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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DogBackward" data-source="post: 3420491" data-attributes="member: 50642">Something I worked on a long time ago, it worked simply enough.First, this was made for the classic Wizard, and so I only tested it with the Wizard class.To begin with, you gain a certain amount of ranks in the eight schools. I moved each universal spell to a different school, the one in which it most fit. At first level, you gain 5 ranks, then you gain three ranks at every even level, and two ranks at every odd level. This ends up with a total of 53 ranks to spread among the eight schools of magic. You can't have any school with more ranks than you have Wizard levels.Your rank in a school determines two things, your caster level and the maximum level of spells you can cast from that school. So, if you have Evocation Rank 3, you have a CL of 3 for Evocation spells, and you can cast up to 2nd level spells from the Evocation school.This makes for a very dynamic system. You can either go the general path, and have middling casting power in all the schools, or specialize in one or two schools at the cost of the others. If you choose to truly specialize, you can only have 20th caster level in 2 schools, leaving 13th in a third. If you only want 9th level spells, you can only get them for three schools, leaving a fourth school at only CL 2.I created a 7th ability score, Power, and gave everybody 45 points to create their characters. This helps balance the caster/non-caster thing, as spellcasters will have to use more points to cast effectively. Your Power score acts as your primary casting ability.You gaina Mana Pool equal to 1/2 your Wizard level plus your Power bonus. So, at level 6 with a Power of 16, you would have 6 Mana at any one time. Your Mana regenerates at the rate of 1 per minute, so long as you do not cast any spells in that minute. Witha  successful Concentration check, DC 15, made as a full-round actoin, you may recover 1 Mana, +1 per 5 points by which you beat the DC.You may cast any spell of up to the maximum level allowed by your rank in the appropriate school. Thus, if you have Evocation Rank 7, you can cast any Evocation spell of 4th level or lower. The only restriction is that it must be on the Wizard/Sorceror spell list. You could also create feats to allow casters to cast spells from other spell lists, if you like.Casting a spell requires one Mana per spell level and a successful Spell Power check, DC 10 +Spell Level +Caster Level. Spell Power rolls are your Wizard level plus your Power. Since the DC is based on your caster level, you can voluntarily lower your CL in order to make it easier to cast a spell. If you fail the check, the spell is still cast, but at -2 to the save DC, and -2 to the Caster level. If the caster level is reduced to below the minimum CL required to cast the spell, the spell is lost. Thus, you can lose a difficult spell if you roll badly, but the cahnces of losing your lower level spells is minimal, reflecting your training and familiarity.Optionally, you can implement a fatigued/exhausted/Unconscious result if you fail a Fort save after failing a Spell Power check by 5 or more, if that's the way you want to go. I used it once, and it worked all right. If you're fatigued, you take a -2 penalty to Spell Power checks and Fort saves to resist the effects of failed spells, and you take a -4 if you're exhausted.This all comes together to make a very free-form magic system. The limitations aren't quite enough to balance out the added power, but if you have mature players who know how not to go overboard, you should be fine. Also, it may take a little watching the spells your players will want to cast. Certain spells may not be appropriate with this spellcasting method.The basic idea is that you don't have to know the exact words and motions for a spell, you jsut have to know the basics of that school. Different spells of the same school aren't all that different, and if you know how to cast one, it's not that hard to modify a few phrases and add a twist here and there and change it to another.Also, if you're still too worried about the power level, change all non-Swift/Immediate spells to a casting time of at least 1 round. That helps a lot, in my experience.</blockquote>

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