Spontaneous Druids & Rangers

[Viktyr Gehrig]

One trend I've noticed in the Complete series, and generally any books with new base classes, is that all the new casters are spontaneous. (With the exception of the Wu Jen, which I refuse to acknowledge.)

Hexblades, Spellthieves, Warmages, Spirit Shamen, Shugenjas, and Favored Souls are all spontaneous casters, leaving the Wizard, Cleric, and Druid to hold up the "studious" end of the stick. (Paladins are already taken care of, being a PrC that grants levels in a previous divine class.)

Now, for the Cleric and Wizard, this makes all the sense in the world to me. They're the most formalized practicioners of their flavor of magic. They're the ones that stay up until the wee hours of the morning looking over old scrolls (whether studying arcane laws or religious texts) and generally doing the stuff that lends itself to spell preparation.

On the other hand, for the Ranger and Druid, it just doesn't feel right to me. They don't have time (or space) for spellbooks or prayerbooks, and the needs of wilderness survival just aren't the same as the temple or the laboratory. They need to be ready to respond to whatever pops up.

Basically, what I'm thinking of doing is slapping them with Spells Known lists, which they pick from their class list. Druids would probably follow the Shugenja pattern, with the Order spell replaced by summon nature's ally, and the favored element spells focused on some other aspect of nature, while Rangers would follow the Hexblade pattern. I'd leave the spellcasting statistic for both classes as Wisdom, as neither Druids nor Rangers are expected to be particularly charismatic.

Is this a good idea? Are there any proposed modifications? I could probably model Druid spellcasting in a number of different ways-- I could even rip the mechanics straight out of Spirit Shaman, since they use the same spell list.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Wow. Not the Shugenja pattern. They get their spells early.

I could use the Favored Soul pattern, though-- or at least what the Favored Soul pattern was before I attacked it. (I cut Spells Known at 1st-9th level by three, then gave them a Domain at 1st, 7th, and 14th level.) Summon Nature's Ally spells would be automatically on the list, as a bonus.

I'd probably stick to the Spells per Day pattern of the unmodified Druid, though. They don't need extra spells per day.

edit: Also... not so fond of Spirit Shaman. I didn't realize they got so few retrieved spells per day. And the metamagic limitation is just harsh.

 

[Nifft]

I mostly like the Spirit Shaman mechanic. It's the way everyone does magic in Arcana Evolved (except for the Metamagic thingy... that's no used in Arcana Evolved, and I also kinda dislike the "pay twice" aspect... but it does allow use of Quicken, which is sweet.)

My modification to the Spirit Shaman mechanics would be:
1/ You may prepare a spell as Metamagic'd, in which case its casting time is NOT increased; or
2/ You may cast a spell and spontaneously apply exactly one Metamagic feat to it by increasing the casting time (and using a higher-level spell-slot).

-- N

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Okay-- simplest first: Rangers have the same number of spells per day (and gain new spell levels) at the same rate as Hexblades. Thus, they can gain Spells Known at the same rate. Since divine casters normally have access to their whole spell list, and Rangers don't really have any attack spells, I'm going to bump this up by one per level.

Now, Druids are a bit more of a pain. Their spell table doesn't resemble any spontaneous caster.

So, I'm going to take closest spontaneous divine caster-- the Favored Soul-- and reduce the number of spells the Druid may cast per day by one per level. Druids get new spell levels one level later than they used to, but can cast one more per level per day than they could previously.

Druids, like Clerics, are accustomed to having full access to their entire spell list, and they gain full access as soon as they gain the ability to cast spells of any given level. This will never do for a spontaneous caster.

Since they're using a modified form of the Favored Soul's Spells per Day table, we can go with a modified form of the Favored Souls Spells Known table. Druids are normally allowed to spontaneously cast the summon nature's ally spells spontaneously, so they should retain that access. I'm also in favor of giving spontaneous casters a choice of theme, basically predetermining one spell per level they have access to-- and several people have expressed an interest in giving Druids a Domain.

So, at 1st level, Druids get to pick a Cleric Domain from a list and add the spells from that Domain to their Spells Known list. Druids already get a number of cool powers, and some of their powers would be redundant, so they don't get the Domain power. This would put them two up on the Favored Soul, and the Druid is already pretty tough, so I'd suggest knocking off one free Spell per level.

This is the list I'd allow: Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Healing, Plant, Sun, Travel, and Water. I might or might not allow Strength.

So, at every level of spells Druids can cast, they know summon nature's ally, their domain spell, and at least two other spells-- one more than the Favored Soul, but two of their spells are predetermined. They may cast one fewer spell per day.

I think it's about right, as far as balance is concerned.

 

[B1ue]

Or you could use the spontaneous divine spellcaster variant detailed in Unearthed Arcana, on page 65. Or you could look http://d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/spontaneousDivineCasters.htm

I actually like that variant. I call druids "Blood Mages" after an author's world I like. It is not as bad as it sounds, Blood magic is magic of living things, sometimes destructive, sometimes healing, always untamed. Instead of giving druids absolute access to Summon Nature's Ally spells, you can write environment domains that a druid selects one of at first level, to differentiate between Hill druids and Swamp druids and Jungle druids, etc.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Or you could use the spontaneous divine spellcaster variant detailed in Unearthed Arcana, on page 65.

Yeah, I'm just going to sit here and feel a little foolish now.

Still going to give Druids the Domain, though-- it's more or less in-line with the small bonuses I've given every other full (or at least major) caster.

 

[Nifft]

Still going to give Druids the Domain, though-- it's more or less in-line with the small bonuses I've given every other full (or at least major) caster.

I've made a list of Domains here: http://fishnet.cx/~josh/DnD/DHE/domains3.5.shtml

They are appropriate for spontaneous usage -- the spells don't infringe on the Sor/Wiz list quite as much as the ones in the PHB.

-- N

PS: One other thing to think about: class features disguised as spells. No one should ever be forced to pick Raise Dead or Reincarnate -- it should just be a class feature. Make these spells into rituals which become available at the appropriate levels:
- Atonement
- Hallow
- Spellstaff
- Reincarnate
- Awaken
... and perhaps some others.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

PS: One other thing to think about: class features disguised as spells. No one should ever be forced to pick Raise Dead or Reincarnate -- it should just be a class feature. Make these spells into rituals which become available at the appropriate levels:

Kind've like the Incantation rules from Urban Arcana? I've been thinking of doing something similar to allow d20 Modern to work better for my Galactic Planescape project.

 

[Nifft]

Kind've like the Incantation rules from Urban Arcana?

Never really gave those rules a look... but if they allow you to do the effect of the spell with some limits (like costing ability point damage, or something), then I approve.

-- N