If D&D spell lists were reduced to 10/level...

[Remathilis]

Hmmm... Ten Spells You Say... Easy!

1.) Kill Stuff With Magic. Do arcane energy damage to enemy till it dies from it.
2.) Heal Stuff With Magic. Recover from various conditions and wounds, including terminal death.
3.) Know Stuff With Magic. Detect or discern various auras your DM doesn't want you to see.
4.) Fool Creatures With Magic. Create fake images, hide the truth and freak out commoners.
5.) Move Stuff With Magic. Move people, places and objects to or from you.
6.) Create Stuff With Magic. Create swords, animate skeletons, or enchant magical dust.
7.) Protect Creatures With Magic. Make yourself (or others) harder to kill.
8.) Control Creatures With Magic. From making friends to making thralls.
9.) Change Stuff With Magic. Make them stronger, faster, more agressive. Or into a newt, whichever you want.
10.) Affect Nature With Magic. Befriend animals, control the weather, raise an island where you've always wanted one.

Easy Enough. OF course, statting these out will be more work, but I've given you a running start. 1, 2, 3, GO!

 

[Emirikol]

I've used the method of rareness before in 2E.
Common
Obscure
Rare
Unique

Then tell the player of his 10 starting spells he can have the folowing
6 Common
3 Obscure
1 Rare
0 Unique

Then you have to go through and rate each of the spells, which takes about 1 second per spell. YOu just write C, O, R, or U next to the spell on your list.

When it comes to assignment of spells from an evil wizard's spellbook, then you can select accordingly.

At the Bazaar, you can assign a probability that it will be available at that city/region, that MONTH for purchase.

Common= 60%
Obscure= 25%
Rare= 10%
Unique=5%

Thoughts?

jh

 

[Frostmarrow]

Okay Frosty you've confused me as it first sounded like you didn't agree me...and now you do. Right then! Whatever.

Yup. I mean that since most players will insist on picking the same spells there is no real point in reducing the number of spells available. Once in a while some player with a character ideaTM will pick something different and then that character will be - different. Neat design that, I think.

Still, it's always uplifting to see what the sprawling minds of EN World can come up with (that's why I'm still reading). I can see that there is a movement here toward a narrower game with less of... well everything. That's not necessarily bad either because people's will to express themselves will overcome any reducement in options. It's like kids in school uniform in a way. They must look the same as the other kids so the only way to stand out is changing the little things; like wearing your necktie or socks in some unorthodox fashion. Taking the example back to the game I can see how a party entirely made up by dwarven rogues will bend over backwards to appear special even though their abilities are identical.

One other reason to reduce the number of options available can be to steer the game in a certain fashion to create flavor. But you already know that, for sure.

 

[Pants]

If they want a particular spell, they can always resreach it. Even the Rare spells can be found in the huge wizard's library....

Wouldn't this really hose spontaneous casters like the sorcerer and the bard? Or would they get access to every spell instead of just restricted access?

 

[Epametheus]

Spontaneous casters get their new spells the instant they level; those spells and the two new spells that wizards learn each time they level up would be exempt from any scarcity rules.

BTW, spell research takes a minimum of 1 week per spell level of the spell. Throwing together a wand of magic missile takes only a single day, but actually researching magic missile takes a week. Wizards are already hampered by the time required to scribe new spells; actually having to research every single spell would result in wizards with very poor spell selections.

Wizards will rather swiftly fall behind spontaneous and divine casters if they have to jump through hoops to get what the other classes receive just by gaining levels.

As for nuking the numbers of spells that exist at each level -- I think that would seriously hurt the arcane casters, and not do much at all to the divine casters.

 

[Nightfall]

Frosty,

Just figure if they want common, complex and exotic spells AU does a good job.

 

[^Graff]

In novels, clerics usually have to learn the spell, too. It's just that these spells are much easier to learn, so if they are powerful enough to cast it, they can learn it. It's as easy to learn as the Lord's Prayer or the Shemah (prayers from Christianity and Judaism, respectively).

Cartain divine spells, however, may be lesser known. All churches keep secrets which are known only to clergy and not the masses. There may be spells that are only be known to a select few within a certain faith (the cold-based spells that Auril made in a Dragon article a few issues back, for instance).

 

[Emirikol]

Wouldn't this really hose spontaneous casters like the sorcerer and the bard? Or would they get access to every spell instead of just restricted access?

I dunno. When I used that system in 2E there were no bards or sorcerers (although I allowed all spellcasters to do their spells that way).

Sorcerers would be except from this, since they don't 'find' their spells.

Bards are pretty much irrelevant becasue their selection isn't so wide.

jh

 

[Frostmarrow]

Frosty,

Just figure if they want common, complex and exotic spells AU does a good job.

Yes, I've read those rules and they are very good for this sort of thing. Now, ironically, if using AU you'll need more spells. -And more diverse spells.

 

[Nightfall]

Yes, I've read those rules and they are very good for this sort of thing. Now, ironically, if using AU you'll need more spells. -And more diverse spells.

Indeed but then in that world, magic is kind of more...well magical.