Ah, thanks for catching that!
With this homebrew variant, I was trying to avoid TOO MUCH extra rolling – so the Roll-to-Cast check (d20+prof bonus vs. DC 10+spell level) IS also acting as the Miscast Result (though that only triggers if you roll < the DC).
I'm trying to accomplish both with one roll, to cut down on burden of players having to track too many extra rolls. I know it's a bit unorthodox.
@Aethmud @happylace You're right in pointing out the weirdness of a 1-3 being a "Miscast" but there's no assigned result. This is a mistake (I hadn't yet caught) that's a holdover from a previous version of the homebrew where failing a Roll-to-Cast check meant
the spell failed by default. It used to be 1-3 = failure 4-15 = failure+complication. The early feedback I received was that this was punitive and not fun for sorcerers who might effectively lose their entire action on a failed Roll-to-Cast.
Does that make sense?
OPTION 1: One potential fix for this is for us to call a Roll-to-Cast result of 1-3 as the spell fizzles outright, but the slot is not expended (which is really only possible rolling a nat '1' while in 1st-4th levels with prof bonus +2, since at 5th level when your proficiency bonus becomes +3 then your minimum roll becomes a '4').
OPTION 2: The other is for us to decouple the Roll-to-Cast and the Miscast roll as 2 separate rolls, and then rework the Miscast table die values for 1 to 12 like you were saying HappyLace.
I'm fine with either of these options, or considering your own fixes for it, but we should probably get both of you to sound off on your preferences since you're the Sorcerers!
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I'll go through each of your spellcastings as an example using the current version of the variant...
Jack: Sleep, readied (upcast via Overchannel at 4th level to affect 11d8), your DC on the Roll-to-Cast will be 14 (10+spell level). Normally you'd roll d20+proficiency bonus (+2), but since it is two spell levels higher than what you can normally cast you'd take a (-2) penalty, making it a straight d20 roll. But then Tides of Chaos will make his Roll-to-Cast 2d20, take the higher result.
If he rolls 13 or less on his Roll-to-Cast, he would experience a Miscast result AND because he'd Overchanneling the spell would
also fail to take effect. So if his roll was 10, for example, he'd get "Spell Worm" and the upcast Sleep would also fizzle.
He will suffer 2 levels of Exhaustion (Exhaustion is also homebrewed) regardless, but plans to negate those by spending 2 Sorcery Points.
Alma: Dissonant Whispers (1st level), your DC on the Roll-to-Cast is 11, a roll of 8 indicating a Miscast, and that '8' would be cross-referenced on the Miscast table for a "Mind Wound! You can’t cast this spell again for a week, and any attempt to Overchannel during this time deals psychic damage equal to the spell’s level to you." However, the spell would still take effect in this moment.
