Spells / Encounter ala 4e D&D

[Chris Rutkowsky]

I would like to propose a rules adjustment for spells to make per encounter (and possible at will-- though there seem to several options for that given by Domains & Schools) a reality for this game. /Encounter spells is one of the few things in 4e that I actually LIKE!

Normal Casting in D&D is Spells / Day with a number of slots based on spell level. In order to make people able to "go longer" adventuring, I am proposing the following options (so if a campaign used these rules, the wizards could still use all their daily slots as per normal if they wanted).

/Encounter
You can spend 2 Daily slots of a spell level to turn it into one /Encounter slot. Your highest spell level cannot be made into /Encounter spells. A /Encounter spell cannot have a duration measured beyond "minutes". So Sleep can never be a /Encounter spell, nor could permanence, etc. Furthermore, the duration is changed from "x minutes" to "this encounter"-- so if you cast "Bull's STR" and you are 10th level, it won't last 10 minutes if you use it as an /Encoutner spell-- it will only last for the encounter in which you cast it (this is a possible reason to keep some spells as "daily") Furthermore, your effect of the spell is as if you were Half your current level. So if a 10th level wizard were to have Fireball / Encounter, it would only do 5d6 damage. This is another reason to keep some spells as daily instead of /encounter. Note-- Healing magic that is /Encounter can be used between combats-- but only once between encounters per person, or maybe only once every 5 minutes (So in theory, the cleric could heal the party to full strength, but to do so could take hours!).

/At-Will
You can spend 2 Daily slots of a spell level (from spells in the bottom half of your castable spells) to turn them into one /At-Will Slot. At Will spells cannot be from your top 3 spell levels, nor can they be in the top half of your spell levels. At-Will spells cannot have a duration beyond "rounds". In addition, spells that heal damage cannot be used "at-will" (but can be per/encounter). Finally, At-Will spells have an effect as if the caster were 1/3 his actual level (round down). So a 10th level wizard with Magic Missile "At Will" would only be able to cast 2 missiles (he is effectively 3rd level). If he had it as a daily it would be 5 missiles-- so you can see there is still reason to pick some spells as "daily" or "encounter" rather than "at will". One more note-- if you have say, "Summon Monster 1" at will-- you can only have 1 in effect at a time before casting another one!

So for example: A 5th level wizard w/ 18 Intelligence: His daily allotment would be:
0th x5; 1st x5, 2nd x3, 3rd x2.

Instead he chooses the following:
3rd: Fireball 2/day
2nd: Acid Arrow/Encounter, Mirror Image/Day
1st: Magic Missile/Encounter, Charm/Day, Shocking Grasp/Encounter
0th: Mage Hand/Will, Mending/Day

This wizard is sacrificing variability & potence for reliability.

A 10th level wizard w/ 18 Int would normally prep:
0th: x6, 1st: x6, 2nd: x5, 3rd: x4, 4th: x4, and 5th: x2

Instead he does the following:

5th: Telekinesis/day, Cone of Cold/day
4th: Wall of Fire/Encounter, Polymorph/day, Fabricate/day
3rd: Fireball/Encounter (5d6), Tiny Hut/day, Water Breathing/day
2nd: Acid Arrow/Will, Mirror Image/day
1st: Magic Missile/Will, Sleep 2/day
0th: Mend/day, Endure Elements/day, Message/encounter, Mage-hand/encounter

One last note regarding healing spells: If you have a healing spell set as /encounter, you can cast only ONE of them between encounters on all allies. So, if you have Cure Light/encounter, and Cure Moderate/Encounter, and Cure Serious/Day, you could cast Cure Mod on all party members between encounters-- but not the Cure Mod & Cure Light. If one wanted to give the OPTION of allowing healing spells to be used "at will" I would say that they CANNOT be cast outside combat at all (A 6th level cleric casting "Cure Light" 1/round in combat is not game breaking. Using it to heal everyone to full health between fights is).

[Chris Rutkowsky]

Someone has to have SOME opinion on it... BUMP!

[seekerofshadowlight]

I myself dont like that it changes to much from core 3.5 for my tastes .

[snowyak]

seekerofshadowlight wrote:

I myself dont like that it changes to much from core 3.5 for my tastes .

I agree.

there is always a thing as reserve feats.
a good invention imo.

[Krome]

I like a simple approach to this.

First of all, we tried the variant in Unearthed Arcana to recharge magic. We liked it a LOT except the poor casters had so many spells to track.

I prefer spells be Per Encounter, instead of per day. An hour is required to prepare another set of spells.

Now, let me explain whY i like this way.

In a normal scenario you come to your first room and open the door. Everyone fights. The casters hold off on big spells in case something comes along later. FIght ends.

Next room is a fight. Casters throw more spells but hold some in reserve. Players come closer to death this time as cleric is loathe to use best healing spells.

Third room. Yep another fight. Casters have no choice but to spend their last spells.

Everyone looks at door number four and s@&+s their pants! So, the party decides to camp in room number three for at least 9 hours (8 rest and an hour to prepare new spells). Amazingly the rest of the dungeon decides to give the PCs a chance and waits.

Instead, with per encounter spells, the casters can throw what they have and always contribute in a meaningful way. It speeds along play, and let's face, it is just more fun.

You can take the list from Unearthed Arcana and make the spells that return in XX rounds be per encounter if you want, and spells that return after a day (like Wish) can't be abused.

Personally I prefer make everything per encounter and as a DM that gives me more opportunities to find loopholes in WIsh and screw with the PCs.

[Bugoo2]

I have a feeling i'm going to be saying this alot but, one of the greatest things about third edition is how easy it is to tinker and modify. While I feel this is something that is a great house rule, or optional rule, I think it changes the system a bit too much into something its not trying to be.

[Iridal]

I like a simple approach to this, yeah! Spell durations in 3.5 are too short. In 3.0 at one time I could cast a Bull's Strength ad it would last 12 hours, in essence making my spell's effect a per encounter/at will ability, using 4E speak. Now the spell is a Daily use spell. Cleric and wizards runs out of buffs in one major fight the entire game comes to halt so he can rest for a day. So instead of making combat more fluid and making PCs more powerful over time it did the opposite.

[Carl Cramér]

I have been using a variant recharge magic system based on die rolls for a year now, to good effect. It keeps casters from completely destroying the opposition in a few rounds, yet almost guarantees they won't run out of spells. This is a very nice effect.

I'm not suggesting this rather complex system be adopted for Pathfinder, but some kind of per-encounter powers would be very nice.