| SilvercatMoonpaw |
By default a Sphere-based Wizard trades Arcane Bond and School Specialization for Sphere Specialization.
Making them into Incanters without the flexibility.
Looking over the actual mechanics of these class abilities I see little reason they need to go. While it's true they are set up to interact with the Vancian system, in most cases the features only require minor tweaks.
(NOTE: I don't blame the writers of Spheres of Power for their decision: simply substituting a feature they've already got written down rather than listing all these changes worked better for simplicity and space reasons.)
Changes needed (assume everything else works as before):
- Arcane Bond (Item): +1 spell point instead of extra spell. Otherwise functions as normal.
- School Specialization (Bonus Spells): +1 spell point per level.
- School Specialization (feature that extends spell duration): Functions as written, except only applies when spending a spell point to cause the effect to become independent.
- Necromancy, Life Specialization (Healing Grace): You grant 1 temporary hitpoint per 1/2 caster level, or heal the same amount of real hit points if you spend a spell point (not sure about this latter part). This amount increases to "per level" at 11th, and "per 3/2 level" at 20th.
- School Specialization Metal and Wood (extra spells gained): Gain equivalent Nature Sphere focus.
- School Specialization Void (extra spells gained): Not sure about this one.
I am now open to criticisms.
| GM Rednal |
In fairness, Vancian Wizards are (somewhat) limited in flexibility, too, given the whole Schools thing. XD It seems like an appropriate change to me. The Archetype may effectively be an Incanter, but hey, I think it works.
There's really only so many changes you can make with a pure casting class that has few class powers, and I think Sphere Specialization is a nice way of managing that.
| GM Rednal |
Well, part of the problem is that a lot of Wizard Schools sort of assume Vancian casting, and have mechanics that apply accordingly.
(...Obviously, this is nothing that couldn't be overcome with house rules - and anything that's allowing SoP in the first place is using those, so it's not an issue - but some games do want to use Spheres in their entirety and avoid stuff that directly replicates Vancian spells.)
| SilvercatMoonpaw |
Well, part of the problem is that a lot of Wizard Schools sort of assume Vancian casting, and have mechanics that apply accordingly.
Not sure what you mean by "a lot": the only things I found were the ones I mentioned here. Everything else was special abilities that while they might sometimes replicate Vancian spells don't require the Wizard to be casting with slots or discrete spells.