Please Critique Theses 2 Feats

[Angel Tarragon]

Spirit Casting [General]
You are capable of casting spells without having to pay their cost in material components.
Prerequisite: Eschew Materials
Benefit: You may cast any spell you know that has a material component, at the cost of part of your life essence instead of incurring the gold piece cost of the component(s). When casting a spell the character must sacrifice one experience point per 10 gold pieces of the cost of the material component(s).
Special: You can still cast spells using material components, this is just an option to circumvent the cost of it, if the character can not presently pay for the cost of the material component(s).

Greater Spirit Casting [General]
Your incur less of an experience cost when you cast spells suffused with your life energy.
Prerequisite: Spirit Casting
Benefit: When you cast a spell that normally has a material component the character only sacrifices one experince point per 25 gold pieces of the cost of the component(s).

 

[SteelDraco]

That hardly seems worth it. 400 XP to cast Identify? Ouch. I know I'd rather just buy the pearl. The only time this is going to be at all useful is if the party is somewhere where it's impossible to get the normal material components, and even then, the cost is too high. Sacrificing XP is rough.

It's a good thought for a feat, but I'd start with 2 xp per gp (or maybe even one), and then halve it for the second feat. My PCs don't like spending XP, even though the nemuranai rules I'm using make it very much to their advantage. XP costs are rough.

 

[the Jester]

I'd start at 1 xp for 2 gp and go to a 1:4 ratio for the Greater Spirit Casting, actually. That actually makes it a tempting feat. As is I can't imagine ever taking it.

 

[Flynn]

From looking at the costs for hiring spellcasters to cast spells, they charge 5gp per 1xp. I think that's a lot more reasonable, and it's based on something out of the book.

Optionally, you could look at the fact that magic item creation requires 1xp per 25gp market value, which gives you another value.

Personally, I'd use 1xp per 5gp for the basic feat, and 1xp per 25gp for the Greater version.

Thoughts?

My two coppers, anyway, for whatever it's worth,
Flynn

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Thanks for the replies. Due to what you guys are saying, and it makes sense, I will now udate these feats.

 

[Darren Ravenshaw]

I agree with the others that the cost are too high as is.

Question

Could these feats be used with item creation feats?

The material cost for creation a wand of Identify means that you add 5000gp to creation cost. This cost the creator 2500gp and 200xp and adds 5 day to the creation time. Using Flynn's numbers
someone with Greater Spirit Casting could create the a wand using the same amount of xp instead and save themselves 2500gp and 5 days.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Could these feats be used with item creation feats?

An interesting point. Here is the answer to your question:

Spirit Forging [General]
Prerequisite: Spirit Casting, Any one Item Creation feat
Benefit: You are able to forge any magical item that you meet the prerequisites for, without having to expend your financial reserves to create it. In order to forge the item you must expend one experience point per 10 gold pieces of the cost of the item creation process.
Special: If you have the feat Greater Spirit Casting you only need to expend one experience point per 25 gold pieces of the cost of the item creation process.

Okay, what do you think?

 

[SteelDraco]

An interesting point. Here is the answer to your question:

Spirit Forging [General]

Prerequisite: Spirit Casting, Any one Item Creation feat
Benefit: You are able to forge any magical item that you meet the prerequisites for, without having to expend your financial reserves to create it. In order to forge the item you must expend one experience point per five gold pieces of the cost of the item creation process. The amount of time it takes to forge the item is equal to one hour plus an additional half hour per caster level required.
Special: If you have the feat Greater Spirit Casting you only need to expend one experience point per twenty gold pieces of the cost of the item creation process.

Okay, what do you think?

I wouldn't give them a break on the amount of time it takes to craft the item. That just makes it too good - making an item that usually takes a week in less than a day is just too much for a single feat. Compare to the Eberron feat that cuts crafting time by 25%, with a minimum of one day.