so i am working on a new arcan caster and i needed a little help, the basic build of the class is 3/4 base attack, d8 hit dice, 4+int to skills, light armor simple weapons and a small list of weapons and the same casting abilities of the bard.
i have an idea for a class ability that will let the class cast spells of a higher spell level than normal at a risk of fatigue, exhaustion, and the spell not working at all.
right now other than the spells, the class has no special abilities so i have plenty of room to work.
the idea will be that spells with a higher level will have an arcane spell failure equal to 10xthe difference from the highest level they can cast (if the character can cast 3rd level spells and tries to cast a 4th level spell then it will have a 10% spell failure, or if he tries to cast a 6th level spell it will have a 30% spell failure.) on top of that when the character does this after casting the spell he will be fatigued.
any help would be appreciated thanks.
When you say that the character can cast spells of higher levels than normal, can he only do that with spells on his class list? Also, will he be a spontaneous caster?
One other note: fatigue thematically fits well with the cost for casting spells too powerful for you, but the problem is that the second level cleric spell lesser restoration takes care of it no problem, encouraging someone to go ahead and overdo things. You might make it a bit nastier, like Con damage or drain.
When you say that the character can cast spells of higher levels than normal, can he only do that with spells on his class list? Also, will he be a spontaneous caster?
One other note: fatigue thematically fits well with the cost for casting spells too powerful for you, but the problem is that the second level cleric spell lesser restoration takes care of it no problem, encouraging someone to go ahead and overdo things. You might make it a bit nastier, like Con damage or drain.
i am not a big fan of ability damage or drain but i see your point, maybe something else.
and yes it is a spontaneous caster class.
im not sure about casting from other spell lists
maybe they lose the ability to cast after using a higher level spell for a number of rounds
Could you post the spell list for us? It might help with the creative process a bit.
sure, give me a few minutes
sure, give me a few minutes
Take your time. I can look in on it later tonight maybe, tomorrow is more likely. I need my beauty sleep;) Post whatever details you've worked up if there are any beyond what you've described. Also, what's your concept for this class. Is it to be a new gish? Is it a mage hunter? An arcane healer? That'll help with figuring out what it needs as well.
just as a note i wanted to point out that the class will never be able to cast a higher level spell than 6th
as of right now, just look at the sorcerer/wizard spell list up to level 6
I am not a fan of casting spells of higher level, something that might be better is to use metamagic on spells he can cast.
Say empowering a lightning bolt requiring a caster level check DC 10 + 2*modified spell level (DC 20) or lose the spell, regardless of wether it suceeds or fails make a fortitude save DC 10 + 2*modified spell level or be fatigued, exhausted or unconcious.
Just give him a limited number of uses per day to try this, equal to constitution modifier + 1 per 4 levels maybe, starting this ability at 4th level.
there are stories from books and movies that show eager casters pushing themselves to try and cast spells that are a bit beyond their abilities but every once in a while they can do it, that is what i am trying to replicate with this class.
How about a back-lash if it fails? Maybe 1d6 or 1d4 for every spell level if he/she should fail to cast it. A favorite of mine is also to have a spell do a random effect on a random target. If that strikes your fancy, I suggest the Rod of Wonders for inspiration.
i like that
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You mentioned light armor proficiency. Is this intended to be a class that ignores arcane spell failure from armor? If not (or in the case of the caster wearing medium or heavy armor, or using a shield) does the spell failure chance stack, does the higher one take effect, or do you have to roll twice for spell failure (once for the ability and once for the armor)?
yes, the class ignores the spell failure for their light armor.
if they ware any other armor or use shields the spell failure will stack.
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Fair enough. Also, you state that they can never cast spells of higher than 6th level. Does this mean that they only get acces to 6th level spells, but have up to 9th level spells on their spell list? Otherwise, this class feature will become useless by 16th level, as that is when they'll gain access to 6th level spells.
And how does this apply to casting spells that aren't on your list of spells known. Certainly a spell that is higher than you can cast won't be on your spells known. Can this ability be used to cast spells of a level that you can already cast but are not on your list of spells known?
I don't know why this class has light armor proficiency, 3/4 BAB, all simple weapons+ proficiency, shields, or d8 HD. The concept seems to be a wizard that pushes beyond their normal limits, which has plenty of thematic examples. However, being an equivalent in fighting ability to a cleric or monk seems absurd. A bard is a swashbuckling adventurer, jack of all trades, and secondary arcane caster.
Following the concept as you've explained it, this should be a primary caster with certain unusual abilities that allow them to occasionally violate the laws of magic - casting a spell he doesn't know, or is under-leveled for, or is from a different type of magic - at great cost.
You could turn high level spells into rituals:
Increase the time to cast by two steps (i.e. a std to full-round etc.)
Have to make a Knowledge Arcana rolls with a DC equal to 20 + spell level. Then the final casting requires a fort save with a DC equal to 15+ the spell level. If they succeed, they are fatigued, if they fail the roll they are exhausted or unconcious (your choice)
it has the same spell list as a wizard up to level 6 spells. but cast spells as a bard.
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it has the same spell list as a wizard up to level 6 spells. but cast spells as a bard.
This class seems fairly broken, and seems to suffer some design flaws. There's little point to playing it beyond the first couple of levels with the overdrive thing; if you can cast 6th level spells with only a 30% failure chance and the potential for a little damage at 8th level, there's little point to taking more than a handful of levels of it.
I would recommend limiting the overdrive to one level at the most and making it a primary spellcaster to create an incentive for playing more than a few levels.
It's not "broken" but a work in progress.
I don't know if you remember the Wild Mage from 2nd Edition. They had the ability to cast spells at a higher caster level, but also risked casting it at a lower level as well. Going with this, you could use the 3.5 Optional DC system. DC = 1d20 + Spell Level + Ability Modifier to add to the random element.
You could also look into something similiar to the Wilder, that while they may be fatigued or some how hindered, they could gain a benifit as well, similiar to the benefits a barbarian gains while raging.