Which is better?

[Psion]

No one's plugged Rangerwicket's Elements of Magic system?

What? Cyberzombie gets no recognition here?

FWIW, I recommended it in the context of "I'd rather use it than the dull generic spellcaster in UA."

 

[tecnowraith]

Hmm interesting read. Has it been played?

 

[Planesdragon]

Spell points. I hate the idea of being a wizard and to be so dependant on memorization. I want to cast what I want to cast, when I want to cast it...

That's an erroenous conclusion. Spell points / slots are how you measure what spells you cast each day, not when and how you pick them.

A spell-point using D&D wizard still has to prepare their spells ahead of time. Just like every other main spellcaster save the Bard and Sorceror.

(For the record, I use a spell-point esque system IMC.)

 

[Ylis]

I personally enjoy the points systems....spell slots annoy me, really...can't say why...I guess they just don't make sense to me.....

 

[Kemrain]

What? Cyberzombie gets no recognition here?

Erm, of course. I ment no disrespct, and wish credit where it is due. Rangerwicket, Cyberzombie, and anyone else who's worked on the project... Wicket's just the most vocal about it. (That I've seen.)

- Kemrain the Embarrassed 'e Didn't do the Homework...

 

[Saeviomagy]

Agreed. I've taken to calling spell points "quantum slots" for just this reason.

My vote is neither. Anything that works on a fire-and-forget mechanic strains credulity. Anytime the limit comes into play, it immediately pulls back the curtain and shouts "this is a game!" The only reason to use slots or points is metagame balance.

I agree with Psion that slots are simple, but I disagree that they are elegant. They are clumsy. They are the easy way out for game balance.

I'd like to see a skills and feat based magic system. Something that made a wizard's library important to him, but didn't require him to lug it around with him. If you know a spell, you should be able to use it. I've got other 'wants', but those are the big ones.

Simple - allow casting from spellbooks with a minimum casting time of levelxlevel minutes.

As for avoiding the 'arbitrary limit' problem - the alternative is "bad stuff casting" where whenever you cast, something bad happens - either hitpoint loss, or other catastrophic events.

You can even tack "bad stuff casting" onto the standard D&D system, treating the standard spell slots as "freebies" - once you run out of freebie casts, you're into serious pain for every spell you cast.

Which incidentally is what wheel of time does. It's pretty easy to integrate that into standard D&D - simply let wizards learn spells which are above their level and use the overchanneling rules.