Drain for spallcasting

[Derren]

I wanted to find a way to stop spellcaster from casting spells like mad because they know that they won´t fight another battle before they rest and i got an idea from shadowrun.

*Drain*
When a caster casts a spell, the caster gets subdual damage equal to the spell level of the spell they casted (Eg. When casting magic missile you get 1 point of subdual damage.) Level 0 spells don´t cause drain. Likewise spells casted by a spell trigger item also don´t cause drain.

*Modified Feats*
Endurance
In addition to its normal benefits, a spellcaster who takes this feat only recieves half the subual damage (rounded down, minimal 1) he normally would get.
(I´m unsure about this feat, please comment is this to good/bad?)



I know that this system favors divine spellcaster.(Better HD, ability to heal themself). Any idea how I can balance this? Or do you think that this is utter crap?

 

[Robbert Raets]

It's got merit, especially if meant for the purpose you mention. It represents more of an 'effort' to cast spells, it wears you out.

 

[DreamChaser]

The core problem with this is that it penalizes spellcasters without giving them anything in return. I personally don't see anything wrong with casters casting spells like crazy because they *think* they aren't going to have to cast any more that day. Especially since this could always end up being wrong and then *oops* they are SOL when the next encounter comes along.

I have generally found that when it feels like casters are casting too much it boils down to one of a two things:

the DM isn't enforcing spell components
the DM isn't throwing enough varied things at the wizard/sorcerer to make them cast spells in different circumstances.

I have found that I can generally make my players very careful about their spells in any given enounter simply by making them prepare for any number of combat or non combat scenarios.

DC

 

[Drawmack]

The only way to balance it with devine and arcane casters is to do it differently for the two and that's not really fair. However you could state the the gods put a x spells/hour cap on devine casters.

It's got merit, though I would suggest going over the rules for running long distances and attempting to modify them.

 

[maransreth]

I think this is a great option, but only for low magic campaigns. It gives a good reason as to why there are few arcane spellcasters and those that do take levels are willing to take the risk.

If this is the case though, do they still cast as many spells per day as their normal class? Or is it just a limit to their actual spellcasting?

About the only other thing I can think of to offset the drawback is to give them Toughness free at 1st level and for wizards to have Toughness in their bonus feat list. This would then make it harder for the arcane spellcaster to fall unconscious as easily, especially if they have taken combat damage.