Spells get quicker with caster level

[Stalker0]

I was thinking of the concept of swift and immediate action spells, and realized there's a new angle that I haven't seen before.

What if instead of the spell scaling in power with caster level its casting time got shorter.

For example, a magic missile that was always a d4+1, but eventually became a swift action, and then maybe even an immediate action, etc.

 

[Nifft]

There are some new spells (in either Dragon Magic, Spell Compendium or Complete Mage) which already do something similar -- depending on how long you spend casting them, their effect changes.

However, I think what you're doing would be a LOT easier with Psionics. Many effects already have built-in Augmentations which affect manifesting time, and you could easily add a Slow Surge feat or class feature which gave 2+ free points of Augmentation if you spent more time manifesting than was strictly necessary.

Like, standard -> full round = +2 points; full-round -> 1 round = another +2 points, and every extra round is +2 points more. Or something like that.

So, if you leave the little guy in the pointy hat alone for three rounds, expect to be sore when he finally yells "HADOKEN!!!"

Cheers, -- N

 

[Eolin]

Note: The following is wonky.
off the top of my head:

To do this, would you want a wizard of any level to be able to cast any spell?

Perhaps have 9 (10?) types of casting times:
1. Free Action.
2. Swift Action
3. Standard Action.
4. Full-round Action
5. 3-Round Action
6. One Minute
7. 10 Minutes
8. One Hour
9. One Day
10. One Week
11. One Month.
12. One Year.

Wherein to find the casting time you take the standard casting time rank of the spell and increase/decrease it by the number of spell levels higher it is than the rank you want to cast it as....

For a first-level spellcaster to cast wish (standard-action casting time, onrmally), would be a rank 10 casting time (Standard: 2 + 8 levels higher than can normally be cast). This means a full month of full attention, without breaking for eating, sleeping, etc.

For the same first-level spellcaster to cast fireball (standard action, 2 spell levels higher), would take 3 rounds.

Conversly, for a 6th level spellcaster to cast magic missle as a 3rd level spell (2 higher, so we decrease it by two..) would be a free action. A bit better than the metamagic feat that does the same...

As I said, off the top of my head... probably crazy.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

For a first-level spellcaster to cast wish (standard-action casting time, onrmally), would be a rank 10 casting time (Standard: 2 + 8 levels higher than can normally be cast). This means a full month of full attention, without breaking for eating, sleeping, etc.

For the same first-level spellcaster to cast fireball (standard action, 2 spell levels higher), would take 3 rounds.

Conversly, for a 6th level spellcaster to cast magic missle as a 3rd level spell (2 higher, so we decrease it by two..) would be a free action. A bit better than the metamagic feat that does the same...

As I said, off the top of my head... probably crazy.

I've considered something similar for a system where casters can cast unlimited numbers of spells per day. I was thinking of a casting time starting at say a minute for the highest level spell you know, with a decreasing casting time if you know higher level spells. (so if you can cast 6th level spells, those are a minute casting time, your third level spells are a full round and you cantrips might be swift actions.)

Ritual casting to cast higher level spells over the course of days, or longer casting times to apply a metamagic feat to the highest level spells you know could definitly fit in as well...