Zephiel7 said:
I don't think that spellcasters should get maneuvers.
I'm not saying that spellcasters should get the same manoeuvres the warblade, crusader or swordsages get now. I'm not even saying that they should get anything called manoeuvres at all.
I'm saying that the same mechanics they used in the Tome of Battle (or something very much like it) could be used for most/all classes.
Since spells are already powerful and diverse, it would almost eliminate any reason to play a martial class. Since maneuvers are a product of incredibly intense physical training , it wouldn't make sense for most spellcasters to pull them off.
Beyond the fact that it makes as much sense as a martial artist running around a group of enemies who then go up in flames (the Ring of Fire manoeuvre doesn't mention the initiator spending a couple of minutes dousing the victims in lamp oil and then throwing a match at them as he runs around them, but maybe I haven't read it properly), the "manoeuvres" (or "spells" or whatever. I'm not interested in the terminology here) the spellcasters would pull off would be magical in nature (since we're speaking of terminology: get rid of "spell-like" and just use "magical", will you, WotC?). There would be manoeuvres/spells/stunds/whatever (let's just call them FX, like in d20M, it's a nice, short term!) that will incinerate the enemy (without running round them, belching flames, or eating very hot klatchian meals a couple of hours before), as well as other stuff like freezing the enemy, electrocuting him, fooling him with illusions, messing with his mind (beyond stuff like "You just burst into flames because I ran around you. Guess what I can do to you if I get nasty!"), and all those cool things wizards and the like are known to do in D&D.
The thing is, the spellcasters would get their magic back after the encounter (sell this by saying that spellslingers don't have the power in them, but just control the currents of magic that flows endlessly around them), and would have some means to get some, or even all, of their power back during the fight (whether it is as easy as the warblade's swift action, or a full action per spell like a swordsage, or somehting else, is something that would have to be thought about).
I however do think there should be a feat that allows a spellcaster to spend four/five full rounds to get half -maybe all - his spells. Only my opinion though.
In other words: after the fight. Your average D&D combat doesn't last 4 full rounds, and someone just standing there for half a minute is often the prime target for those who don't want to see what he would accomplish by that amount of time during a fight.
Seeing how Star Wars Saga uses more generic classes along with talent trees, just like D20 Modern, I can see that, together with the whole ToB system (with some adjustments) being the next incarnation of D&D:
Each class will get bonus feats, talents, stances (or something like them, with another name), and "FX".
Feats will be used for pretty generic stuff, to lessen penalties (like weapon proficiency does), and grant very standard, and universally applicable benefits (like 3e weapon focus). Nothing class-specific here. Meta-magic would be in here, if it stays in that edition. All of the benefits are active all the time, or can be used as often as you want, usually without too much of an extra effort in actions)
Talents are mostly class-specific things, also active all the time, but not quite as powerful as FX or stances. Sometimes the power level is just lower than an FX you could get at this level (eldritch blast over fireball), or there are some restrictions narrowing down its use (favoured enemy only working against one creature type).
Stances would be much like talents, except a bit (or even a lot) stronger. Also things that are active all the time, but not necessarily limited. The catch is that you only have one of these active at any given time.
FX would be manoeuvres, spells, that kind of stuff. You would know a certain number of those (maybe you can expand your collection beyond what the class gives you, like a wizard and his spells), and have another certain number of them readied. As soon as you fire off one of those, it's gone for that encounter (but maybe some classes can ready their fx several times), unless you do whatever your class says you need to do to get them back on the fly.
Spellcasters could have limitations on the power levels readied, like only one of their most potent fx (or only one augmented to its full), and others being weaker.
As an example, take healing:
There would be a healing talent tree, open to those classes that are into that stuff. There would be talents to grant fast healing to others (all the time, but how much fast healing or to how many depends on level and/or number of talents invested).
There might be a stance improving on this.
The healing FX would give you the ability to heal great amounts of damage at once, maybe healing several people at once, but the wounds would have to be fairly recent, like no more than one minute old.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
