Lets start going through:
#1 : Having mana tied to constitution is a dangerous, danagerous solution. This bloats contitution from a decent score to an incredibly powerful one. It means that every character will want to load this statistic up. Afterall, there is only benifit from having it. You get high hp, and you get high mana.
I suggest being very very careful about this. You may want to fiddle the attributes around if you are going to apply this rule, as it is this would render some of the older statistics once again into uselessness for most players.
Next, your mana point calculations :
--- Do you get backwards mana points on getting Mana Channelling?
This is very important. As a player if it isn't backwards compatible I would immediately take Mana Channelling at first level reguardless of my furture intentions. This is also important for character level where a level or two applies for many furture levels.
If it is the calculation becomes
10+ Con + wis + Level x (Con Mod + Caster Level x2)
This is overly nasty. I suggest making things a lot simpiler. If not backwards compatible taking a few early caster levels will produce huge mana, and characters may as well forget becoming mages if more than a few levels have passed.
Basically 10 levels of wizard + 10 levels of fighter would produce a wizard MUCH stronger than 10 levels of fighter + 10 levels of wizard.
Assuming 14 con 10 wisdom...
#1 = 362 mana
#2 = 142 mana
in a backwards compatiable system it wouldn't matter WHEN you took the power as such, number 2 would be just as strong as number 1 in magic, both having 440 mana points.
It also makes recalculating the points MUCH easier.
It would also of course meant that a 20th level fighter with 18 constution would have
94 mana
quite a big start!!!!
But then if you didn't start big what 20th level warrior would bother learning magic?
You may also want to tone down points gained, possibly halve them and apply class level again into the mix. That way wizardry would apply stronger. Doing this would set mana to the following:
Assuming 18 con all....
20th level fighter = 47.5 (round down)
20th level wizard = 647
10 / 10 fighter - mage = 340
You may want to tone spell costs down as well, and give base costs for effects. The reason is to prevent super high mana points. That way players are not wading through 1000 point pools of mana at epic levels. Large number addition / subtraction tends to slow the game a bit.
If not then you may want to remove that divide by 2 and switch it for * 3/4ths. This would produce slightly higher mana on wizards then the above system. This may be necessary if mana is getting to low.
-- The mana pool feat is way to weak.
Like toughness yet another useless feat. Have it add one into the center of the algorithm thus giving 1 * level extra mana. Where it will still matter a bit at higher levels. Otherwise it won't be touched and may as well be dropped.
-- The cost reduction feat is dangerous!!!
Becareful at giving wide range cost reduction. Espcially in a complex system! Instead grant it for certain types of spells. For instance you could have Healing, Fire, Illusion, Death, etc... Then have it reduce the cost by a slightly better amount.
Throw a cap on to prevent abuse of say 1/3rd origional spell cost.
This keeps the numbers closer to the front of the mind, and allows you to test balence faster.
It will make determing when and where it applies easier. You could also have it not stack with combination spells.
--- Mana recovery is useless
With the points we are dealing with this is a useless feat. Set mana recovery at 'Caster level'/ hour then let this feat add three or so, let the player take it multiple times if they wish. Sure it will allow wizards to cast faster, but so what?
If need be halve this value during normal action, use full value during non-active action, and then 2x when sleeping. Players will get the idea fast.
-- Be careful on spell costs, some thing should not be linear!!!
For instance +20 strength costs 60 mana. What high level spell grants THAT. On the other hand draining spells where much cheaper in the normal system where a high level wizard could drain 8 points with a second level spell it would now cost a bare minimum of 24!
-- Damage be careful!!!
Raw Hp damage is cheaper than fire damage. From a player perspective this means GO HP DAMAGE ALWAYS!!! Yea!!!
You probably need to balence this in perspective. Raw damage is normally harder to block, so it should be harder to use.
Next, don't let the player fiddle dice to much, I know that when casting anything over ten dice I would without question push the dice to d20. Damage is always better that way.
I would let them move it a bit say +1 / 2 and have the damage effects have their own base dice. For instance you could start fire at d6s and keep hp damage lower.
Overall, your mana costs need a Major overhaul. I suggest giving 'base' costs for effects, then having iteration costs in addition. This will help things along quite well.
For targeting, have base costs needed to use these targetting. Possibly the targetting should correspond to spell EFFECTS as it makes a differance on the type of effect.
Various considerations should have overall % modifiers to the cost. Area attacks and similar spells fall into this catagory.
The advantage of a base cost is it allows the wizard to push the power up without necessarily increasing spell cost so dramatically. It also sets thresholds for effects keeping them out of weaker wizardly hands.
