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<blockquote data-quote="Kerrick" data-source="post: 3807402" data-attributes="member: 4722">I never really much liked the idea of burning XP for casting spells (or making magic items, for that matter). I didn't realize what others thought of it until the 4E devs announced that XP as a material component would go away and people were happy. When I was working on my level-based epic spell system, I used ability damage as a mitigating factor, and it works well. Since I've been tweaking various non-epic spells, I thought about ditching the XP costs and instituting ability damage there as well.The way it works is this: Casting the spell, whether or not it's successful, deals 1 or more&nbsp; points of ability damage - the ability should be related to the spell in some manner. For instace, (limited) wish would deal Con damage (those of you familiar with old versions of this spell might recall that doing anything besides healing the party or moving them to safety required a day or so of bedrest). Awaken would deal, say, Int or Wis damage (pulling part of your personality to give it to the animal). And so on. Ability damage cannot be healed by ANY means short of rest - it recovers naturally at the rate of 1 point per day. This eliminates people burning off wish spells without worrying about the cost (&quot;Oh, I'll just get a lesser restoration!&quot;). Here's a short list of spells with XP costs, and their ability costs:Atonement: 2 Wis.Limited wish: 1 ConMiracle: 3 ConPermanency: 1 Con/3 levels of the spell being made permanent (L1-3: 1 Con, L4-6: 2 Con, L7-9: 3 Con)Planar ally, et al: No XP cost (I don't see the point of having an XP cost when you have to &quot;request your deity to send you&quot; someone in the first place).Simulacrum: 1 Con (leeches your life force to give life to the clone)Wish: 3 Con</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kerrick, post: 3807402, member: 4722"] I never really much liked the idea of burning XP for casting spells (or making magic items, for that matter). I didn't realize what others thought of it until the 4E devs announced that XP as a material component would go away and people were happy. When I was working on my level-based epic spell system, I used ability damage as a mitigating factor, and it works well. Since I've been tweaking various non-epic spells, I thought about ditching the XP costs and instituting ability damage there as well. The way it works is this: Casting the spell, whether or not it's successful, deals 1 or more points of ability damage - the ability should be related to the spell in some manner. For instace, (limited) wish would deal Con damage (those of you familiar with old versions of this spell might recall that doing anything besides healing the party or moving them to safety required a day or so of bedrest). Awaken would deal, say, Int or Wis damage (pulling part of your personality to give it to the animal). And so on. Ability damage cannot be healed by ANY means short of rest - it recovers naturally at the rate of 1 point per day. This eliminates people burning off wish spells without worrying about the cost ("Oh, I'll just get a lesser restoration!"). Here's a short list of spells with XP costs, and their ability costs: Atonement: 2 Wis. Limited wish: 1 Con Miracle: 3 Con Permanency: 1 Con/3 levels of the spell being made permanent (L1-3: 1 Con, L4-6: 2 Con, L7-9: 3 Con) Planar ally, et al: No XP cost (I don't see the point of having an XP cost when you have to "request your deity to send you" someone in the first place). Simulacrum: 1 Con (leeches your life force to give life to the clone) Wish: 3 Con [/QUOTE]

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