On my blog
4-22: Screw that, now it’s better and still on my blog!
It’s still a draft, so I want criticism.
This class starts a lot stronger than a wizard especially level 1 and 2. But at higher levels the spell like abilities pale in comparison to just being able to cast the spells.
Worse if you have a little downtime, magic items that cast them for you! A level one spell 1/hour is 8000gp of crafting, the level 2 is 12 thousand, the level 3 15k, and the level 4 12k.
Not that there is anything particularly wrong with that. Thi
That’s a good point. What do you suggest for a more balanced class?
Sorcerers generally excel in a specific spell path, as opposed to wizards, whom cast a wide range of spells. If you can categorize all of the different spells into their respective spell types; blast, death, detection, enchantment, healing, illusion, movement, protection, summoning, transmogrification, and wall spells (11 total), then have sorcerers pick a certain sell type or spell school to master. The spells cast by a sorcerer, that they master, would be much more potent than a wizard of the same level.
Ways you could do this would be to grant a penalty to saves on targets of a sorcerers mastered spells and etc.
If you didn’t want to limit them to one category, perhaps let them pick two.
I got the spell types from Magic Experimentation in Chapter 5: Spells of ACK Player’s Companion, where you might also be able to find more information to help you.
One thing I had been considering for a class was an arcane caster that had the same maximum spell level as a wizard, but changed the way spells were accounted for. This class would basically have a spell point pool, but they would only gain spell levels equivalent to the highest spell level a mage gained at that level (so their total spell levels would be 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 16, 20, 25, 30, 36, 42, 47, 53 - level 13 mage doesn’t gain a 6th level spell). They could cast any spell in their repertoire, but it would take a number of spell points equal to the level of the spell. This caster has fewer total spell levels than a mage, but more flexibility in spell use.
Hm. That’s a possibility, though perhaps a more intensive task than I might have intended. I think of specializing in spell schools as more of a wizard/magic-user/mage thing, though. For me a sorcerer is more about… being innately magical.
That’s a pretty solid idea, though I’m not usually the biggest fan of spellpoint systems…
The fundamental question as I see it is; how do you envision their innate control of magic making them different from a mage?
What kinds of things can they do that a mage can’t? What kinds of things can a mage do that they can’t? Once you know that, you can get to the mechanics of it.
For example, if I was trying to recreate the D&D 3rd sorcerer, I would start by noticing that the sorcerer casts more spells per day than a mage, but has fewer spells known and can’t easily learn new spells or replace existing ones. I would probably end up playing around with the rules for reportoires; perhaps this sorcerer can’t change spells in his reportoire, ever, but he automatically learns a limited number as he levels up, so he doesn’t need to research them ever. I would then see what I can do to replicate the ‘more spells per day’; perhaps actually give them more spells per day, maybe do it with spell-like abilities like you did, maybe something else entirely.
That’s not a bad idea. Alex and/or Tavis, if you read this, what do you think would be an acceptable trade-off value for not being able to change one’s repertoire?
I believe alex’s “Elven Spellsingers” have a similar mechanic to what you’re going for. you could easily drop the singing flavor and substitue another relevant proficiency.