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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zerakon" data-source="post: 1062393" data-attributes="member: 12921">Thanks, this is the key core principle that make the system desirable, at least for my design sensibilities. I want multiclassed spellcaster concepts like fighter/mages to be building up their "spell battery" a little bit even when progressing in their fighter levels, but at the same time, I didn't want to leave non-spellcasters completely out in the cold, or accumulating these points that mean absolutely nothing to them. The basic Heroic Effort rule, feats like Empathic/Meditative/Supernatural Healing, Focused Strikes, etc. are especially neat for the high-wisdom, low-intelligence characters so that they are able to utilize this mystical energy within them. Sure, if they were just smarter they'd be able to throw around some "real" magic, but these pseudo-magical (I prefer to call them mystical) abilities can be pretty powerful in and of themselves.  I'm especially going for this with my priest class; I'd like for priests to have a bunch of cool ways to use their will points without needing to be spellcasters. Of course, the option is up to the player, if they want to graft spell use feats onto their priest character to be more like the standard D&D cleric, they can go for it.Hmmm, people are looking at my mage class and thinking it is overpowered, but I think perhaps a comparison to a standard D&D wizard/sorcerer should show that they are roughly equivalent (and even less powerful at higher levels). See below.Oops, you're misinterpreting arcane secrets, probably because I didn't write it very well; I'll have to go back and rewrite for clarity.Arcane secrets cannot be used to take a bonus feat. You have two options (currently in v0.2):(1) Add a class skill. For example: "my sage now knows Wilderness Lore as a class skill."(2) Discover an arcane secret, gaining bonus will points (3+), lose a hit point ("ouch these arcane secrets are taking a toll on my health!"), and gain a [mostly-roleplaying] side effect ("hey, my hair turned blue!").Bonus feats are taken on the levels where you DON'T gain an arcane secret/bonus class skill.OK, so here's a comparison of a standard D&D Sorcerer with a Will Power mage who focuses on spellcasting:First off, a standard sorcerer has some ability-related advantages in that he can concentrate on pretty much just one stat (Charisma) to be a spellcasting powerhouse. In Will Power, characters have more difficult decisions to make as far as abilities go -- Wisdom increases your "battery", Intelligence is vital just to learn spells, and Charisma helps your spells work better. Let's ignore the Dexterity problem of acquiring lots of schools, because we'll plan for our mage to take Wizardry relatively early in his career.For purposes of an accurate comparison, let's assume each character is human (and will take Toughness as their human bonus feat for survivability reasons *shrug*) and uses a 25 point buy, and let's assign the following stats to the two characters:Sorcerer:S:10 D:10 C:12 I:12 W:8 Ch: 17Mage:S:10 D:10 C:11 I:15 W:14 Ch:12At 1st level:SorcererTakes Toughness and some other feat (let's say Spell Focus: Evocation).HP: 8   (4 (max HD) + 1 (Con) + 3 (Toughness))SP: 12Spells per day: L1: 4, L0: 6spell DC modifier: +3 (+4 for Evocation)Spell selection: L1: 2, L0: 4 (any schools)Minor Bonus: FamiliarMageThe Mage takes Toughness and Basic Spell Use feats, chooses arcane secret as discovery.HP: 8   (6 (max HD) - 1 (secret) + 3 (Toughness))WP: 13  (8 (max WD) + 2 (Wis) + 3 (secret))SP: 24Spells per day: L1: 1, L0: 2Spell DC modifier: +1Spell selection: L2: 3, L1: 4, L0:5 (2 schools)While the Mage has twice as many Skill Points and more spells known, the Sorcerer clearly has the power edge because of ALL those extra spells, not to mention his familiar. Obviously, the major thorn for the 1st-level Mage is not having Channeling, so at 2nd level, things should get a lot better for the Mage...Power Edge: SorcererAt 2nd level:SorcererThe Sorcerer has no choices to make, just a HD to roll.HP: 10.5  (will take average for rolls and track fractions)SP: 15Spells per day: L1: 5, L0: 7Spell DC modifier: +3 (+4 for Evocation)Spell selection: L1: 2 L0: 5 (any schools)Minor Bonus: Familiar.MageThe Mage gets a bonus feat at 2nd level and grabs Channeling, cutting his spell costs in half (woohoo!).HP: 11.5WP: 19.5SP: 30Spells per day: L1: 3, L0: 3Spell DC modifier: +1Spell selection: L2: 3, L1: 4, L0:5 (2 schools)Minor Bonus: Can risk an overcast to use a 2nd level. (At 1st level, this was way too risky, at this level, the Mage probably won't die.)The mage is catching up now, but I'll still give:Power Edge: Sorcerer.At 3rd level:SorcererAll characters get a feat at 3rd level. The Sorcerer chooses another Spell Focus for a 2nd school?HP: 14SP: 18Spells per day: L1: 6, L0: 7Spell DC modifier: +3 (+4 for 2 schools)Spell selection: L1: 3 L0: 5 (any schools)Minor Bonus: Familiar.MageThe Mage takes another arcane secret at 3rd level, gaining +4 WP for -1 HP. For his feat, he chooses Wizardry (to expand his schools).HP: 15WP: 30SP: 36Spells per day: L1: 6 -or- L1: 5, L0: 5 -or- L2: 4, L0: 2Spell DC modifier: +1Spell selection: L2: 3, L1: 4, L0:5 (any schools)Reaching 3rd level gives very little to the Sorcerer, while the Mage now has good versatility, being able to cast 2nd-level spells without the risk of brain-fry.Power Edge: EvenAt 4th level:SorcererHP: 17.5SP: 21Spells per day: L2: 4, L1: 7, L0: 7Spell DC modifier: +3 (+4 for 2 schools)Spell selection: L2: 1, L1: 3, L0: 6 (any schools)Minor Bonus: Familiar.MageThe Mage gets a bonus feat at level 4. He'll take Expert Spell Use for 3rd and 4th level spells.HP: 19.5WP: 36.5SP: 42Spells per day: L3: 1, L2: 1 -or- L2: 5, L0: 1 -or- L2: 4, L1: 1, L0: 3Spell DC modifier: +1Spell selection: L4: 3, L3: 4, L2: 5, L1: 6, L0:5 (any schools)Minor Bonus: Can overcast to use a 3rd level in a pinch.This is an interesting comparison; the classic case of raw power (Sorcerer with his 4/7/7 spells per day, which translated to Will Points costs is 28+35+7=70 WP!) vs versatility. Even though I think it's cool that the Mage can cast a 3rd level spell in a pinch, 70 WP worth of spells for the Sorcerer is TWICE the Mage's Will supply.Power Edge: SorcererThat's enough comparisons for now; I will actually put this comparison into a document and expand it to compare more levels when I have more time. I think this clearly shows that the Mage is certainly not overpowered at the low levels. He's in fact a bit weak, but not overly so IMO. He'll struggle at 1st level for sure, but he does get a load of Skill Points to use.Thanks for the feedback.-- Zerakon the Game Mageedit: one of my players pointed out that everyone gets feats every 3 levels, not 4. whoops!</blockquote>

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