This is sort of what I had hoped Words of Power would have done - Make it so once you know a word, you could cast it with whatever power level you had access too and the effect would scale. It's something that does make sense, but is not the way DnD has been done (Vancian magic, and all).
Yeah, I think a better change would be to just scale a known spell with your power level, instead of requiring 'spell taxes'.
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I'll just drop this right here.
To go into more detail, it raises the floor and lowers the ceiling on caster. Everything scales with your caster level, which keeps going up so long as you keep leveling in casting classes. Weak effects are available all day long, strong ones are limited, very powerful effects will seriously drain your power.
Also, it is much more intuitive than digging through 5 books (or a lot of spells on a web page) looking for that one spell you need.
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You would need to create a new library of spells in order to have such a system.
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Can confirm Spheres of Power is super cool
I think something like psionics which requires you to spend more power points to get more use out of a spell is a better idea. The limit things the casters can do would also hurt the party since the game assumes certain things are availible.
If you are only asking for your home games then it depends on how much work you are willing to put in, and how much your players are willing to give up.
Personally, I already don't play full casters too much, and I would definitely not play them if this rule was in play, and it ruined my options/flexibility.
you mean like this?
no more picking up fireball when you haven't ever cast an evocation spell before.
you need X many spells from that school to get that level of spell. with the formula basically being half of the spell level squared rounding down. (with classes that require spells known requiring half as many.)
0 = 0
1 = 0
2 = 2(1)
3 = 4(2)
4 = 8(4)
5 = 12(6)
6 = 18(9)
7 = 24(12)
8 = 32(16)
9 = 40(20)Also, I'd only count spells you gain for your class for this total. Wizards only count spells in the spell book, sorcerers only count spells in their... blood? so that items and what not can't inflate your standing in a school.
maybe other neat dynamics could be added to, like removing wizard's school and opposition school's current benefits (besides powers) and instead your primary school requires half, and your oppositions require double. This way if your opposition school is destruction, you simply will almost be incapable of taking high level destruction spells while still being able to cast the ones you do have as easy as the rest.
on top of this, several spells need rebalancing so that they're in the right spell level to be worth the cost, several are simply too high up for instance, while a few are too low.
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I'll just drop this right here.
To go into more detail, it raises the floor and lowers the ceiling on caster. Everything scales with your caster level, which keeps going up so long as you keep leveling in casting classes. Weak effects are available all day long, strong ones are limited, very powerful effects will seriously drain your power.
Also, it is much more intuitive than digging through 5 books (or a lot of spells on a web page) looking for that one spell you need.
Well, even the wiki for Spheres supports buying the PDF. XD I don't think they make any money off of it, either - they're just trying to support open gaming.
That said, I do think it works very well for having spell 'trees' where you learn things piece by piece. That, and making themed casters. They have a whole subsystem for creating your own offensive blasts that do basically whatever you want (and with whatever flavor you want!) while still being reasonably balanced. XD It's great.
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What if arcane spellcasters (or maybe just Wizards) needed to learn spell "trees" to be able to unlock higher-level spells? So Summon Monster 1->Summon Monster 2->...->Summon Monster 9? Or Burning Hands->Flaming Sphere->Fireball->...->Meteor Swarm?
I think this is definitely too complex. It would require someone to go through every spell in the book (all XXX of them) and fit them into appropriate chains.
But I think there's an easier way to get much of what you want. I think the best magic system EVAR is the old Ars Magica system, which codified magic across a set of fifteen verbs and nouns (so, for example, a fireball spell would be CREATE FIRE, and an insanity spell would be DESTROY MIND). Wizards developed skill in any or all of the fifteen aspects, so you could be a generalist, or you could be a real expert in MIND magic but totally pants at IMAGE magic.
Pathfinder/D&D doesn't lend itself to that system directly, but it does have the schools of magic. Ergo:
* All casters have ratings in the various schools of magic. For example, Cynthia Blastercaster might have a 7 in evocation but only a 2 in divination, and nothing at all in illusion.
* No caster can cast a spell of level higher than their rating in that spell's school.
* Wizards and similar "book" prepared casters get 3 rating points per character level to distribute among the schools as they see fit. Alternatively, specialist wizards get 2 ratings points per level plus are automatically maxed out in their specialty.
* Clerics and similar divine prepared casters get 3 rating points per character level (or even 9, if you want to allow them to still have access to everything).
* Spontaneous and/or non-full casters get proportionately fewer -- for example, 1 per level or even, like, 1 every other level for rangers.
* Characters with class-based spell features (e.g. domains, bloodline spells, &c) are treated as having level 9 for all such spells. (A 20th cleric with the artifice domain could still cast prismatic sphere even with no points in abjuration.)
Note that you still need to be of sufficient level to cast the spell; spending all six points on evocation does not allow Cynthia Blastercaster to cast fireball at level 2.
The effect is that there will be some casters that can cast anything they like in a given school of magic, while being restricted to only lower-level spells.
What if arcane spellcasters (or maybe just Wizards) needed to learn spell "trees" to be able to unlock higher-level spells? So Summon Monster 1->Summon Monster 2->...->Summon Monster 9? Or Burning Hands->Flaming Sphere->Fireball->...->Meteor Swarm?
While mentioned previously by a number of people. I have to agree that Spheres of Power accomplishes this, and very nicely at that. I would highly recommend abandoning Vancian and using Spheres of Power in its place.
Well, even the wiki for Spheres supports buying the PDF. XD I don't think they make any money off of it, either - they're just trying to support open gaming.
yeah just so people know, I already own the PDF, though it appears to have had an erreta since then so it's out of date. Downloading it again doesn't give me the new version. I think it's because I got it from supporting it early. :/
but yeah SoP is covered under Open Game License, so everyone's allowed to post their stuff.
I don't think Spheres' errata has been applied to the PDF...? I'm not aware of any updated versions, at least.
(Except for one of the Handbooks, but that's because I noticed problems quickly, reported them, and they managed to get it corrected before a lot of people likely even knew the book was out. XD)
The biggest difference is probably the handbooks, which are currently in production and expand on each Sphere in major ways. I've been reviewing them as they come out here on Paizo.com, and they are definitely worth checking out if there's a Sphere you're interested in using.
I don't think Spheres' errata has been applied to the PDF...? I'm not aware of any updated versions, at least.
(Except for one of the Handbooks, but that's because I noticed problems quickly, reported them, and they managed to get it corrected before a lot of people likely even knew the book was out. XD)
oh, hmm.
@Rashagar, mostly there were nerfs to conjuration sphere and death sphere. few other differences here and there. mostly feats.
The biggest difference is probably the handbooks, which are currently in production and expand on each Sphere in major ways. I've been reviewing them as they come out here on Paizo.com, and they are definitely worth checking out if there's a Sphere you're interested in using.
I'm honestly wondering what could they do with alteration sphere?
like... the shifter almost already has it down. Maybe add more to the baleful polymorph section of it, but in that case I wouldn't care about it much.
I'm honestly wondering what could they do with alteration sphere?
like... the shifter almost already has it down. Maybe add more to the baleful polymorph section of it, but in that case I wouldn't care about it much.
Might I suggest you take a look at the playtest document, discussion thread here?
The Alteration sphere's handbook is in (public) playtest right now. Currently, it has stuff like planar and aligned transformations, turning into a construct, that sort of thing. Good stuff. XD
hmm, I was hoping for a new ability. I'm not sure I like diluting the talents...