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Hi everyone. I got bored and put together what seems like it could be an interesting way to play a wizard. The concept is a wizard that really leans into their spellbook. They are quasi prepared quasi spontaneous. They have only so many slots to work with but their spell slots work a bit different from normal. They have a set of what i am calling progressive spell slots they can use for any arcane spell and access to a chosen set of few utility spells that become second nature to them overtime. They often need to have their spellbook in hand to fully benefit from their archtype class options. They are limited in thesis choice to two of the least regarded options but actually get feat support lines for each.
Please feel free to critique it. I think i found balance in it but maybe I over or under estimated some elements. Also still working on the draft for anything that wasn't clearly worded.
I just put this together for fun.
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Just to note: currently the featured link is broken. To get the correct link, take out the "<br%20/>" from the end of the URL.
As for the archetype itself: I like the freedom to keep spell slots open until the opportunity arises to prepare the right spell into it. I also like how this reorients curriculum spell slots to be much more flexible than baseline slots. I currently have a few critiques:
All of which is to say: I do think the core idea here is really intriguing, and I'd be interested in trying this model out a little to see how it works in practice. I do think, however, there are a few questions I'd like answered first, and I think a few portions of this brew could do with a bit more fleshing out and clearer presentation. This is an excellent start, however, and I look forward to seeing how this develops!
Thank you Teridax!
I cant edit anymore but I can add it here.
Just to note: currently the featured link is broken. To get the correct link, take out the "<br%20/>" from the end of the URL.
As for the archetype itself: I like the freedom to keep spell slots open until the opportunity arises to prepare the right spell into it. I also like how this reorients curriculum spell slots to be much more flexible than baseline slots. I currently have a few critiques:
* Though not necessarily directly relevant to the core contents, the presentation I think made things a bit difficult to parse, especially for a brew that redoes the Wizard's spellcasting entirely. I would recommend the use of a word processor like Scribe or The Homebrewery to format your text, and would probably think of rewording or reordering some elements for improved clarity (for instance, moving the bit about Master-Familiar Symbiosis to the actual feat itself rather than Study the Tome).
* Because this archetype completely changes how spell slots and spell preparation works for the Wizard, I'd like to know more about how this would interact with the Spell Blending and Spell Substitution arcane theses.
* Similarly, I think the bit about needing to cast higher-rank versions of a spell in the same slot could be elaborated on a little more: when you reach your maximum spell rank, do you still get to cast that spell at the same rank at-will, or do you become unable to cast the spell using that slot until your next daily preparations?
* Also similarly, Reference Tome right now relies on an extremely vague "work with your GM" to establish its list of separate spells, which would not only make this feature more difficult to use out of the box, but also carries significant risk given how these utility spells can be cast at-will: befuddle and command both easily qualify as utility spells, and could genuinely make the class a bit too strong if they could be used at-will at level 2. All of which is...
Thank you for the questions Teridax!
I thought to only allow the familiar and spellshape theses for this archtype so spellblending and spellsub and staffnexus theses cant be selected. This also made it easier to design feat support for the two I did allow.
When you cast a spell from a progressive slot at your maximum spell rank known it depletes the slot for the day. This makes deciding what rank to lock in any given slot a "spells for the day" management decision. You could start off slotting in a max rank spell so you can utilize your highest rank spells for the biggest one cast impact or you could slot in a lower rank spell to get more casts of that spell from that slot throughout the day.
As for utility spells My original conception for this was basically non directly offensive things like jump, carryall, mystic armor, invisibility, persistent servant, clairaudience, haste, fly. I would have considered beffuddle as control rather than utility. But I admit I was making some assumptions here.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just to note: currently the featured link is broken. To get the correct link, take out the "<br%20/>" from the end of the URL.
As for the archetype itself: I like the freedom to keep spell slots open until the opportunity arises to prepare the right spell into it. I also like how this reorients curriculum spell slots to be much more flexible than baseline slots. I currently have a few critiques:
* Though not necessarily directly relevant to the core contents, the presentation I think made things a bit difficult to parse, especially for a brew that redoes the Wizard's spellcasting entirely. I would recommend the use of a word processor like Scribe or The Homebrewery to format your text, and would probably think of rewording or reordering some elements for improved clarity (for instance, moving the bit about Master-Familiar Symbiosis to the actual feat itself rather than Study the Tome).
* Because this archetype completely changes how spell slots and spell preparation works for the Wizard, I'd like to know more about how this would interact with the Spell Blending and Spell Substitution arcane theses.
* Similarly, I think the bit about needing to cast higher-rank versions of a spell in the same slot could be elaborated on a little more: when you reach your maximum spell rank, do you still get to cast that spell at the same rank at-will, or do you become unable to cast the spell using that slot until your next daily preparations?
* Also similarly, Reference Tome right now relies on an extremely vague "work with your GM" to establish its list of separate spells, which would not only make this feature more difficult to use out of the box, but also carries significant risk given how these utility spells can be cast at-will: befuddle and command both easily qualify as utility spells, and could genuinely make the class a bit too strong if they could be used at-will at level 2. All of which is...
I just moved the familiar-master note from study session to its feat.
