The Spectrum Rider
First Post
(This is partially in response to "Limiting number of spells on Cleric spell list," but it goes a little further than that.)
IMC all spellcasters must learn a spell before they're capable of casting it.
To learn a spell, you must spend 10 XPs per spell level and make a spell learning roll of d20 + 1/2(your caster level) + key ability mod vs. DC 7 + spell level. If you fail, you lose the XPs to no effect. You can try again - but the "effective level" of the spell goes up by 1, which means it's more expensive and more difficult to learn. (The increase is just for learning purposes; if you learn the spell, you still cast it at it's ordinary level.)
Confession: actually, I don't charge 10 XP per spell level. We have an elaborate Hero Point system and I charge Hero Points. 10 XP/spell level sounds right to me, but it's never been playtested. Alter to fit.
When a character levels up, he gets a number of "free attempts" (no XP cost) at spell learning. For a bard or a sorcerer, the number of free attempts, for each spell level, is the character's incrrement in number of spells know of that level. So if a sorcerer goes from knowing three 4th-level spells to four 4th-level spells, he gets one free attempt to learn a 4th-level spell. Same for any other spell level in which his spells known has increased. (In particular, if he succeeds at all his spell learning rolls, then he's learned all the spells he can at that level. If he fails, though, he has to pay for more spell learning rolls to fill in all his "spells known" slots.) At first level, the character gets one free attempt to learn a spell of a particular level for every spell-known slot he has of that level..
A wizard gets two free attempts when he levels up. At first level, he gets a free attempt for to learn a spell of a particular level for every spell he can cast per day of that level. (So if a wizard can cast 3 cantrips and one 1st-level spell per day, he gets 3 free attempts to learn cantrips and 1 free attempt to learn a 1st-level spell.)
A cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger gets 1 free attempt to learn a spell of a particular level for every increment in the number of spells he can cast per day of that level. If he's at his first spellcasting level, he gets free attempts just like a wizard.
Clerics don't have to learn their domain spells; they know them automatically. They *do* have to learn any cure or inflict spells they're planning on converting other spells to.
You can't use a free attempt on a spell you've already tried to learn and failed.
Characters can attempt to learn any spell on their standard PHB class spell list at any time, if they have enough XPs, unless the DM declares that the spell does not exist as listed. (Also, it takes 1 hour/spell level to learn a spell, so they have to have the time.) Wizards can choose like this on their two level-up spells, but otherwise they have to find spells on scrolls or in spellbooks, as usual. To learn (non-PHB) unusual spells, an arcane caster needs to be taught by somebody who already knows it, or find it on a scroll or in a book - even bards and sorcerers.
Divine casters may come by unusual spells a number of ways having to do with their religion, but the basic rule is: if their deity approves the spell choice.
Okay, so that's all the rules. Why do we do it? Well, it cuts down on the number of spells clerics & druids know, while enabling them to concentrate in areas appropriate to their religion. It puts in a random element that causes characters to think long and hard about what they want to learn, because it's not free. It tends to make characters (especially the divine casters) more different from each other than they would be otherwise.
It also gives the DM a "bottleneck" point for letting spells into the game. He doesn't have to decide on the admissibility of every spell in the PHB and every spell in all the supplements ahead of time; he can make the decision when the character wants to learn the spell. He can tell the player that such-and-such spell isn't available, but that, in fact, this other, unusual spell is. And he can make special spells available for clerics to learn based on their religion.
None of the players has ever complained. It's just the way we do it in Gärd. It actually adds an interesting new element to the game.
The Spectrum Rider
IMC all spellcasters must learn a spell before they're capable of casting it.
To learn a spell, you must spend 10 XPs per spell level and make a spell learning roll of d20 + 1/2(your caster level) + key ability mod vs. DC 7 + spell level. If you fail, you lose the XPs to no effect. You can try again - but the "effective level" of the spell goes up by 1, which means it's more expensive and more difficult to learn. (The increase is just for learning purposes; if you learn the spell, you still cast it at it's ordinary level.)
Confession: actually, I don't charge 10 XP per spell level. We have an elaborate Hero Point system and I charge Hero Points. 10 XP/spell level sounds right to me, but it's never been playtested. Alter to fit.
When a character levels up, he gets a number of "free attempts" (no XP cost) at spell learning. For a bard or a sorcerer, the number of free attempts, for each spell level, is the character's incrrement in number of spells know of that level. So if a sorcerer goes from knowing three 4th-level spells to four 4th-level spells, he gets one free attempt to learn a 4th-level spell. Same for any other spell level in which his spells known has increased. (In particular, if he succeeds at all his spell learning rolls, then he's learned all the spells he can at that level. If he fails, though, he has to pay for more spell learning rolls to fill in all his "spells known" slots.) At first level, the character gets one free attempt to learn a spell of a particular level for every spell-known slot he has of that level..
A wizard gets two free attempts when he levels up. At first level, he gets a free attempt for to learn a spell of a particular level for every spell he can cast per day of that level. (So if a wizard can cast 3 cantrips and one 1st-level spell per day, he gets 3 free attempts to learn cantrips and 1 free attempt to learn a 1st-level spell.)
A cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger gets 1 free attempt to learn a spell of a particular level for every increment in the number of spells he can cast per day of that level. If he's at his first spellcasting level, he gets free attempts just like a wizard.
Clerics don't have to learn their domain spells; they know them automatically. They *do* have to learn any cure or inflict spells they're planning on converting other spells to.
You can't use a free attempt on a spell you've already tried to learn and failed.
Characters can attempt to learn any spell on their standard PHB class spell list at any time, if they have enough XPs, unless the DM declares that the spell does not exist as listed. (Also, it takes 1 hour/spell level to learn a spell, so they have to have the time.) Wizards can choose like this on their two level-up spells, but otherwise they have to find spells on scrolls or in spellbooks, as usual. To learn (non-PHB) unusual spells, an arcane caster needs to be taught by somebody who already knows it, or find it on a scroll or in a book - even bards and sorcerers.
Divine casters may come by unusual spells a number of ways having to do with their religion, but the basic rule is: if their deity approves the spell choice.
Okay, so that's all the rules. Why do we do it? Well, it cuts down on the number of spells clerics & druids know, while enabling them to concentrate in areas appropriate to their religion. It puts in a random element that causes characters to think long and hard about what they want to learn, because it's not free. It tends to make characters (especially the divine casters) more different from each other than they would be otherwise.
It also gives the DM a "bottleneck" point for letting spells into the game. He doesn't have to decide on the admissibility of every spell in the PHB and every spell in all the supplements ahead of time; he can make the decision when the character wants to learn the spell. He can tell the player that such-and-such spell isn't available, but that, in fact, this other, unusual spell is. And he can make special spells available for clerics to learn based on their religion.
None of the players has ever complained. It's just the way we do it in Gärd. It actually adds an interesting new element to the game.
The Spectrum Rider
