i dont know if its just me but ive always been slightly bugged on how casting works with the spell slots. if i cast all my third lvl spells and i have like 3 more 5th lvl spells. i want to know why i shouldnt be able to take that energy and use it for those spells ( consider it a sorcerer for this example). i obviously have the energy available for it.
if it worked more like it did in video games (dont hate me i dont know the feelings about it here) where you have so much energy and the spells cost a certain amount. the spell lvl could be how much it cost. where sorcerers have amount A and can cast spells till they get to that amount. Now wizards have amount B (B>A) and prepare their spells before hand filling up on spells till the amount of the spell lvls are >= what they have in power points.
now in my mind its especially wrong that arcane casters have spell slots. divine casters im more ok with it considering they have to get it from a divine source and blah blah blah. sorry so lost my train of thought.
so i was just wondering what the feelings are about this are around here. discuss?
(this didnt post the first time. i think so forgive me if it posted twice)
One of the big design goals is backwards compatability, or at least enough compatability to be able to use 3.x supplements without major surgery. I think that in general, what you want is too different from Vancian spellcasting to fulfill that.
However, I've always allowed a caster to use a higher level spell slot to cast or memorize a lower level spell. I don't know if that's an official rule, but I kind of hope so.
Have you looked at spell points? It's an alternate magic system for people (like you) you wanted to avoid spell slots.
I think that most people who post on this board will end up adding rules to Pathfinder, and there's nothing wrong with that. Personally, what I'm looking for is a starting point I can give my players that's closer to what I want than the 3.x rules are. When I decided not to go to 4th edition, I started editing a copy of the SRD to add all my house rules and it started getting daunting. If you want to run Pathfinder with spell points, go for it. You might even be the only one playtesting it that way...
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i dont know if its just me but ive always been slightly bugged on how casting works with the spell slots. if i cast all my third lvl spells and i have like 3 more 5th lvl spells. i want to know why i shouldnt be able to take that energy and use it for those spells ( consider it a sorcerer for this example). i obviously have the energy available for it.
I was under the impression that a Sorceror could use a 5th level slot to cast a 3rd level spell...
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i dont know if its just me but ive always been slightly bugged on how casting works with the spell slots. if i cast all my third lvl spells and i have like 3 more 5th lvl spells. i want to know why i shouldnt be able to take that energy and use it for those spells ( consider it a sorcerer for this example). i obviously have the energy available for it.I was under the impression that a Sorceror could use a 5th level slot to cast a 3rd level spell...
Ah, my bad. I was thinking of the wizard ability to prepare low spells in high slots.
Hmm. This is troubling. A wizard with 11 Int (I know, it's stupid, but bear with me) that hits 3rd level can't cast 2nd level spells, but he still gets that new slot in which to cast another 1st level spell.
But a sorceror with 11 Cha that reaches 4th level can't cast 2nd level spells, and doesn't even get access to that new spell slot! He might as well have just taken a level of commoner.
I for one will houserule that sorcerors can use low spells in high slots (unless someone shows me why this is a horrible idea).
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That is exactly how it's spelled out in the Rules Compendium for 3.5.
My understanding of the rules is that ALL casters can cast lower level spells in higher level slots. I can prepare a Fireball using a 4th level spell slot if I want to. Just as a sorcerer can use a 5th level slot to cast scorching ray if he really had to in a pinch. Even if you lack the Stat high enough to cast spells of X level you still get those slots and can use them to cast spells of a level that you do have a stat high enough to cast. If a cleric only has a wisdom of 14 and gets 9th level he gets a 5th level spell slot. He cant cast 5th level spells but he can prepare 4th level spells in those slots.
That has always been my understanding of the rules.
[anal retentive]But that's NOT how it's spelled out in the Beta. Following the Beta RAW, spontaneous casters can't use high slots for low spells.[/anal retentive]
I'm just sayin'. :)
I do wish they would just make Heighten Spell free to all casters. Or scale Spell Saves. The former seems more doable, and isn't that big a deal with reverse compatibility (you took Heighten Spell? Good for you, you get another feat now).