D&D 3E/3.5 Spells On Demand v1.1 (At-will spells in 3.5 Edition)

[Primitive Screwhead]

This is the way I'd go as well.

There was at least one 3rd party attempt at this. I think it was called 'Elements of Magic' or something like that.

Close.. its Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth

The Elements of Magic: Revised is a spell point system that works very nice in that the spell effects are flexible and mutable... the caster learns the pieces of magic effect and puts them together into the actual spell.

EoM: ME replaces the spell point mechanic with a skill-based mechanic. The end result is a very 'potteresque' caster than can repeat 'at-will' any spell learned, altho the higher level spells are harder to get right {skill check }

Both are good systems and I recommend them, with the warning that the learning curve is a bit steep. But thats the case with any good system that opens up options.
The systems also come with fan and author support by way of the EN Publishing forum.

 

[CleverNickName]

I have finished typing up my first draft of these rules, and have even had a chance to playtest them in a couple of gaming sessions. I post them here for anyone's critique (see the original post for the link to the .PDF file.)

The balance doesn't seem too terrible, at least in our playtest. Our playtesting group consists of four iconic character builds (a human cleric, a dwarf fighter, a halfling rogue, and an elf wizard) all at 7th level. Even with their unlimited spells, the cleric and the wizard seem to be functioning on par with the fighter and the rogue in combat...everyone is having fun, dishing out damage and knocking down the bad guys.

The cleric said that she feels crippled a little too much by the rules system...particularly the restriciton I placed on (Healing) subtype spells. However, she admits that it has more to do with her comfort zone than game mechanics. She would like to be able to fully restore everyone in the party after every battle (wouldn't we all?) but she understands why that can't happen.

I imagine that this rules system will start to fall apart at high level, and will be downright unworkable at Epic level. I will continue to test it and revise it in my free time...feedback is always appreciated.

 

[CleverNickName]

A couple of things from last night's playtest:

1. Problem: magic missile works fine at low levels, but it begins to become a bit overpowered at high levels. Getting to score "free" damage every round is fine when it is only 1-5 hit points we are talking about...but when that caster reaches 9th level, it seems a bit much. Sure, he is still not doing as much damage as the fighter can, but he doesn't have to make attack rolls...he is guaranteed 5-25 points of damage every round...more, if the spell has been buffed with Metamagic feats. That's like having a +1 guisarme that always hits and always scores a crit.

Resolution: magic missile should probably require a ranged touch attack roll. All missiles produced by the spell use the same attack roll, regardless of the number of targets.

2. Problem: Metamagic feats are waaaay broken! One of my players, the guy who drives the wizard, is an excellent playtester. He decided that his character would spend his entire life mastering a single spell (magic missile, of course), and has stacked every possible MM feat that he could onto it. By the time he hit 10th level, he was throwing Quickened, Empowered, Maximized magic missiles all over the damn place every single round. He was dealing 70 points of damage per round, every round, without so much as an attack roll (1d4+1 maximized = 5, empowered =7, five bolts = 35, cast twice each round = 70).

Resolution: I have no idea. My first thought was to fix magic missile with an attack roll and call it good, but there will always be another spell to exploit. As I have written them in my draft, the spell level does not increase when a metamagic feat is applied...an oversight that allowed my player to really stick it to me. So I'll put verbage in that will fix that (an increased spell level means a higher caster level DC and higher requirements), but I am concerned that it might not be enough. Anyone got any food for thought?

3. Problem: Lack of healing spells. I don't know if it is a problem or not, but it is definitely an issue that I didn't think would ever come up in a system with at-will spells. Since spells with the (Healing) descriptor only work once per day on the same creature, the "tank" characters end up getting screwed after the first battle.

Resolution: No idea. I don't really see the problem here, but our cleric is really adamant about this needing to be fixed. I just don't know how to do it without creating some arbitrary "x times per day" rule.

This really isn't a problem with the system, per se...just a bit of a departure from the way the cleric is accustomed to functioning. The obvious way to handle a lack of healing magic is to handle it in the game: encourage the players to buy more potions, wands, and scrolls of healing, and I could always sprinkle a few of these health boosters in my treasure hoards.

Anyway. Feedback is always appreciated; I will update and repost the .PDF as I get the time...probably in another couple of weeks.

 

[Bladesong]

Problem 1: You should probably change Magic Missile and any other non-save auto-hit spells. Ranged touch attack is fine. You could try to limit it to 1 missile, but when they would have received a 2nd missile, the die size increases (i.e. d4+1, then d6+1 then d8+1,..., ending with d12+1). Another option would be d6+1 but with every increase add another +1 instead of another missile (i.e. still one bolt but it ends with d6+5); or don't increase it at all and make it a flat d6+Relevant skill bonus (i.e. d6+4 for 18 INT).

Problem 2: Assign an adjustment that must be added to the Caster level check for each meta-magic feat. I do not know what the level adjustments are off the top of my head, but I would say if it usually makes the spell 4 levels higher, add it to the spell then double it. So on a 1st level spell a 4 level addition makes it 5, so by your system it would add 10 to the DC. If you feel that is too high, you could add the flat amount to the DC after doubling the level of the spell. So if a feat would add 4 levels, with a 1st level spell you would double that to 2 then add 4 for the feat for a total of 6 added to the DC of the check. If that is too low consider 150% of the levels added for a feat (i.e. if it adds 4 levels, add 6 to the DC of the check).

