Need advice on class restrictions.

[mirivor]

Alright folks... allow me to bend your ear.

I am starting a new campaign shortly. It will be my full time campaign and feature dragons as its main movers and shakers.

I want magic to be very earthy and spiritual...much more akin to the sorcerer and druid than to the cleric and wizard. I also want to give the sorcerer a little more umph than he is given in the PHB. To that end, I have decided to give him the bonus feats like a wizard (usable for the same feats as the wizard) and may allow sorcerers to select spells from any of the 3 major spell lists. That last is a little extreme, but I feel that the sorcerer needs some serious boostage.

More importantly... I know that as a player I like to have all options open to me. I have two possible courses of action concerning the wizard. The first is to ban him entirely, in which case the story line would include the written form of magic ceasing to exist. For reasons known only to the Dragons, mortals have lost the ability to tap into magic via writing of any sort.
The second is to make wizards outlaws. The practice of Wizardry would be loathed and despised as being "the devil's work" and "foul necromancy". This had the benefit of keeping the class legal to play, but making it relatively difficult to move about and make friends. One could pose as a sorcerer, but the penalty for practicing wizardry would be very steep. Hand removal and even death have both come to mind.

Given this information, and trusting in my ability to splice whichever decision you would make, which one sounds better? Bear in mind that I am going for a primal, earthy campaign setting, there will be numerous monstrous races available for play and very little civilization save for a medium sized city here and there.

P.S. - In a few words, say ten or less, without anyone resurrecting the old "how to make the sorcerer better" threads, what do you think of the improved spell selection mentioned above?

Thanks all!

 

[Thanee]

The second (outlaws) sounds cool.

I would not let player choose wizards, or at least make sure, that they know what they are asking for... if anything, it would be rather frustrating, if so little written spells are available, anyways.

As for the sorcerer... I would not give them all spells. There are clerical and druidic spontaneous caster variants in Complete Divine (Favored Soul and Spirit Shaman).

And have a look at the house rules forum, there are tons of solutions for the sorcerer class (there's a nice sticky for easy navigation).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Khaalis]

Considering the ramifications involved, I would simply Ban wizards from the campaign. Thats is the easy option. That form of magic simply doesnt exist. However, if you want to allow Wizards, you have to seriously consider how you allow them. If a Wizard begins at 1st level, how did they come by their spellbook? Does the spellbook have spells in it beyond the initial spells getting them to 2nd level? If the art is outlawed... how will the character be able to advance? Core rules assume constant exposure to new spells (thus the automatic spell gain). Is their an underground society? A spellbook black market?
Just a few thoughts.

As to the Sorcerer, being a large advocate that the sorcerer is indeed in need of help, I would still not grant the option to open them to new spell lists. Firstly, they are arcane casters and should stay thus. If you want a true divine equivalent to the sorcerer, you can use the Mystic form Dragonlance, or if you just want spontaneous divine casting, as Thanee said there are various options available. I would look to boost the sorcerer in a different manner than through such a broad spell list change. As a side note to that, it would also make it much more difficult on sorcerer players to choose spells. It is very hard now, as it is, with just the sorcerer list to pick your few spells known. Adding more spells to the list of options would just make it much worse.

JMHO. YMMV.

 

[mirivor]

It is of import to note that I utilize the spell point system presented in Unearthed Arcana, and I also allow the spontaneous use of all metamagic feats that a character selects so long as the character meets level requirements and has the appropriate amount of spell points.

I have decided to allow the sorcerer the bonus feats that a wizard gets and ban wizards and clerics. It is not easy, as the wizard is an iconic fixture in the D&D realm, but it is for the best in my opinion.

Any other thoughts?