For the utility spells chosen, those use a normal spell slot mechanic but can only be slotted with utility spells chosen through the Reference Tome feature and cast using the Tome Cast activity. Starting at level 15 and then 17 18 and 19 the slots get replaced entirely with the ability to cast the spells at will. 15 for the rank 1 utility spell 17 for the rank 2 18 for the rank 3 and 20 for the rank 4. So if fly is selected at level 13 when gaining a choice of a rank 4 utility spell for the feature that same character at level 20 will have fly at will. Lets say they chose carry all at level 1 for the feature, then at level 15 carry all will be at will. If they chose persistent servant at level 5 for the feature, then at level 17 persistent servant becomes at will. So early on they get the slot for an extra daily use of the chosen spell without using progressive slots and later levels they can just cast those spells as much as they want.
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This answers a lot of the questions I had, and is good to hear! The progressive slots mechanic is quite interesting; it's similar to essence casting in Team+'s Magic+ book, but its implementation adds a lot more upfront freedom in exchange for keeping spell slots limited. There's an interesting mechanic here of choosing between fewer casts of more powerful spells, or more casts of weaker spells that would need to be ramped up. Good to know as well that the at-will casting of utility spells only kicks in much later; I'd missed that part. This is something I'd be very keen to playtest before making a judgment on its balance; it looks like a really interesting spellcasting system and could be very fun to use.
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Doesn't this effectively mean that instead of getting 2 or 3 spells + a school slot of each rank, you are basically working up to 10th level where you get 6 highest rank spell slots, with some strategic applications where you can get some lower rank spell slots by choosing a spell with a lower rank you will use later at your highest spells slot?
This sort of feels like a wave caster, but on steroids. Which admittedly you are going from full caster to this, not from wave caster, but it still seems like having that many highest level slots seems like a lot.
spells that are effective at multiple ranks are obviously going to be most effective at this. Ones that do well at their rank, and then scale up, but poorly are going to be non-ideal. Or spells that are decent utility at rank 1 and don't need to be heightened to work, just become numerous castings of the spell as you advance.
I worry the mechanic would encompass to many strategies where it would be all gain, and little cost. I do see it does probably reduce the total different spells known at a time, although the school slot mitigates that significantly, within a certain theme.
I do like the theme of being more tied to their spellbook however.
I'm trying to argue with myself. Admittedly, spell blending, allows you to go from (2-3)+1 to (3-4)+1 slots of a couple of their top rank spells for giving up a number of their lower rank spells. This pushes that sort of stat by around 1 but effectively limits your total spells known any particular day down below what a sorcerer generally knows. (but they can pick them out daily as the day progresses) Granted that ability normally eats up a thesis. You have it cost a 2nd level feat. The question being does needing to cast lower rank versions of the spells earlier make up for the extra slot? Hmm... looking back the Arcane Bond can still get you an extra max-rank spell casting.
It definitely is an interesting mechanic you propose. I'm just worried for some people it might give them too much for too little. But I confess I'm not positive.
Doesn't this effectively mean that instead of getting 2 or 3 spells + a school slot of each rank, you are basically working up to 10th level where you get 6 highest rank spell slots, with some strategic applications where you can get some lower rank spell slots by choosing a spell with a lower rank you will use later at your highest spells slot?
This sort of feels like a wave caster, but on steroids. Which admittedly you are going from full caster to this, not from wave caster, but it still seems like having that many highest level slots seems like a lot.
spells that are effective at multiple ranks are obviously going to be most effective at this. Ones that do well at their rank, and then scale up, but poorly are going to be non-ideal. Or spells that are decent utility at rank 1 and don't need to be heightened to work, just become numerous castings of the spell as you advance.
I worry the mechanic would encompass to many strategies where it would be all gain, and little cost. I do see it does probably reduce the total different spells known at a time, although the school slot mitigates that significantly, within a certain theme.
I do like the theme of being more tied to their spellbook however.
I'm trying to argue with myself. Admittedly, spell blending, allows you to go from (2-3)+1 to (3-4)+1 slots of a couple of their top rank spells for giving up a number of their lower rank spells. This pushes that sort of stat by around 1 but effectively limits your total spells known any particular day down below what a sorcerer generally knows. (but they can pick them out daily as the day progresses) Granted that ability normally eats up a thesis. You have it cost a 2nd level feat. The question being does needing to cast lower rank versions of the spells earlier make up for the extra slot? Hmm... looking back the Arcane Bond can still get you an extra max-rank spell casting.
It definitely is an interesting mechanic you propose. I'm just worried for some people it might give them too much...
Thank you for looking at the draft Loreguard!
Its hard to completely get rid of arcane bond. At low levels this archtype would hurt pretty bad without it, at mid levels its sort of superfluous to the archtype design and maybe no one would miss it too much.I do see that after level 10 the class seems like its not gaining slots, but is gaining the potential for more casts of lower rank spells through just having access to higher rank cap.
And a pc that chooses to go all max rank spells in their slots will have a bunch to throw around but also gives up a much larger amount of overall casts for the day. Its a lot to give up and maybe optimal play of this archtype will fall under some
Iteration inbetween most of the time.
I updated a few things for the archtype. Some of it is wording but also some thematic additions and a little bit of balancing.
I am starting to really like the theme development. i hope you all do too.