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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kisanji Arael" data-source="post: 2790499" data-attributes="member: 20056">On this, and any else, if something is unclear, ask me and I’ll edit to clarify. My purpose is not to hash out the wording, but the concepts.The first area that I will be overhauling is the Wizard’s spell list. This overhaul will be divided mainly into three sections.1. Spell levels- All spells will be reduced from 9 levels (plus epic) to 7 levels (8th and 9th will both be considered ritual level spells). Wizards will only learn spells from these seven levels, while any 8th or 9th level spells must be found (research DCs will be near impossible without help). To set an upper-level standard, Wish will be a low-power 8th level spell, but will also have increased cost. The experience component from wish, on the other hand, will probably be removed. In addition, the effects of the Monkey’s paw will be slightly regulated. The restrictions on limited wish will be loosened, however it will remain as a seventh level spell. The only other major change to high level spells will be the removal of the emphasis on damage.On the other hand, low level spells will be changed dramatically. Due to the nature of the wizard’s spells (see below), it is critically important to place restrictions and note carefully the level of each spell. The first major change is that there will be no damaging spells at 1st level. All first level spells will be set at 2nd level and balanced from there. The more battle-oriented spells (mage armor, magic weapon, et alii)  will be placed here as well. However, one-shot versions of these spells may be placed at first level (exception – inherently one-use spells such as true strike). Cantrips, for the most part, will be done away with or increased to first level spells, however a small number of them will be retained. Cantrips already approved for this purpose are arcane mark, dancing lights, light, mage hand, prestidigitation, and read magic, as well as air globe (which is effective only for scattering papers or sand), globes of darkness ( a black and/or non-light shedding version of dancing lights), and ray of snow (a non-damaging ray of frost).In addition, many other low-level spells will need to be considered for balancing and level shifting due to the nature of the mage (see below).2. Spell SchoolsSpells will be much more strictly regulated into spell subschools. The Wizard will now be forced to remember how many times he casts spells of a specific school, along with the number of times he casts a spell. This has been put in place to balance the removal of the Wizard’s spells/day.  In addition, a school may or may not have certain benefits associated with its use, which may be strategically considered. An example of such a school might be as follows ---Fire Gate Subschool (dealing specifically with evoking fire from nothing)Susceptibility Special: For d8 rounds, the mage gains Cold Resistance 5, but takes +1 damage from every die of fire damage.----Burning Hands, delayed blast fireball, fireball, fire shield, meteor swarm, Summon Monster (any fire),  wall of fire---The idea behind this is to limit mages’ abuse of their newly increased spells/day. There will be a limit (based on caster level and Int) of how many times/day a mage can cast spells from a specific subschool. A mage fighting monsters susceptible to fire will be unable to cast all of these spells the maximum number of times, and will be forced to cast spells to the greatest efficiency. 1st–3rd level spells will be standard cost, 4th and 5th will cost double standard, and 6th and 7th will cost triple standard. Casting 5 meteor swarms, for example, would take 15 spell levels from however many that mage could cast that day(level +Int mod).In addition to subschools such as this one, there will also be a list of universal spells, which are considered unique and thus are not limited by the spells around it. Detect magic (now a 1st level spell) is considered to be part of this category. Spells in the universal category will still be limited by the natural daily limit of any spell.3. Casting time, Damage, and EffectA large effort will be taken to focus more on realism in spell casting. Foremost, as you will learn later (and in more detail) wizards no longer prepare spells at the beginning of each day. Rather, spells are cast from spell books (NOTE: Cantrips do not function in this manner) and the mage is expected to bookmark his spells. Due to this, casting time takes considerably longer than 1 standard action; the complexity (level) of the spell will determine casting time. In addition, due to the decreased level of spells which can damage (now 6 as opposed to 10) the gap of damage dealt will be much larger between spell levels, though the number of damage dealing spells will be decreased.  However, there will also be more emphasis on what a certain spell would do as opposed to total damage. For instance, a fireball can and should heat all substances, including armor. A person inside full-plate mail should feel the consequences for his armor being raised to 130 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of 6 seconds, unless there is a very specific reason that the heat is taken away afterward. It is possible that the advantage of being a higher level caster, then, is not the increased dice of damage but increased residual effects.</blockquote>

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