Full-caster fix?

[Luircin]

I am of the opinion that a full-caster should be more powerful than other classes. However, I agree that there is a point where "powered" becomes "overpowered." That's old news.

So, in an attempt to balance out casters, I'm considering this solution: don't adjust their spells or spell lists, but instead increase the time needed to recover them.

What I was thinking would be something like this: For every spell level, 0-9, there is a differing amount of time needed before one can use that spell slot or prepare a spell again in that slot. The formula I had in mind was spell level/2, rounded up, minimum 1. So 0, 1, and 2 level spells would take single day to recover. 3 and 4 would take two days. And so on. Spontaneous casters would require one day less to regain spell slots.

There's it in a nutshell. I'm hoping that this will start encouraging more tactical thinking among casters and how to use spells to their greatest utility rather than just unleashing tentacle-y hell every single battle and then plopping for a nap in their magnificent motel-6 (As another poster put it), espeically if my adventures are time-intensive.

Opinions?

[Caelestion]

I actually prefer the 2nd Ed idea that spells took individual time to memorise - archmages running on empty could take days to refill their memory.

[Fax Celestis]

You might want to look at Recharge Magic in UA. It's similar.

[squishycube]

It also sounds a lot like a Mana system, which could work out very nice if done properly!

[Matthew]

You may just find they tend to rest longer.

The most effective solution, in my opinion, is just to cut down on the Slots and Spells available. Forcing Divine Spell Casters to learn Spells like Arcane is also a reasonable control.