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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6021388" data-attributes="member: 996">A good point.&nbsp; It would be nice to have a core casting mechanic that worked for all magic-using classes, and worked for them from one campaign to the next even if the DM varied the particulars on how magic worked.&nbsp; I don't think that's as impossible as it sounds, but it'd have to be more than just a spell-casting mechanic...Say you divided all class abilities into two buckets:&nbsp; at-will, and limited.&nbsp;&nbsp; You balance them on the assumption that 'limited' means useable roughly once per encounter, and that an 'encounter' is one in which they'll all get used - a very tough, all-in, death-or-glory sort of encounter, not a speed-bump.&nbsp; You then give the DM one of those lovely 'dials,' which adjusts how often all limited powers re-charge.&nbsp; He can crank it up to 'daily' or even 'chapter' or 'story' (basically, when the DM says so), or just tweak it a bit to a so-many-minute rest between encounters or an arbitrary but potentially more than 1/day 'milestone' or whatever.&nbsp; Whatever the setting, hps and limited powers re-charge at that pace, thus setting a basic pace for the campaign.&nbsp; Since everyone has hps, the dial impacts everyone.&nbsp; To keep that dial from disrupting class balance, you'd tone down encounters as you dial up the recharge interval.&nbsp; At 'daily,' you might average 4 moderate encounters rather than one overwhelming one, for instance.(If you really want to be a stickler for balance, you can give each class the same ratio of at-will to limited.&nbsp; Perhaps, since there are already going to be regular and multi-class version of each class, there could even be a such a 'standardized' version of each class for those who are willing to sacrifice a little mechanical distinctiveness for a hope of class balance).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6021388, member: 996"] A good point. It would be nice to have a core casting mechanic that worked for all magic-using classes, and worked for them from one campaign to the next even if the DM varied the particulars on how magic worked. I don't think that's as impossible as it sounds, but it'd have to be more than just a spell-casting mechanic... Say you divided all class abilities into two buckets: at-will, and limited. You balance them on the assumption that 'limited' means useable roughly once per encounter, and that an 'encounter' is one in which they'll all get used - a very tough, all-in, death-or-glory sort of encounter, not a speed-bump. You then give the DM one of those lovely 'dials,' which adjusts how often all limited powers re-charge. He can crank it up to 'daily' or even 'chapter' or 'story' (basically, when the DM says so), or just tweak it a bit to a so-many-minute rest between encounters or an arbitrary but potentially more than 1/day 'milestone' or whatever. Whatever the setting, hps and limited powers re-charge at that pace, thus setting a basic pace for the campaign. Since everyone has hps, the dial impacts everyone. To keep that dial from disrupting class balance, you'd tone down encounters as you dial up the recharge interval. At 'daily,' you might average 4 moderate encounters rather than one overwhelming one, for instance. (If you really want to be a stickler for balance, you can give each class the same ratio of at-will to limited. Perhaps, since there are already going to be regular and multi-class version of each class, there could even be a such a 'standardized' version of each class for those who are willing to sacrifice a little mechanical distinctiveness for a hope of class balance). [/QUOTE]

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