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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InkwellIdeas" data-source="post: 4097466" data-attributes="member: 26988">I've been working up what I'm tentatively calling the flexible magic system.  Like many people, I'd like something different than the core D&D magic system.  I've gone quite a bit further than what's here, but I don't want this to be too long.  I don't want to go too much further until I get some opinions.  I have two main questions for the group, but any comments or constructive criticism is welcome. The first is do you know of similar products/projects?  I have Elements of Magic, and that's not quite what I'm going for here. Unearthed Arcana and metamagic feats doesn't come anywhere close.  I've thought about getting Arcana Evolved but I'm not sure that has anything close based on what little I've been able to read (the table of contents.)  My other question is: does this seem interesting to you?  Worth reading/trying?  Thanks!  Here's the gist of my idea:Goals:-Allow spellcasters to modify spell factors. (Area, range, duration, damage, etc.)-Preserve game balance.  Don't make spellcasters more important to the party than any other class.  However, if they become a bit more powerful at low levels than they are, that's OK as long as they are the same or slightly less powerful at medium-high through high levels.-Make the system as simple as possible, while understanding that it is impossible for it not to be slightly more complicated as a result of the increased spell customization.Approach:-A spell point system is helpful because the cost of spells may be more granular than 0-9 spell levels or even 1-20. A relatively minor change to a spell should cost more, but in many cases it isn't important enough to bump it to a higher level. Also, spell's levels will basically be removed.  Instead each spell will have a base cost. (A way to map the point values back to levels is possible for people who really want that.)-Use familiar spells. To keep things simple, base the core spells that are customized on spells most players are already familiar with.-Spells' base costs will be reverse engineered.  Several versions with several different factors will be chosen and balanced.  Each spell's base cost will be assigned based on what is needed to make all the spells of the same level cost about the same amount.-Give the base spell forms point costs, then assign point cost to each value for each factor that it makes sense to change.  Multiply the factors to get a point cost.  (Ex: Alarm's base cost might be 1, medium range for it might be 2, medium area might also be 2, and an 8 hour duration might be 4, so 1x2x2x4=16 points.)-Only whole numbers and one-half fractions will be used to keep the math easy.-Unfortunately, because each factor might be more important to some spells than others, the same values can't be used for the factors.-But we can try to keep things simple by making the values easy to find and put them on spell cards.-Spellcasters may spend many spell points in one spell, effectively trying to cast a higher level spell than they would otherwise be entitled to.  Perhaps this would require a concentration check, and at some point (maybe more than two spell levels higher) be impossible.  If the caster fails the concentration check he would lose those points or have some other negative impact.  While this gives him more power in a way, he would be quickly drained if he made a habit of it.Here's an example:Bear's EnduranceSchool:     TransmutationComponents:     V, S, DFCasting Time:     1 standard actionSaving Throw:     Will negates (harmless)Spell Resistance:     YesBase Factor:     4Bonus Factor:     1 + 1 per +2 Bonus#Targets Factor:     1 + .5 per 2 additional targetsRange:     Touch: 1; Close (25'): 1.5; Medium (100'): 2; Long (400'): 2.5; Far (1000'): 3Duration (D):     1 Round: .5; 1 Minute: 1; 10 Minutes: 1.5; 1 Hour: 2; 8 Hours: 2.5; 1 Day: 3(No major difference in the Bear's Endurance spell description, except those that change based on the variable factors chosen.)  Example CalculationsBase    Bonus    # Targets    Range    Duration    Total[4]    +4 [3]    1 Target [1]    Touch [1]    1 Minute [1]    12 (2)[4]    +4 [3]    5 Targets [2]    Close [1.5]    1 Minute [1]    36 (4)[4]    +4 [3]    13 Targets [4]    Close [1.5]    10 Minutes [1.5]    108 (6)[4]    +4 [3]    3 Targets [1.5]    Close [1.5]    1 Day [6]    162 (7)[4]    +10 [6]    1 Target [1]    Touch [1]    1 Minute [1]    24 (3)[4]    +10 [6]    5 Targets [2]    Close [1.5]    1 Minute [1]    72 (6)Note: The number in parentheses is the approximate spell level the total point cost maps to based on the spell point system I'm considering.Again, thanks in advance for any constructive criticism.</blockquote>

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