The Problem of Magic

[Fanaelialae]

I like the idea of specialization. I think it's much more flavorful and interesting to have Pyromancers and Illusionists than generic do-it-all mages.

However, I also think that's only half the issue. Yes, limiting a wizard's selection of spells certainly reduces his flexibility, and thus his overall power.

Yet the number of spells he can cast each day is also an issue. Consider the 3.5 Wizard. By 20th level, he has (not counting 0th levels spells, bonus spells, or spells from magic items) 34 spells per day. Given the general brevity of combats in that system, and the wizard has plenty of slots to deal with anything that the DM can throw at him. Again, this is the base minimum number of spells such a wizard will have.

Granted, that's at 20th level, but it still demonstrates a trend. At 1st level, the wizard's one 1st level spell isn't likely enough to make it through the day. By 20th level, he has an overabundance of magic.

What I'd like to see is a more even keel taken. I was toying around with an idea like this a while back.

Essentially, the concept was that even the most gifted mages cannot hold more than seven spells in their minds at one time. That doesn't count at-will "cantrips", which don't require "vancian" memorization. There are five spells levels, and a mage can trade 3 lower level spell slots for a spell slot of the next level.

Full (20th level) spell progression would be as follows (technically, there's nothing stopping it from being expanded to a full 9 levels, or beyond):
1st level - 3 slots
2nd level - 2 slots
3rd level - 2 slots
4th level - 2 slots
5th level - 2 slots

In practice, a 20th level mage would probably trade his lower level slots up such that he has either 3 third level, 2 fourth level and 2 fifth level spells (the 7 slot limit), or 3 fifth level spells. A 1st level mage would start with three 1st level spells, and start gaining more spells as he increases in level.

The reason I limited it to 5 spell levels is so that the "jumps" in power between spell levels could be more definite, making the choice between a larger selection of low level spells and an extra highest level spell at tough decision.

It's a rough idea, but I definitely think that forcing wizards to make tough choices by significantly limiting their number of spell slots is the right way to go. This, in turn, would make those resources limited enough to allow spells to have big effects without breaking the system, at least by my thinking.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It's not a bad idea per se, but I don't think it will work for D&D. Why?

Because nearly every other full arcane caster has more spells per day as part of their schtick. That means they would potentially have even more power than a Wizard in your system if that schtick remains.

 

[Fanaelialae]

It's not a bad idea per se, but I don't think it will work for D&D. Why?

Because nearly every other full arcane caster has more spells per day as part of their schtick. That means they would potentially have even more power than a Wizard in your system if that schtick remains.

Yeah, you'd definitely have to rework the sorcerer & company to keep with the new pace. I think it could be done though. For example, since the sorcerer's schtick is that he has less flexibility but more spell slots than the wizard, perhaps the sorcerer's special thing is that he circumvents the law of seven and can have up to 9 spell slots a day.

In the end, it is probably too radical a change for DDN. However, that doesn't mean that they can't implement the concept to some degree. 7 spell slots may be too extreme for D&D, but that doesn't mean that they need to go all the way up to 34+. Maybe start the wizard with 5 spell slots at 1st level and go up to 20 spell slots by 20th level. They'd still significantly narrow the gap (and limit a high-level wizard from being able to do everything).

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Minigiant,

I like the sound of what you are describing. I would probably enjoy such a system. But, frankly, it does sound rather fiddly for most peoples' taste, and thus is not a likely direction for DDN IMHO.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Essentially, the concept was that even the most gifted mages cannot hold more than seven spells in their minds at one time. That doesn't count at-will "cantrips", which don't require "vancian" memorization. There are five spells levels, and a mage can trade 3 lower level spell slots for a spell slot of the next level.

I may be mistaken but I thought the designers already mentioned the idea of having a non-level dependent (or not very level dependent) array of N spell slots for the wizard "dailies". So the wizard's best stuff stays flat in number, it is the options that increase as you scale up levels. Presumably there would be some at wills. But this would still be otherwise Vancian (or could be).

It is a good model to flatten out magic. High level wizards have a huge range of options, but not a huge ever growing stack of slots per day. Their at wills slowing get better and "compensate" for the loss of low level spells.