#1 : Having mana tied to constitution is a dangerous, danagerous solution. This bloats contitution from a decent score to an incredibly powerful one. It means that every character will want to load this statistic up. Afterall, there is only benifit from having it. You get high hp, and you get high mana.
I suggest being very very careful about this. You may want to fiddle the attributes around if you are going to apply this rule, as it is this would render some of the older statistics once again into uselessness for most players.
Next, your mana point calculations :
--- Do you get backwards mana points on getting Mana Channelling?
This is very important. As a player if it isn't backwards compatible I would immediately take Mana Channelling at first level reguardless of my furture intentions. This is also important for character level where a level or two applies for many furture levels.
If it is the calculation becomes
10+ Con + wis + Level x (Con Mod + Caster Level x2)
This is overly nasty. I suggest making things a lot simpiler. If not backwards compatible taking a few early caster levels will produce huge mana, and characters may as well forget becoming mages if more than a few levels have passed.
Basically 10 levels of wizard + 10 levels of fighter would produce a wizard MUCH stronger than 10 levels of fighter + 10 levels of wizard.
Assuming 14 con 10 wisdom...
#1 = 362 mana
#2 = 142 mana
in a backwards compatiable system it wouldn't matter WHEN you took the power as such, number 2 would be just as strong as number 1 in magic, both having 440 mana points.
It also makes recalculating the points MUCH easier.
It would also of course meant that a 20th level fighter with 18 constution would have
94 mana
quite a big start!!!!But then if you didn't start big what 20th level warrior would bother learning magic?
You may also want to tone down points gained, possibly halve them and apply class level again into the mix. That way wizardry would apply stronger. Doing this would set mana to the following:
Assuming 18 con all....
20th level fighter = 47.5 (round down)
20th level wizard = 647
10 / 10 fighter - mage = 340
You may want to tone spell costs down as well, and give base costs for effects. The reason is to prevent super high mana points. That way players are not wading through 1000 point pools of mana at epic levels. Large number addition / subtraction tends to slow the game a bit.
If not then you may want to remove that divide by 2 and switch it for * 3/4ths. This would produce slightly higher mana on wizards then the above system. This may be necessary if mana is getting to low.
-- The mana pool feat is way to weak.
Like toughness yet another useless feat. Have it add one into the center of the algorithm thus giving 1 * level extra mana. Where it will still matter a bit at higher levels. Otherwise it won't be touched and may as well be dropped.
-- The cost reduction feat is dangerous!!!
Becareful at giving wide range cost reduction. Espcially in a complex system! Instead grant it for certain types of spells. For instance you could have Healing, Fire, Illusion, Death, etc... Then have it reduce the cost by a slightly better amount.
Throw a cap on to prevent abuse of say 1/3rd origional spell cost.
This keeps the numbers closer to the front of the mind, and allows you to test balence faster.
It will make determing when and where it applies easier. You could also have it not stack with combination spells.
--- Mana recovery is useless
With the points we are dealing with this is a useless feat. Set mana recovery at 'Caster level'/ hour then let this feat add three or so, let the player take it multiple times if they wish. Sure it will allow wizards to cast faster, but so what?
If need be halve this value during normal action, use full value during non-active action, and then 2x when sleeping. Players will get the idea fast.
-- Be careful on spell costs, some thing should not be linear!!!
For instance +20 strength costs 60 mana. What high level spell grants THAT. On the other hand draining spells where much cheaper in the normal system where a high level wizard could drain 8 points with a second level spell it would now cost a bare minimum of 24!
-- Damage be careful!!!
Raw Hp damage is cheaper than fire damage. From a player perspective this means GO HP DAMAGE ALWAYS!!! Yea!!!
You probably need to balence this in perspective. Raw damage is normally harder to block, so it should be harder to use.
Next, don't let the player fiddle dice to much, I know that when casting anything over ten dice I would without question push the dice to d20. Damage is always better that way.
I would let them move it a bit say +1 / 2 and have the damage effects have their own base dice. For instance you could start fire at d6s and keep hp damage lower.
Overall, your mana costs need a Major overhaul. I suggest giving 'base' costs for effects, then having iteration costs in addition. This will help things along quite well.
For targeting, have base costs needed to use these targetting. Possibly the targetting should correspond to spell EFFECTS as it makes a differance on the type of effect.
Various considerations should have overall % modifiers to the cost. Area attacks and similar spells fall into this catagory.
The advantage of a base cost is it allows the wizard to push the power up without necessarily increasing spell cost so dramatically. It also sets thresholds for effects keeping them out of weaker wizardly hands.
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