying any attention to the day/night cycle at all.

Of course, D20 does not have good sleeping rules

Hmm..another need for a Begginners Guide pdf!

 

[Nel]

It depends of what allow each DM, it is just a question of being realistic about what you can and cannot do.

You can't really rest your mind when you're in a tree to escape from a pack of howling wolves that are waiting for you to slide and fall so they can dismember you.
Even if you do nothing at all but hold the trunk it will give you some stress and make you unable to relax, making it impossible to resplenish your spells.

A more simple solution would be to make the player roll a concentration check with a DC based upon the general situation and various factors, rather than do it case by case.

Beside, I wholeheartily agree on the fact that sleeping rules and especially the natural recovery rules could have been better.

 

[Jack Simth]

A feat was introduced in the d20 Dark*Matter book. It allows a caster to continue to cast available spells,
Suddenly slotted spells are the ones you can cast for free but not your only available power if you are willing to make the sacrifice.

It should help, if you're unwilling to simply replace the existing magic system.

Was that available to clerics?

Cure Light Wounds at caster level 5 averages 9.5 points of healing; the backlash for a first level spell averages 7 points of damage.... that could very well turn a low-mid level Cleric into something like a warlock.....

 

[Thanatos]

I switched over to a spell point system from Unearthed Arcana and then allow a certain # of points per hour to be recharged. 8 hours of rest recovers all points still though.

This works well in dungeons while you stand around waiting for the rogue to find all the traps lol

So far we've liked it alot more then the vancian spell slot/8 hour regain system.