Personally, I've only tried the Spellpoint system and Recharge magic:Lich-Loved wrote:Can you discuss your experience with either or both of these systems, please? Perhaps a new thread is in order, but I would like to hear how these systems fared in-game.RobbyPants wrote:Do you mean the Magic Rating variant? I have not. I've only tried Spell Points and Recharge.
Spellpoints
I haven't played using this system, but I did try DMing it about four years ago. It works okay, but with the typical pitfalls you'd expect:
-Casters are made more powerful by the increase in versatility.
-Prepared casters effectively become spontaneous casters with a much larger list of spells known.
-Spontaneous casters only get the advantage of more SP, which is cool at low levels, but becomes fairly pointless at mid to high level.
-Blasting is made even more crappy by having to pay extra SP for above-minimum damage dice. This doesn't even raise the DC like it does with psionics.
-This system places even more emphasis on CLW, making higher level versions very inefficient to cast on a HP per SP ratio.
That being said, a simple cost deduction is less bookkeeping than a slotted system, and some people like it more. At the time, I ran this game, we didn't have much in the way of casters anyway, and we already had a psion, so no one really abused this system. I have no anecdotal horror stories. Most of my experience is from observations from NPCs I created.
-Casters are made more powerful by the increase in versatility.
-Prepared casters effectively become spontaneous casters with a much larger list of spells known.
-Spontaneous casters only get the advantage of more SP, which is cool at low levels, but becomes fairly pointless at mid to high level.
-Blasting is made even more crappy by having to pay extra SP for above-minimum damage dice. This doesn't even raise the DC like it does with psionics.
-This system places even more emphasis on CLW, making higher level versions very inefficient to cast on a HP per SP ratio.
That being said, a simple cost deduction is less bookkeeping than a slotted system, and some people like it more. At the time, I ran this game, we didn't have much in the way of casters anyway, and we already had a psion, so no one really abused this system. I have no anecdotal horror stories. Most of my experience is from observations from NPCs I created.
Recharge
This system I have not ran as a DM, but have played a wizard and a druid in two games under the same DM. It's fun in a lot of ways. Here are my observations:
-At low level, you're able to cast more spells per day, but you're typically stuck waiting three or four rounds in between castings. Getting level 2 spells is a huge boost in power just in that you wait half as long to cast again.
-Like SP, this effectively makes prepared casters spontaneous casters with a better list of spells known. All spontaneous casters get for this is a slightly shorter recharge time, which is, on average, one round shorter. At about 6th level, it could get to the point where you could comfortably cast a spell each round in combat.
-Some spells have specific recharge times to prevent them from being spammed. Most are buff spells. Most of them have a recharge time such that at about 5th or 6th level, the duration is longer than the recharge time, which effectively turns everyone into a DMM persist cleric at that level, without having to blow three feats to get there. This is tremendously powerful.
-There's increased bookkeeping, but it's not too terrible if you simply keep a tally of what round number you're on, and when you cast a spell, roll up the recharge time, add it to the round number, and write down the round at which you'll get that spell level back. It's a little weird at first, but it's totally worth the effort for the crazy power level.
-At higher level, you technically are limited more on how you cast your spells, but by this point, you're likely running around with half a dozen persisted buffs up anyway, so who cares?
-At low level, you're able to cast more spells per day, but you're typically stuck waiting three or four rounds in between castings. Getting level 2 spells is a huge boost in power just in that you wait half as long to cast again.
-Like SP, this effectively makes prepared casters spontaneous casters with a better list of spells known. All spontaneous casters get for this is a slightly shorter recharge time, which is, on average, one round shorter. At about 6th level, it could get to the point where you could comfortably cast a spell each round in combat.
-Some spells have specific recharge times to prevent them from being spammed. Most are buff spells. Most of them have a recharge time such that at about 5th or 6th level, the duration is longer than the recharge time, which effectively turns everyone into a DMM persist cleric at that level, without having to blow three feats to get there. This is tremendously powerful.
-There's increased bookkeeping, but it's not too terrible if you simply keep a tally of what round number you're on, and when you cast a spell, roll up the recharge time, add it to the round number, and write down the round at which you'll get that spell level back. It's a little weird at first, but it's totally worth the effort for the crazy power level.
-At higher level, you technically are limited more on how you cast your spells, but by this point, you're likely running around with half a dozen persisted buffs up anyway, so who cares?
After using the standard vancian system and some of these variants, I'm leaning more and more toward specialized spontaneous lists like the Dread Necromancer, Beguiler, and Warmage. These systems can each be fun in they're own right, but make no mistake about it: they widen the gap between casters and non-casters.
So, what experiences have any of you had with any variant casting systems for D&D?
