It would be too much if you ignore expensive material components. Otherwise, you would just be granting free metamagic (Silent Spell and Still Spell) for all spells, which is a powerful but not necessarily overwhelming change.
Expensive material components are unevenly used. There are some long term buffs and a lot of permanent effects which use them, but some of each which don't, and of course almost all instantaneous and short term effect sorc/wiz spells skip them entirely. It'd push sorcerers towards those expensive spells - which are often weird effects you'd associate more with planning, i.e. with wizards. I would consider this counterintuitive and not entirely desirable.
If as David Knott suggests you basically just give free silent/still spell and leave the expensive components in then it gives a boost to sorcerers who like intrigue and sorcerers who wear armour. Probably better for the image, but again the benefits are distributed unevenly.
Personally I would prefer if Sorcerers could just replace somatic or verbal(or both) with the emotion spell component at will with no cost or casting time increase.
I played with a group that turned Spells per day per level into one big bucket of Spell Points, where lvl 1 spells per day = 1 Spell Point per each spell at that level, lvl 2 spells per day = 2 Spell Points per each spell at that level, lvl 7 spells = 7 Spell Points per each spell at that level, etc., and then you add them all up into one big bucket of 150 Spell Points, and then when you cast a Level 9 spell, that consumes 9 spell points, when you cast a level 1 spell, it consumes 1 spell point, etc. It's essentially the same concept as Power Points from Psionics.
That's about the only change I'd make to Sorcerers tbh. SLA's have the disadvantage of not being able to use certain feats, like Magic Trick or Metamagic feats.
Tbh, the reason Wizards outperform Sorcerers (and all other classes) is Scribe Scroll and having multiple Spellbooks. The Wiz bonus feats and being Int-based for skills are nice too, but Scribe Scroll + having access to every spell you've ever transcribed ECLIPSES just about everything; because I will spend 4,000gp on scrolls well before I'd spend 4,000gp on increasing my Int with a headband. That's honestly my favorite thing about Wizard: endless amounts of utility via scrolls and spellbooks, I can say "I got an app for that" to just about any problem the group faces. Sorc bloodlines are pretty stellar, but I'd put this equivalent to the Wiz bonus feats + being Int-based for skills. So if you gave Sorcerers Spell Points, that's not going to come close to Scribe Scroll + Spellbooks, but this would shore up their utility/versatility substantially.
You might make the bloodline spells SLAs while also adding them to Spells Known so they can be metamagicked, used from wands, written on scrolls, etc. I haven't checked all the lists so some might be a bit iffy.
Obviously, using it as an SLA comes out of the spells/day total as though it had been cast.
I played with a group that turned Spells per day per level into one big bucket of Spell Points, where lvl 1 spells per day = 1 Spell Point per each spell at that level, lvl 2 spells per day = 2 Spell Points per each spell at that level, lvl 7 spells = 7 Spell Points per each spell at that level, etc., and then you add them all up into one big bucket of 150 Spell Points, and then when you cast a Level 9 spell, that consumes 9 spell points, when you cast a level 1 spell, it consumes 1 spell point, etc. It's essentially the same concept as Power Points from Psionics.
That's about the only change I'd make to Sorcerers tbh. SLA's have the disadvantage of not being able to use certain feats, like Magic Trick or Metamagic feats.
Tbh, the reason Wizards outperform Sorcerers (and all other classes) is Scribe Scroll and having multiple Spellbooks. The Wiz bonus feats and being Int-based for skills are nice too, but Scribe Scroll + having access to every spell you've ever transcribed ECLIPSES just about everything; because I will spend 4,000gp on scrolls well before I'd spend 4,000gp on increasing my Int with a headband. That's honestly my favorite thing about Wizard: endless amounts of utility via scrolls and spellbooks, I can say "I got an app for that" to just about any problem the group faces. Sorc bloodlines are pretty stellar, but I'd put this equivalent to the Wiz bonus feats + being Int-based for skills. So if you gave Sorcerers Spell Points, that's not going to come close to Scribe Scroll + Spellbooks, but this would shore up their utility/versatility substantially.
