thansel's page

I have been working on some alternative casting rules for casters. This one uses a spell point variant, but I am trying to preserve the flavor of each class. So far I have only done the 3 classes I am most familiar with (cleric/sorcerer/wizard). This does explicitly shift the power balance to favor a longer adventuring day without the need for a full rest between encounters. This is balanced by less immediately available spell fire power in exchange for more options to regain spell points over time.
In theory these changes incentives casters to part with their spells more readily removing the need to hoard spells, similar to some video games which have low ammo caps but frequent ammo pickups.

I also try to incorporate more dynamic tradeoffs with the action economy system, and greater flexibility in re-casting spells (similar to 5e, simply because I enjoy it more), so overall it might amount to a moderate buff for casters.

Please feel free to let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions for how to flavor this for the other base casters (druid, bard).

Flow of Magic v0.5

Note: If other people find this useful enough I will try to work on the formatting to better match other source material.

Edit: accidentally posted in first edition initially, but this is for second edition.

I think part of the problem he has might be that he is running “age of ashes”. It has multiple level +2/3 encounters per adventuring day, and non-optimal play will easily lead to a tpk. There are mid combat traps in that adventure path with multiple attacks per round, doing massive damage, and with attack bonuses exceeding the AC of any non-champion character. The third book plays like a dark souls boss rush. The last chapter of book 2 is pretty much designed to have a high chance of tpk. Some people enjoy that sort of thing, most don’t.

Combat feels one-sided because it is in that module. NPCs have a 75% to 95% hit chance, and players have a 15 to 30% hit chance. Playing “non-optimally” takes that 15 to 30% and knocks it down to 5 to 20% (depending on class). Add to this the fact that NPCs are massive hit point sponges and combat does tend to get boring and frustrating for +2/+3 encounters. If your players are not into heavy strategy, they might not appreciate the challenge.

I was crunching some numbers, with the goal of finding a way to provide a more consistent marginal chance of success in encounters against higher level NPC's, and hence a more enjoyable experience. These encounters tend to be common, and NPC modifies tend to be high, especially in the premade adventure I am running (age of ashes), and my players are frustrated feeling that they are fishing for 20's to hit or be effective.

My goal was that the marginal change of success probability be approximately 5% for each step in difficulty. Of course this can only be an approximation with a single die roll for resolution.

I found that the following modifications to a D20 gets within 4%.

1->-9
2->-2
3-> 0
Middle numbers the same
17->18
18->20
19->23
20->30

I am thinking of getting some custom dice printed. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions before I try that? They are not terribly expensive, but they are not super cheap either.

If you want to optional rule it, you can alter the rolls system from d20 to get a different power scaling. d30-5 system doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily though.

So I was thinking about this and I figured it would be good to run it past more experienced folks here.

For spells other than the ones that already play well with the action economy like Magic missile and heal why not reduce the action to cast by 1? (min 1). Add MAP to subsequent offensive spell casts to balance multiple spells in a round and... It should be fine? Definitely a power bump but since the spells themselves are tuned down as well I think it works? Allows more dynamic caster turns as well. Move spell move anyone?

What I did was add a few feats that allow “spell then step”, “touch spell plus strike”, or “touch spell plus grapple”

I was also thinking of a focus spell that gives quickened, but only allows use of the extra action for striding, stepping, and a curated list of self only spells.

Is the third paragraph of the scourger dedication intended to be a separate benefit, or apply only to the ability to craft temporary items? As written it is unclear. If it is the former, it is a very powerful (if very situational) dedication. If it is the latter, the dedication becomes useful only in a very particular style of campaign (similar to eschew material components).
If it is a separate benefit that applies to all crafting checks, how would you adjucate providing the cost of crafting materials? EG, If a scrounger was willing to take a -10 penalty to craft a 20 gp item, could they gather 10gp worth of anything to pay the initial cost over the first 4 days?
This could be a big benefit to "recycle" the plethora of +1 striking weapons a mid level party will acquire fr their foes without losing the 50% selling them to buy new components.

thansel wrote:

How about addressing the level scaling with some meta magic:

Competent Spell: (Feat wizard/sorcerer/cleric/bard/etc 10) [Metamagic]
Actions : one (free?), once per minute, your next action must be to cast a spell.
The next spell you cast is heightened to your level divided by 2 rounded up, but only for the purposes of calculating its incapacitation and counteract checks. If the spell provides ongoing counteract checks, it reverts to the level of the spell slot used after its first counteract check.

As a 1x day feat would be ok IMO.

Not by lvl 10 ( it's a little stronger than quick cast, since it would give you for example a lvl 10 spell instead of a lvl 1 ), but maybe starting from lvl 14 it might be acceptable.

How about as a focus spell? Consumes a focus point and the original spell slot.

Overcharge (Focus 6)
Actions•:
Components: verbal
Targets: self
Duration: 1 minute or until discharged.
You take the energy from this focus spell and store it, ready to enhance another spell. While this spells duration lasts, you can choose a single cast a spell action you make and choose to heighten that spell to the same level as your focus spells (generally half your level rounded up), or a lower level. When you do, make a will save with a DC of 10+twice heightened spells new level to resist the strain, with the following results:
Critical Success: the spell is heightened, and you gain a +1 circumstance to your spell DC and spell attack for that spell
Success: the spell is heightened.
Failure: the spell is not heightened, but the overcharge duration is not ended.
Critical Failure: the spell slot is lost, and the overcharge is discharged.

How about addressing the level scaling with some meta magic:
Competent Spell: (Feat wizard/sorcerer/cleric/bard/etc 10) [Metamagic]
Actions : one (free?), once per minute, your next action must be to cast a spell.
The next spell you cast is heightened to your level divided by 2 rounded up, but only for the purposes of calculating its incapacitation and counteract checks. If the spell provides ongoing counteract checks, it reverts to the level of the spell slot used after its first counteract check.

Here are some ideas to help make playing a caster in combat more fun by avoiding the “well, my one spell this round missed, guess I am done” effect. Please feel free to critique or add your own.

Crafty cantrip: (class 4)
Free action: trigger your next action is to cast a damage dealing cantrip that requires an attack roll and has a heightened +1 entry.
Effect: the cantrip takes one fewer actions, and has its heightened +1 replaced with heightened +2. As usual it is affected by and contributeS to your multi-attack penalty.

Martial Touch: (class1) (AKA spell slap)
Effect: your “cast a spell” actions with somatic components no longer trigger reactions due to having the manipulate trait when delivered at a range of touch.

Spell Strike: (class 6)
••(two actions)
Effect: you cast a spell with a range of touch, then make a unarmed strike or a staff strike with the hand used to deliver the spell. Both attacks use the result of the spell attack roll at a -2 penalty.

Bend Ray: (class 10)
•(one action): your prior action was a ranged spell attack that missed
Effect: you bend the trajectory of your spell to a new target that cannot be the same as the target you missed with the prior action. Make a new spell attack on that target. The multi attack penalty applies.