tomBitonti said:
Pondering the "15-min" day problem, and I was thinking that this could use better framing.
You can partly avoid the problem by making it hard for players to stop for the day. Add random encounters, and force them to travel to a safe point.
That would work, except that, when players have used up their resources, what can they do? How can a spell-caster, with no spells left, keep contributing?
That seems to be the heart of the problem.
In terms of 4E, if the system has a "partial recharge" that occurs between encounters, where there is a more gradual erosion of usable abilities, I'm thinking that is a good thing.
In 3.5E, you could approximate this by allowing partial healing between fights ("catching your breath") and partial recovery of spells ("refocusing your mind"). That fits the abstract nature of the system anyways, where "damage" partly reflects the effects of exhaustion and mental fatigue. Some of that ought to be recoverable.
Although, allowing the regeneration of your "top gun" abilities would be a problem.
Anyways, my 2c.
Hit point regeneration in 3.x can usually be covered with Wands of Cure Light Wounds - though I don't think that was the original intention (especially considering the cost of a Ring of Regeneration, which provides nearly the same benefit, except slower and with an incredlby high one-time cost).
But most spellcasters usefulness doesn't hinge on their hit points, but on their spells remaining, which means you need a way to recover those - but without ever recovering all of it.
I think one way of "fixing" it in 3.x might be by allowing low level spells to "recharge", especially those spells that scale pretty well
- Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, Acid Arrow on the "offensive" side
- Invisibility, Expeditious Retreat, Mage Armor on the defensive side.
For spells with duration, recharging should only be possible if the spell is already expired (dismissed, dispelled, run out) - you don't really want the Wizard to "spam" his Invisibility spells around the group, unless he spends some effort doing so.
One suggestion: Remove bonus spell slots. Instead, a spellcaster can prepare spells worth a number of spell levels equal to his Spellcasting Ability Modifier as a "per encounter" spell. These spells refresh after expirations and 1 minute of preperation. Alternatively, he may double the effectives spell cost to make a spell a "at will" spell. Such a spell recharges one round after expiration and spending a swift action. (1st round casting, 2nd round doing something else, 3rd round or later recharge and use again)
A Sorcerer (or other "spontaneous" casters?) might have the option of reducing their spell slots per day by 2 for selecting one spell of that level for which these costs are cut in half (minimum 1, rounded down) (spell for this benefit is chosen or changed on learning a new spell)
A 1st level Wizard with an Int of 16 could select 3 1st level spells as per encounter spell (maybe Magic Missile, Shield and Feather Fall), or 1 as at will spell (Magic Missile?) and 1 as per encounter spell (Shield?).
A 4th level Wizard with an Int of 17 would still chose similar spells, since he might not want to pull out the crossbow after his Per Encounter 2nd level spell is gone.
A 17th level Wizard with an Int of 30 (+10) would maybe choose spells like this:
At Will: Scorching Ray (4 effective spell levels), Per Encounter (Chain Lightning)
A 17th level Cleric with a Wis of 30 would maybe choose spells like this:
At Will: Cure Light Wounds (2 effective spell levels), Divine Favor (2 effective spell levels), Per Encounter: Heal (6 effective spell levels)
A Level 12 Sorcerer with a Charisma of 25 (+7) might elect to reduce his spells per day by 2 for Scorching Ray (2nd level spell) and Chain Lightning (6th level spell) and select his renewable spells like this:
At Will: Scorching Ray (2 effective levels); Per Encounter: Chain Lightning (3 effective levels), Haste (3 effective levels).
A Level 8 Bard with a Charisma of 20 (+5) might choose like this:
Per Encounter: Rage (2 effective levels), Haste (3 effective levels)
Might really be interesting to test in-game.
