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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 1335362" data-attributes="member: 1645">Awhile back, when I first picked up Oriental Adventures, I came across a great idea: talismans -- mechanically identical to potions, but cosmetically very, very different.  Same cost, same effect (single-use, user-activated, as the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/v35/MagicItemsI.rtf" target="_blank">SRD</a> would say), but a talisman could be anything -- a feather, a rabbit's foot, a tortoise shell -- it wasn't restricted to a potable concoction.Naturally, you could replace scrolls (single-use, spell-completion) or wands (charges, spell-trigger) with mechanically identical but cosmetically different talismans too.This got me thinking.  (Dangerous, I know.)  Currently, spell preparation is handled "off screen"; it's usually free, and spellcasters are assumed to have the components they need.  What if we went in the exact opposite direction and made spell preparation the focus?What if we replaced Wizards with Experts -- let's assume we boost the Expert class to PC power-level -- who could learn (but not cast) spells by learning the spellcraft skill, and who could then produce potions, scrolls, wands, etc. -- or mechanically identical items -- that they could then cast from.These "wizards" would be scholars first and foremost, with plenty of skills.  They'd need a constant supply of expensive spell ingredients (the base costs of their potions, scrolls, and wands), but they'd still be effective in a D&D setting -- and any wizard's tower would be chock full of magical loot to plunder.Thoughts?</blockquote>

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