I can't agree more. Sorcerer Bloodlines have an Arcana, setting up a benefit to one kind of spell for that Sorcerer to take advantage of. This, plus limited # of spells "known" means that Sorcerers are strongly incentivized to specialize their powers.
A wizard begins play with every 0-level spell and 3 level 1 spells, PLUS a number of level 1 spells equal to their Int bonus. They ALSO begin...
Absolutely. In 95%+ of the campaigns out there, there will always be downtime (i.e. making camp, or visiting a library while the Fighter and Barbarian are "making friends" at the local Ye Olde tavern/brothel, w/e). One-shots would be an obvious exception. Campaigns are when you make the time to spend 2-4 hours each night, and if you have time maybe even 2 hours the next morning making scrolls-- if you ever spend a week of downtime traveling via ship between harbors, this is how you pile up 30 scrolls essentially instantly, barring any combat encounters enroute. If you end up in any major city with a Mage's Guild or Arcane University and you have more than 2,000gp, now you're a kid in a candy store with transcribing new spells. The goal is end up needing a physical binder or 2 to hold the multitude of spells you know and to fill multiple Inventory pages just to keep track of all the scrolls you've created.
^--- THIS is what makes Wizards superior to all other classes right here. Scrolls and Spellbooks + Downtime & other Wizards = cruise control for awesome. School selection, Arcane Bond, Bonus Feats, and Int-based for skills is just icing on the cake.
Back on topic, I know I said Bonus Feats + Int-based = Bloodlines upthread, but I'd probably lump Arcane Bond + School + Bonus Feats + Int-based = Bloodline. Sorcerers are very much reliant upon focusing on having spells and making them a cut-above anyone else, and the way they do this is with their bloodline + feat selection (i.e. Magic Trick + MM feats), so turning them into SLA's would probably end up hurting more than helping. This is why I'd recommend house ruling a Spell Points mechanic. This would greatly accent what the Sorcerer is already good at, which is specializing their limited spells known.
This is why Cha is a dump stat for wizards. While the rest of the PCs were out partying in their youth, the wizard didn't get invited so he sat in his room writing scrolls and copying things into his spellbook.
Sorcerers and Bards could have Scribe Scroll, but they'd never be left alone long enough to use it. It also explains why they don't bother with spellbooks.
Monks have Cha as a dump stat -> monastery.
Rangers have Cha as a dump stat -> go and play alone in the woods.
You have to wonder about paladins, though.
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Thanks for the input, didn't realize the limitations of SLA's. Lots of juggling pros and cons there.
So, aside from the spell point idea, is there some other tweak/mod that could be done to balance the presumed power gap between Wizards and Sorcerers? Keeping in mind, I'm pretty much fine with the system as is. Most times, I'd personally rather play a Sorcerer. This is just "what if" territory.
Give them a special UMD-based class ability that scales with level (to prevent 1lvl dips = overpowered) so that all that Cha doesn't go to waste. Like, allow them to use their Bloodline Arcana and MM feats on UMD or something. That sounds kinda op tho, but something like that?
Obvious things to fix with sorcerers are:
1) 4 skill points per level
2) bloodline spells as soon as they can cast a spell of that level
3) scaling the 1st level power a bit more so it's not utterly redundant by 5th level
4) instead of the swap-a-useless-old-spell-for-something-better ability, just add the new spell known. If the old one (daze, sleep, color spray, etc) is now useless, it does no harm to leave it.
You don't want to overdo it, as sorcerers are by no means weak...just not as (potentially) powerful as a wizard. So you might want to share the love with the other weaker classes (especially 4 skill points).
If they get to ignore material/focus components it's obviously hilariously OP.
If they don't then it's a minor benefit for stealthy casting, not major, just on par with psychic casters.
And it's a huge downgrade outside of material component cheese, because now you can't use proper metamagic feats, metamagic rods, spell trigger and spell completion items, can't qualify for anything that needs a caster level etc.
If you want to fix sorcerer it's really not hard:
4+int skills
New spells at odd levels, same as the wizard (basically just start them at level 2 for spells known/per day)
Bloodline spells are added as soon as you get spells of that level.