Semi-Spontaneous Casting: What would it take to balance it?

[Steven McRownt]

( C and B)

Apart from helping u to focus your house rule, i'd say there's no great need of something like this. I prefer being a classic wizard, and even choose to be a sorcerer, but i will never opt for this kind of medley.

Archimago, if u r trying to let wizard be more 'adaptable' try with some feats to let him prepare some spell on the fly (there should be somethins similar in tome and blood, but i'm not sure). If u want to power up a sorcerer i don't think it's the right way (perhaps it's enough to use d6 as HD, and give him a couple of bonus feats, without unbalancin him too much according to the class engine).

Steven McRownt

 

[peterka1]

I vote A and B also

 

[Master Kaul]

I would have to say B and B, my reasoning is this, if you go by the Point-Based Class Construction System I use, Spontanious casting is just 10 points which puts the wizard to around 245-250 where as the Monk is 285, so i dont think that balance is much of an issue, they were under-powered to begin with. The Sorcerer simply got the shorter end of the stick.

 

[Chacal]

I would have to say B and B, my reasoning is this, if you go by the Point-Based Class Construction System I use, Spontanious casting is just 10 points which puts the wizard to around 245-250 where as the Monk is 285, so i dont think that balance is much of an issue, they were under-powered to begin with. The Sorcerer simply got the shorter end of the stick.

A point based class contruction system only tells you what its creator wants it to tell. With the complexity of the factors affecting game balance, I'm not even sure it can reflect completely and adequately its creator's idea of balance.



Back to the topic:
It's a nice way to acheive some flexibility, but the main change is about metamagic.

If you use the sorcerer way to metamagic, then I believe it should be balanced with less bonus feats because it makes a huge difference in flexibility.

If you keep the wizards way, there is only limited flexibility
so there's no need to change anything.


Chacal

 

[Shaele]

Been there...

I adopted a house rule identical to this a year ago, with great success.

In our campaign, wizards prepare and cast spells as you describe. They also gain bonus feats, but can't spontaneously metamagic. In other words, if your wizards wants to use an Extended Rope Trick, he needs to prepare it ahead of time (at 3rd level). We adjusted the preparation rules to allow a wizard to drop/replace any spell in 15 minutes per spell level, which allows for some flexibility (and keeps spellbooks close to hand).

We kept sorcerers as listed, but gave them bonus metamagic feats (Eschew components as a bonus at first - so that they can cast without components as a full-round action, plus bonus feats at 5th, 10th etc). Sorcerers are the only spellcasters who can metamagic spells "on the fly". The bonus feats compensate slightly for the wizard's gain in flexibility, and the extra feats makes them extremely adaptable.

How does it work? Really well. We've had 3 arcane casters: one wizard with item creation feats, one with metamagic feats, and one sorcerer. All three are viable, and I like that we kept wizard bonus feats - it let one wizard focus on the "item creation, tinkerer" arcanist, while the other is a sorcerer-wanna-be.

I'd suggest that you consider the impact on the campaign of getting rid of a sorcerer AND stifling the wizard's feats: you'll end up with wizards who have difficulty creating items. Fine if you're ready for it, but it has serious implacations, esp. with the 3E reliance on magical equipment.

[edit to add this] One final thought on balance issues, which is closer to your original question. The only thing that we introduced to reduce a wizard's power was to limit the availability of spells in the campaign. Wizards don't need to carry spell books around with them (using these rules), so it's pretty rare for a PC wizard to defeat a spellcasting opponent and find spellbooks anywhere close.

--shaele

 

[Shaele]

Been there...

I adopted a house rule identical to this a year ago, with great success.

In our campaign, wizards prepare and cast spells as you describe. They also gain bonus feats, but can't spontaneously metamagic. In other words, if your wizards wants to use an Extended Rope Trick, he needs to prepare it ahead of time (at 3rd level). We adjusted the preparation rules to allow a wizard to drop/replace any spell in 15 minutes per spell level, which allows for some flexibility (and keeps spellbooks close to hand).

We kept sorcerers as listed, but gave them bonus metamagic feats (Eschew components as a bonus at first - so that they can cast without components as a full-round action, plus bonus feats at 5th, 10th etc). Sorcerers are the only spellcasters who can metamagic spells "on the fly". The bonus feats compensate slightly for the wizard's gain in flexibility, and the extra feats makes them extremely adaptable.

How does it work? Really well. We've had 3 arcane casters: one wizard with item creation feats, one with metamagic feats, and one sorcerer. All three are viable, and I like that we kept wizard bonus feats - it let one wizard focus on the "item creation, tinkerer" arcanist, while the other is a sorcerer-wanna-be.

I'd suggest that you consider the impact on the campaign of getting rid of a sorcerer AND stifling the wizard's feats: you'll end up with wizards who have difficulty creating items. Fine if you're ready for it, but it has serious implacations, esp. with the 3E reliance on magical equipment.

--shaele

 

[Archimago]

Thanks Shaele...

I was hoping to get some field data. I think I'll just keep the PHB wizard but change the casting to semi-spontaneous, if it gets out-of-control powerful I'll ask the player to submit to revisions otherwise I'll just hope it turns out as well as your did.