Changing Casters

The homebrew forum

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
The_Hanged_Man
Knight-Baron
Posts: 636
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Changing Casters

Post by The_Hanged_Man »

Just a rough idea.

Code: Select all

Instead of a caster progression, you could have a[br]weak base class (low BAB, d6 hp, no weapon or armor [br]proficiency, low skills) with the benefit that it can access [br]spellcasting feats.  You could have feats doing the[br]following:[br][br][b]casting[/b]:  Gives a caster level, 2 spells known, and[br]adds access to spells based on character level:[br][br]Character Level	Spells added:[br]                        0   1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th[br]1                       3    1     —     —      —     —    —     —    —    —[br]2                       1    1     —     —      —     —    —     —    —    —[br]3                      --   --     1     —      —     —    —     —    —    —[br]4                      --    1     1     —      —     —    —     —    —    —[br]5                      --    1     --    1      —     —    —     —    —    —[br]6                      --   --     1     1      —     —    —     —    —    —[br]7                      --   --     --    --     1     —    —     —    —    —[br]8                      --    --    --    1      1     —    —     —    —    —[br]9                      --    --    --    --     --    1    —     —    —    —[br]10                     --    --    --    --     1     1    —     —    —    —[br]11                     --    --    --    1      --    --   1     —    —    —[br]12                     --    --    --    --     --    1    1     —    —    —[br]13                     --    --    --    --     1     --   --    1    —    —[br]14                     --    --    --    --     --    --   1     1    —    —[br]15                     --    --    --    --     --    1    --    --   1    —[br]16                     --    --    --    --     --    --   --    1    1    —[br]17                     --    --    --    --     --    --   1     --   --   1[br]18                     --    --    --    --     --    --   --    --   1    1[br]19                     --    --    --    --     --    --   --    1    --   1[br]20                     --    --    --    --     --    --   --    --   1    1[br][br][br][b]Spontaneous Casting[/b]:  Allows substituting either [br]summoning, cure, inflict, or something else (I don’t know what) for any memorized spell.[br][br][b]Focused Casting[/b]:  Allows casting based on a spell [br]focus, rather than w/ spellbooks.[br][br][b]Domain Casting[/b]:  Allows access to one domain, and[br]casting one extra domain spell per spell level per day.  Can[br]be taken more than once, only doman access increases.[br][br][b]Armored Casting[/b]:  Allows casting in armor.[br][br][b]d8 hit die[/b]: Increases hit die for that level from d6 to d8.[br][br][b]Familiar or Companion[/b]:  Gives you a familiar or animal companion.[br][br][b]Direct Damage Casting[/b]: Can cast direct damage [br]spells.  At first, make it magic missile and current divine [br]damage spells.  Improved will give more, Perfect will give more.[br][br][b]Metamagic Casting[/b]:  Gives access to all spells that [br]affect or let you pick to choose other spells, except for[br]Dispel Magic (everybody gets that).  Limited Wish, Permanancy, etc.[br]


edit - I thought I understood code.
RandomCasualty
Prince
Posts: 3506
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: Changing Casters

Post by RandomCasualty »

OK, I'm confused... why are direct damage casting and metamagic casting separate feats?

Are DD spells really powerful enough that they deserve their own feat to take?
The_Hanged_Man
Knight-Baron
Posts: 636
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: Changing Casters

Post by The_Hanged_Man »

Yeah, they're separate feats.

I'm not sure DD spells are that powerful. But I definitely want divine casters to have to give something up to have them.

My base idea is that this class will give you bonus feats for basic casting that you get at first level. This will let you set up as something live a cleric, or something like a wizard, or something like a druid, but you actually have to pay for the cleric abilities (which are drastically underpriced in 3.5).

So, say you start with 5 feats. You can blow them on stuff that let you be a kick-ass caster, or on casting stuff pretty well but getting armor and some fighting ability.

It also allows later spellcasting to work a little bit. A fighter could take a level of caster, and get a small amount of magic feats that let the fighter do basic stuff, and get 2 spells to cast. If the spell are high level, it might be OK. That's why I linked the spell progression to caster level.

Just thoughts.
RandomCasualty
Prince
Posts: 3506
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: Changing Casters

Post by RandomCasualty »

If you want to use different feats for different types of spells, You should make one for each different style of spells. A divination feat, an illusions feat, a healing feat, a summoning feat, a teleportation feat, save or die, terrain alteration, etc.

Because really I don't see direct damage as being that much better than save or die. If you have to pay for DD you should have to pay for save or dies or the ability to cast wall spells.

The system has some potential.
User avatar
Desdan_Mervolam
Knight-Baron
Posts: 985
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: Changing Casters

Post by Desdan_Mervolam »

Well, it's more multiclass-friendly than the regular spellcaster classes, but they seem to favor full-bore conversion over other styles of multiclass (I'm a fighter for five levels, but now I wanna be a wizard. I don't think I'll ever take another level in fighter). Spellcasters still suck if they switch full time into another class. Flip-flopping from one non-spellcasting class to another is... odd. Not as harsh as normal multiclassing, but still not really as powerful as wizard. I guess you succeeded there.

Making class features into feats is okay, but you need to have class-granted bonus feats that let you aquire them.

Also, lose the arcane/divine distincion. Really. It's an engineered seperation. There is no good reason wizards can't heal.

-Desdan
Don't bother trying to impress gamers. They're too busy trying to impress you to care.
The_Hanged_Man
Knight-Baron
Posts: 636
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: Changing Casters

Post by The_Hanged_Man »

Umm . . . there is no distinction between the two. There's just a spell list, with certain feats giving access to more spells. However, instead of using those feats to access spells, you can use them to get domains, armor use, and hit die increase, and get something like the current divine caster. The main differences are changes to the spell list, and you have limited spell access (like a current wizard). I'll try to flesh this out, those are good comments. Thanks.
Post Reply