I'm the evil DM in question.
I'm trying to gain the flavor of path magic without gimping the path mage. They should have unique spells from their unique schools that they jealously guard. Magic should be a provincial affair, rather than drawing from a universal book(s) of arcane magic. They should have the rare and unique spells that the simple hedge wizards, lacking a "proper" school, cannot acquire. There would be some overlap, of course; who can deny the efficacy of a fireball? But, one wizard's Path of Flame may be very different from another.
Rather than designing a system, like I probably should have done, based on your notes, I left it up to the (advanced) players to interpret some guidelines and whip something up, hoping it would be a collaborative experience, rather than an evil DM dictate. I just ended up pissing people off and the results have not turned out well. We're now trying to balance things out to put the path mage at least on par with a standard mage.
Here's how we're planning to do it at the moment.
1. Paths. Paths have turned out to be LONG chains of spells, usually going from 1st-9th level, with all the spells in between. I wasn't intending that much work, but it does provide variety.
2. Path Numbers. Characters get 2, plus their Int modifier in paths at first level and a new path when they gain a spell level. For example, a 5th level path mage with an 18 Int would have 8 spell paths.
3. Availability. The advantage of the path mage in my campaign is that mages can acquire spells from ALL sourcebooks allowed, including Books of Eldritch Might, etc., while regular mages are limited to the PHB. Originally I was "banning" non core spells because of a munchkinism problem, but I started using this option as a carrot for path mages. "Regular" mages would get the rare spells as they acquired scrolls and spellbooks.
*4. Acquisition. Path mages gain ALL spells on all paths when they're capable of casting them. For example, that 5th level path mage would gain all 8, 3rd level spells on hitting 5th level.
*5. Training spells. 0-level spells, not being serious arcane magic, are all free while the wizard is learning what paths may interest them (think undergraduate coursework).
*6. Extra spell casting. Path mages can cast one extra spell from their spell paths for each spell level they've attained, like a specialist mage. This balances out the specialist mage advantage.
Items with an asterisk (*) are recent changes to enhance the path mage.
How does this sound?
And thanks Sean, for your help in Monte's miniature forum.
--gary
I'm trying to gain the flavor of path magic without gimping the path mage. They should have unique spells from their unique schools that they jealously guard. Magic should be a provincial affair, rather than drawing from a universal book(s) of arcane magic. They should have the rare and unique spells that the simple hedge wizards, lacking a "proper" school, cannot acquire. There would be some overlap, of course; who can deny the efficacy of a fireball? But, one wizard's Path of Flame may be very different from another.
Rather than designing a system, like I probably should have done, based on your notes, I left it up to the (advanced) players to interpret some guidelines and whip something up, hoping it would be a collaborative experience, rather than an evil DM dictate. I just ended up pissing people off and the results have not turned out well. We're now trying to balance things out to put the path mage at least on par with a standard mage.
Here's how we're planning to do it at the moment.
1. Paths. Paths have turned out to be LONG chains of spells, usually going from 1st-9th level, with all the spells in between. I wasn't intending that much work, but it does provide variety.
2. Path Numbers. Characters get 2, plus their Int modifier in paths at first level and a new path when they gain a spell level. For example, a 5th level path mage with an 18 Int would have 8 spell paths.
3. Availability. The advantage of the path mage in my campaign is that mages can acquire spells from ALL sourcebooks allowed, including Books of Eldritch Might, etc., while regular mages are limited to the PHB. Originally I was "banning" non core spells because of a munchkinism problem, but I started using this option as a carrot for path mages. "Regular" mages would get the rare spells as they acquired scrolls and spellbooks.
*4. Acquisition. Path mages gain ALL spells on all paths when they're capable of casting them. For example, that 5th level path mage would gain all 8, 3rd level spells on hitting 5th level.
*5. Training spells. 0-level spells, not being serious arcane magic, are all free while the wizard is learning what paths may interest them (think undergraduate coursework).
*6. Extra spell casting. Path mages can cast one extra spell from their spell paths for each spell level they've attained, like a specialist mage. This balances out the specialist mage advantage.
Items with an asterisk (*) are recent changes to enhance the path mage.
How does this sound?
And thanks Sean, for your help in Monte's miniature forum.
--gary
