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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shirt Guy John" data-source="post: 270622" data-attributes="member: 2356">Incanter, Alt. Arcane Spellcaster, Version 2.0===============================================I've read through your replies, and as it is the general consensus that it's a good idea using bad mechanics, I thought I might as well take a second stab at it, starting from scratch.Spell-Casting Basics:=====================-The Incanter can theoreticaly cast an unlimited number of spells each day.  By reading the spell directly off of a piece of parchment (either in book or scroll form), he can invoke the powers of the arcane.-Each time an Incanter attampts to cast a spell, he must have the medium in which it is available (Such as a tome) at hand.  He reads directly from the medium.  The Incanter's spell rely heavily on verbal components, so like a Bard, he can not cast silent spells.  In an area of complete silence (ie. area of a "Silence" spell) the Incanter's spell-casting abilities are nulified.-If using a tome or spellbook, the Incanter must flip through to find the spell he wishes to cast.  This takes a move equvilent action, and provokes an attack of opportunity (At the DM's option, this AoO may force the Incanter to make a Concentration check to avoid losing his place).  An Incanter can mark a spell in each Tome (using something akin to a bookmark or paperclip or something) so as to make access to that spell easier.  He can access the marked spells as a free action instead of a move-equivilent action.  An Incanter can have up to five such marks in any given tome without suffering a risk; any more than that and it becomes difficult to remember which mark is for what (though another system could easily be created, I'm just working with this one for now).  If a Tome contains more than five marks, the Incanter must suceed at an Intelligence check (DC: 10 + total number of marks or tabs) to find the correct one.  If he does not make the check, the time to find the spell is not lowered (it remains at the standard move-equivilent action).  Obviously, scrolls cannot be marked, and are automatically free actions to access.-The Incanter does not have a spell list or a limit of spells per day.  To cast a spell, the Incanter must be able to read it from the book/tome/scroll.  The spell requires the standard casting time and all standard arcane material components.  The Incanter makes a caster-level check to determine whether or not he succesfully casts the spell.  The DC for this check is equal to 8+(2xSpell Level), but he may add his Intelligence modifier to the check as a misceleneous bonus (a roll of 1 is an automatic fail.  Additionally, his penalty to checks is increased by -2 for each natural 1 he rolls).  Each time he succesfully casts a spell each day, the Incanter gains a penalty to all such caster-level checks for the remainder of the day.  This penalty is equal to spell's level and all such penalties are cumulitive throughout the course of a day.  These penalties are lost once an Incanter gets at least 8 hours of sleep (or a great enough amount of rest to suffice).(Note:  Here's what I figured for a first level Incanter with 16 Int.  He can cast 0-level spells as many times as he wants with an 85% chance.  The first 1st level spell he casts has a 75% chance, but the second one is at a 70% chance and the third is at 65%.  After casting a 1st level spell, the Incanter has an 80% chance to cast a 0-level spell succesfully.  When we add in that the casting time is usually significantly increased (by a move-equivilent action, unless marked)and that on a natural 1 he can't cast the spell AND his chances of casting further spells are decreased by 10%, I think it's pretty fair.  For a 20th level character with 30 Int., things get a bit more screwy.  He can cast any spell with 95% chance of succes once per day.  He can cast up to a 4th level spell without reducing his chance of casting a second spell.  If he casts a 9th level spell, he can cast his second 9th level spell at a 80% chance.  If he casts 2 9th level spells, he can cast a third at a 60% chance.  His forth 9th level spell with have a 35% chance to succeed.  He could not make the check to cast a fifth 9th level spell in the same day,although a wizard of the same level with the same intelligence has 5 per day.  Of course, he could cast a hell of a lot more lower-level spells if he forfeited his high-level spells.  Let's say he wants to kick some righteous-donkey-butt, and wants to cast a bunch of fireballs and lightning bolts.  His 3rd level (where the destruction is) spells can be cast 6 times with a 95% chance of success.  Only after 14 spells is he unable to cast further 3rd level spells in that day (A wizard can cast only 6 3rd level spells, but a Sorcerer who is willing to sacrifice all higher level spells for the day can cast up to 42 3rd level spells).  I think it's pretty balanced, as is.  Perhaps with a few feats to allow for additional bonuses on the c-level check (Like the feats that grant bonus spells to wizards) it would appear more... attractive.-An Incanter can use and cast Bard spells, but he does not do so easily.  First, he must find a writen version of the spell (I don't know about you, but my bards pass spells only by word of mouth).  After he has a writen version of the spell, he may cast it in the same manner as a wiz/sor spell, but with the caster-level check DC increased by +2 (essentially 1 spell level).  Depending on the campaign and how bards work in it, you might want to remove this ability.-An Incanter has trouble with meta-magic feats.  He suffers the same restriction as the sorcerer when using said feats (The casting time for a Meta-magic spell is increased from 1 action to 1 full round (or increased by 1 full round if the casting time is longer than 1 action).  Since the Incanter has no spell limit, though, the modified spell level is used to determine the DC and penalty asociated with casting the spell.-As an Incanter cannot easily read the scribblings of a Wizard's spellbook "on the fly", they ussually keep their own writen in the language that the spells originated in.  An Incanter's spellbook, or Tome, as most refer to them, ussually contains 100 pages.  Each spell uses a number of pages equal to the spell level, but can only be cast by an Incanter in this form.  The incanter may choose to write the spells in their entirity, but the spells then take up a number of pages equlal to 2x the spell level.-The Incanter can cast spells from scrolls without "using up" the scroll.  If he is just using the scroll as a spell source (and thus making all of the skill checks and taking all of the penalties) and not as a spell-activation item, the scroll still remains after casting.  He may still activate scrolls normally as a Wizard of equal level, if he so wishes.-Incanters use their intelligence modifier to determine spell save DCs.Class Abilities:================Same as above, but change the "Arcane Abilities" to just Bonus Feats (using the same list provided, but without "Memorized Location", 'cause I just dropped it).  Everything else should work just fine now.Notes to Consider:===================*Most of the above wqas a repost, except the rules workings*His spells per day are very much related to the order in which they are cast.  If he casts his highest level spells too early, it will be much more difficult to cast other spells later.*He must have a book out in combat.  He can be weakened greatly simply by attacking the book, which won't be too hard for most opponents.  He must thus stay pretty far out of combat at all times.*He can cast a nearly unlimited number of cantrips each day, but afterall, they are just CANTRIPS.*He has no familiar, although he doesn't seem to have any abilities to replace it.  I may want to add something simple (or just give him a familiar).*He can cast Bard spells at +1 spell level but ONLY IF THEY'RE WRITEN.  I can't remember ever seeing a writen bard spell, except maybe on scrolls.  Then again, scrolls must be read with a Read-Magic spell.</blockquote>

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