House Rule For Prep Casters

[airwalkrr]

IMC I allow preparation casters like wizards and clerics prepare extra spells per day after their normal allotment has been cast, although it always takes at least 15 minutes to prepare such spells, just as if the character was memorizing spells to fill open slots. A character who prepares spells can prepare a number of spell levels equal to his character levels that add to his caster level for the purpose of determining spells per day. For example a wizard 7/lormaster 2 could prepare an additional 9 levels of spells each day, but he is limited to no more spells prepared than normal at any given time. So he could not prepare more than one 5th level spell each day (barring a high Int modifier or school specialization of course). Additionally, this means characters can reprepare 0-level spell indefinitely. The only real limit is how many 15-minute breaks they have.

This preserves resource management, but extends the life of those resources. It also helps lower-level characters, who actually depend on their 0-level spells quite a bit.

There is also a new feat to go with this rule. It extends the resources of high-level characters a bit.

Mastery of Magic
Prerequisite: 9th-level spellcaster who prepares spells
Benefit: You may prepare an unlimited number of 1st-level spells each day, but you may have no more 1st level spells prepared at any given time than your normal number of spell slots.
Normal: Spell slots cast are expended and cannot be used to prepare new spells until the next day.

This could theoretically be a feat chain, with an improved version requiring caster level 11 and granting unlimited 2nd level spells, and so on.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Cool idea. I was contemplating about how you could mix and match the current resource management with a type of encounter-based resource management in D&D 3.x, and this might be one viable approach.

I will post my approach separately to ensure that we both keep feedback to each house rule, but here is something I pondered with:
How do you balance buff spells? Basically, I could cast one of my precious high level buff spells, "reprepare" it and cast it again for someone else.

Your house rule will probably not cause much problems for most spells (any spell with a duration below 10 minutes of level will end before you have prepared and cast it again)?

For other spells, the following approach might be possible:
You cannot recover spell slots and prepare a new spell into it if the duration of the original spell that you used with this slot has not ended yet. You have to dismiss or otherwise end the spell in this case.

For your idea of a feat chain: Generally, I would strongly recommend making it a chain, before someone else does and screws it up .
This is my general advice on the topic: If there is a obvious to be a way to improve a special action or ability, make up the rule for it yourself. Otherwise, someone else will do it and he might be worse at adjudicating the consequences than you are. (Sure, you can still be wrong, but I think it's safer this way. Especially, since new and original abilities are usually created by more experienced designers than enhancement to an existing ability)

 

[airwalkrr]

For other spells, the following approach might be possible:
You cannot recover spell slots and prepare a new spell into it if the duration of the original spell that you used with this slot has not ended yet. You have to dismiss or otherwise end the spell in this case.

I contemplated it, but I don't think it is worth the book-keeping. Honestly, I would prefer a much simpler rule, such as flat durations of 1 minute, 1 hour, and 12 hours for all spells. Spells with a duration of 1 hour/level or higher would have a 12 hour duration. Those with 1 minute/level and 10 minutes/level durations would be 1 hour, and those with durations of lower would be 1 minute. At least you would minimize the number of spells people can keep around all day.