Problem 3: Get rid of the Cure spells altogether, and increase "turning attempts". Change "turning attempts" to "divine power" and one of the options for "divine power" besides Turn Undead, is Cure Wounds. Have the amount that it cures scale with the level of the cleric. Some examples: d6 per level + 1 per level of the cleric, or a flat 5 hp cured per cleric level. (***note that using "Divine Power" opens up other posibilities for campaign flavor, and does not make it a "useless" skill if an adventure has no undead***).
In addition consider using the Heal skill to cure hit points on a limited scale (i.e. it can only be used once on a character in a 24 hour period. With a DC of 15 a heal check can heal a number of hit points equal to the level of character being tended to +1 for every point above 15 of the roll. So if someone rolls a 21 for a heal check on a 5th level fighter, the fighter receives 5 + 6 hp = 11 (5 for fighter level 6 for being 6 points above 15). You could also cure a percentage of hit points based on the roll (i.e. DC 15 cures 25% and a DC 25 cures 50%). Since it can only be applied once per day, it should not be unbalancing.
In addition, I would keep the Heal spell, but I would make the level of the spell higher and/or limit it to once in a 24 hour period.

Just my thoughts...good luck.

 

[JahellTheBard]

Problem 2 ..

throwing Quickened, Empowered, Maximized magic missiles


Well ... while at will Magic missile can be given, (and in the game only need a 1 level slot), all these metamagic modifications made it 10 lev. slot spell ( +4 quick, +2 empovered, +3 maximized ... there is no way in the game to get such a slot ( maybe alter 20 lev, ... i do not know) ... i can understand why you find it unbalanced.

Is not a problem of a 1 spell at will ... your player user a 10 level equivalent spell at will ... that is the point ... you should rule than he can use at will only the basic unmodified spell ( that is not bat even at higt level, by the way).

 

[CleverNickName]

Thanks guys...I think I know how I am going to fix the Metamagic bug. I took Jahell's advice and borrowed a mechanic from that horrible Radiant Servant of Pelor prestige class. Tell me what you think of this write-up:

Quicken Spell [Metamagic]
Prerequisite: ability to cast 4th level spells
Benefit: once per day, you may cast any spell you know as a free action. The selected spell must be no higher than four levels lower than the highest level spell you can cast.

Text in green will be modified to suit the particular metamagic feat (silent instead of quickened, one level lower instead of four, etc.). I think this will make stacking a lot less problematic...now, if the wizard wants to blow all of his metamagic feat uses for the day on the same spell, that's fine by me--but he'd better make it count, because he can only do it once per day.

Workable?

 

[Bladesong]

Quicken Spell is probably the one feat I would remove from the game if there is no spell limit.
It might be ok...I still prefer adding to the difficulty level myself.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Maybe eliminate Metamagic as feats. Characters can learn meta-magiced spells at the appropriate level.... i.e. instead of a fourth level spell, they cuold learn Maximized Magic Missle.


I have thought about adding a small element of this into my game, letting the Wizard (or cleric) use any 0-level spell at will. Possibly would need to limit the list (especially the cleric). -- Any thoughts on how that would play out?

 

[CleverNickName]

Maybe eliminate Metamagic as feats. Characters can learn meta-magiced spells at the appropriate level.... i.e. instead of a fourth level spell, they cuold learn Maximized Magic Missle.

Eh, I think I'd rather keep Metamagic Feats. They are prerequisites for a lot of prestige classes and other feats...removing them would make even more work for me. :\

I have thought about adding a small element of this into my game, letting the Wizard (or cleric) use any 0-level spell at will. Possibly would need to limit the list (especially the cleric). -- Any thoughts on how that would play out?

This we have done, and it isn't as unbalancing as you might think. The trick is to (1) make it a feat that the character can choose, and (2) remove cure minor wounds from the cleric's spell list. Every now and then, you will get one of *those* players, who wants to flood a town with create water, but it seems to work fine otherwise.

 

[GlassEye]

Quicken Spell [Metamagic]
Prerequisite: ability to cast 4th level spells
Benefit: once per day, you may cast any spell you know as a free action. The selected spell must be no higher than four levels lower than the highest level spell you can cast.

Workable?

Workable, yes. But as a player I would never take this feat. A feat for a once a day ability just seems too high a cost to me. I much prefer Bladesong's fix by having metamagic increase the caster level check. And of course, no metamagic can be applied that makes a spell level exceed 9th level (or whatever cap you designate). Plus, since spells are cast without preparation, adding metamagic should increase casting time to a full round action.

You could also have spells with effects that scale with level increase the caster level check. For example, magic missile: cast with one missile is considered a 1st level spell for caster level checks; cast with two missiles is a 2nd level spell; etc.

Another idea is to increase caster level checks for each subsequent casting of the same spell. This would require a small amount of bookkeeping but it wouldn't really be unwieldy as long as the player has a list of their spells.