Points based D&D 3.x magic system (1 of ?)

[marsden_online]

A fragment of overheard conversation earlier in the week got my brain whirring, and it won't shut up. I've googled and not come across anything similar, so here are a few ideas for a points based, flexible casting magic system to swap into D&D 3.x while retaining the spells as written as at least a useful reference.

This system does require re-imagining some of the classes and would bring a very different "feel" to the magic side of a campaign.

Basics

• There are the usual 8 schools of magic (I considered breaking all the healing etc out into a 9th but we'll leave it in Conjuration for now). Casting a spell is attempting to cause a particular level of effect drawn from one (or potentially more) schools. There is no "universal" school.
• Casters get a certain number of points to assign between these schools. These are the number of spell points they have available to cast spells of that school per day.
• Casting a spell costs a number of points equal to the "effect level" of the spell. "Known" spell effects cost only the points, "improvised" effects also require a skill roll with the chance of a mishap.
• Casters are categorised in two different ways
  • "Primary" casters (wizards, sorcerers, druids)
  • "Secondary" casters (bards, clerics, rangers, paladins)
  and
  • "Studied" casters (wizards, clerics, etc) can reassign points between schools at the time they study their spellbooks, and can extend their range of spells "known" through study, copying other spellbooks or copying scrolls.
  • "Spontaneous" casters (sorcerers, bards, etc) can only reassign points at the time they gain a level, and then only by +/- 1 point in any school. They can only extend their spells "known" through experience (levelling) or change them through downtime spent retraining. This is compensated for by earlier access to more powerful spell levels.

Points available

• "Primary" casters (wizards, sorcerers, druids) get (4 + spellcasting ability bonus) points at first level
• "Secondary" casters (bards, clerics, rangers, paladins) get (2 + spellcasting ability bonus) points at an appropriate level
• All casters get (1 + spellcasting ability bonus) points to assign between the schools for each class level after the level at which they gain spellcasting ability. (This will likely need tweaked with playtesting. I suspect something proportionate to class-level gained will actually be required.)
• "Studied" casters (wizards, clerics, etc) can reassign points between schools at the time they study their spellbooks.

Bringing clerics back into balance a bit they are now secondary casters for points purposes, but each domain grants a bonus point in one school and the ability to cast higher level spells of that school a level sooner.

Casting Spells

Casters "know" or are familiar with certain spells (see below) which they may cast simply by taking a (usually) standard action and expending the points from the appropriate school. Usual requirements for verbal/somatic/divine focus and defensive casting etc apply.

Alternatively casters may try to "improvise" an effect (how effects are calculated will be in Part 2). This requires a Spellcraft (arcane casters) or Knowledge: Religion (divine casters) roll with a DC of 15 plus (level of effect)&sq; with a mishap proportional to the level of effect occurring on a natural 1 or adjusted roll of 1 or lower. An otherwise failed roll simply results in no effect and expenditure of half the points which would have been required for casting the spell (round up).

For purposes of "known" vs "improvise" spellcasting a spell must have been in the grimoire/s most recently studied - it makes no difference if it is perfectly scribed elsewhere in the character's library or has been cast repeatedly in the past although a lenient DM may allow a circumstance bonus to the roll in these situations.

• Cantrips/Orisons have a cost of 0 spell points, but the caster must have at least one spell point in that school remaining unspent. Otherwise they are considered to have exhausted their ability to channel/control that school for the day.
• Spell effects of level 1 or greater cost 1 point per level of effect to cast, and a caster cannot cast a level of effect higher than
  • Wizard/Cleric (studied caster) half caster level (round up). This gives access to new spell levels at the same rate as normal. Clerics get to add +1 to this only for their domain schools
  • Sorcerer/Bard (spontaneous caster) half caster level (round up) +1

This significantly ups the number of daily spells available to lower level casters but at the same time restricts the number of more powerful spells thay can cast without becoming exhausted.

Spells known

Studied casters have a written collection of spell effects and instructions - usually in the form of a grimoire for arcane casters or a prayerbook for divine casters but other forms are possible - which they study each day to keep them fresh in memory. They can add to this collection through study (levelling, PHB57), copying from other spellbooks or copying scrolls.

Spontaneous casters also have a list of spells/effects they are sufficiently practised with to cast simply but they do not require daily study. They can only extend their spells "known" through experience (levelling) or change them through downtime spent retraining.

• Arcane casters start out knowing (4 + spellcasting ability bonus) spells of level of effect they can cast - but selecting a 2nd level spell costs two of these.
• (PHB) Divine casters start out knowing all the common prayers for their faith of the level of effect they can cast.
• It is recommended that divine casters do not automatically gain access to the prayers of a new effect level becoming able to cast effects of that level but are required to return to a place of worship of their deity and spend time in prayer and study.

Other notes

By now we have quite significantly re-imagined the sorcerer who can now cast the same number of spells/day as the equivalent wizard and can cast more powerful spells sooner (cf: more/later respectively) - but still at the cost cost of knowing fewer spells overall (see below) and casting fewer spells on any day they take that option.

It's entirely possible for a spellcaster (especially studied spellcasters) to have a "known" spell that they cannot cast at all in a day because they have rearranged their points such that they do not currently have enough assigned to that school.

This opens up the possibility of "duel(+) school" spells (rather than shoehorning them each into one school) where you must have enough points in all the relevant schools to create the effect, but it only costs a proportionate number of points from each school to cast.

I'm inclined to do away with specialist wizards - if you want to play a "specialist" simply assign your points appropriately - but I'd consider allowing access to more powerful spells of one school a level earlier plus adding a bonus spell of that school to your spells known each level, in exchange for never being able to cast spells of other schools as per PHB57

Whew. More later.