[3.5] Alternate Rules: (NE)w (R)ules for (F)ull spellcasters!

[T.G. Oskar]

Spells as Incantations
Even with the above described changes to spellcasters, some spells are just far too problematic. No matter how many restrictions are added to spellcasters, the fact that they can still prepare and cast a Gate spell 2-4 times per day to do exactly as intended. What's worse is that they can cast a Wish or a Miracle on the same amount of time, allowing them to get whichever effect they want, only balanced because they are using their highest level spell slots. Not to punish creativity, but a 9th level spell is MEANT to be powerful...just not an easy button.

I dunno about you, but when I envision Gate, I envision a cabal of mages, all on a circle, using their combined strength to enable a long ritual to create a portal to a specified world, from which they'll summon a monstrosity into the world. Even if it's not merely a cabal of mages and only a single, yet powerful, spellcaster, the magic isn't as easy to do. Risks are involved, and the heroes have but a slim chance to stop the mad spellcaster before his plan comes to fruition. Heck, why not replace this with the power-mad emperor whom, seeing his empire crumbling by the hands of the heroes, makes a last-ditch effort to summon the specific being that will slay them and eventually turn the world into the plaything of its master? Or the torn priest whom, disenchanted by its god and shunned of its power, plots its revenge by using what little he retains into one last shot, summoning a heretical entity that the heroes must vanquish?

Of course, what I'm telling you is basically the stuff of stories, and most importantly, the events that finish a campaign.

The sad reality? The wizard that is desperately relying on such power can do the Gate spell as a standard action. Forget about hour-long rituals that can be interrupted; it only takes less than six seconds to do exactly as intended. Thing is, that doesn't matter because your own party Wizard does exactly the same, at the same moment, summoning an entity of equal or greater power. What's the fun and epicness in that?

Thus, why, instead of leaving that extremely powerful spell in the hands of certain people, it becomes what it should; the thing of legends. The campaign-ending event. The MacGuffin.

Then, it hit me. Incantations!

First appearing in Unearthed Arcana, incantations are a way for the common, yet skilled, individual to harness incredible powers, but at a price. Now, not only the mage could use magic; the fighter could, with some dedication, use a spell (erm, incantation) of its own! Heck, if you have the book, look who's using the spell! And for those who don't, it's Ember. AKA, the Monk.

So, why not use those rules and instead of banning the spells, make them a much rarer part of the story? Well, let's go for the restrictions:

• First, the incantation is meant to be lengthy and fraught with peril, unlike the spell which is done almost immediately and with little risk. Sure, why not? Exactly what we're looking for; spells of world-shattering power shouldn't be easy.
• Second, incantations are a thousand times rarer than spells. Finding one is left, as usual, to the DM. Sure, why not do that; more power to the DM to prevent its campaign from being broken! After all, lower level spells still break the game sometimes, so...
• Incantations are meant to have backlashes. Not just "take 1d10 points of damage" or "lose the spell slot". The examples involve death, a one-way ticket to a specific plane, or something...just as bad. Well, is that really a problem? You NEED to do this spell, so take the backlash!
• The spell may have some exotic requirements, such as expending life force, using more than one person for the incantation, and so on. Well, they are MEANT to be rare, and if it's a party effort, the better.
• The incantations are meant to be utterly specific. No "lemme summon a Solar from Heaven", it should be "lemme summon Xachariel, Fourth Blade of the Fifth Layer of Celestia, so that he may protect this area for 7 hours, 7 minutes, and 7 seconds from goblins AND SPECIFICALLY GOBLINS, NOT HOBGOBLINS OR BUGBEARS OR OTHER MEMBERS OF GOBLINKIND!!"
  
  
  
  
  

What?

Yes, this is the problem with incantations. The developers were so scared that players would exploit incantations, that they decided to make it so restrictive, the party would prefer their spellcasters keep the easy buttons instead of allowing them a bit more participation.

So, if we're gonna make spells as incantations, we have to remove that. It'll be a pretty literal translation, except that we'll add the backlashes, the skill checks, the casting time, the expensive components...and the ability that Bob the Builder can use them, not merely Willie the Wizard. But of course, there's the big chance that Willie the Wizard actually knows how to do the incantation better than Bob the Builder; still, if Bob the Builder proposes it, he can do it. Yes, he can. Just like in the animated series; if he wants to summon an archon so that it can finish the job and make it faster, he will, but that'll cost him. Maybe...I dunno, the cancellation of his show or that the entity will want a share of his company or something.

So, having dealt with that, which spells should enter the lane of incantations? Well, let's consider which are the most necessary to do so and why:
Problem Spells: Gate. Wish. Miracle. Planar Binding. Planar Ally. These spells are the problem-solvers of spellcasters, and it's quite evident we want them...out of the greedy spellcaster's way, of course. A Wish shouldn't be something a spellcaster can pull off that easily: it should be something that can be far more devastating than the norm. A Miracle is quite literally the intervention of the user's deity acting on its behalf; why can't a Miracle happen to, say, the poor old man whose devotion to Pelor or Ehlonna is such that he's willing to give his own life in order to save that of his wife, but it can happen to the 20th level cleric who might want to cast Haste just to prove the Wizard he can? That's not a Miracle, that's abusing of the god's granted powers and the clerical privileges!

Now, you may have noticed that there are a few spells I haven't spoken about. Namely: Time Stop, Implosion, Shapechange. These spells ARE problem spells, but they have a slight trouble; they don't work as rituals. Why Gate works as a ritual? Because of its complexity; you can do only two things with that portal, and that is summon a specific entity with which you need to negotiate (and you lose 1000 xp while doing so), or create a permanent portal to a specific area, but you need to concentrate on where and keep that concentration while at it. Plane Shift is exactly the same; you join hands, and then you travel to a different plane; perfect and ripe for an incantation. Ethereal Jaunt? Not so much. You see, Ethereal Jaunt is pretty powerful, but pretty specific as well; making it restrictive to pull off, and then having that benefit beaten by the fact that you need to do the same to return and thus you're alone against the ethereal creatures, or that the only thing a fighter needs is a way to hit ethereal creatures and see invisibility to still get you, plus that you can't cast spells into the Material Plane unless you get a feat...the cons far outweigh the pros, and the effect lasts only for 1 round per level (so that's...what, a minute and 30 seconds worth that? 2 minutes?). Ethereal Jaunt can be quite the powerful spell, but the limitations inherent in the spell make requiring a standard (or in our case, a full-round interruptible action) just as good a limiter.

As you can see, not all problem spells are meant to be incantations. However, the worst offenders can; others need to be dealt differently (damn you, Shapechange!!)

Other spells that may be changed into incantations are:
Spells that are essentially rituals: Let's face it; you'd rather have True Seeing, Righteous Might and Break Enchantment rather than Atonement or Hallow. Hallow, for example, takes a whopping 24 hours to cast, and the effect is permanent. That's basically a ritual right in there; the thing YOU want is to have someone important pull it off, but you can have the local priest attempt it if necessary, not merely the wandering cleric who can best the Rogue at finding traps and the Fighter at combat.

Spells that require too expensive components: There are spells with pretty expensive material components, or too expensive foci. Scrying, for example, requires a specially crafted mirror (or font of holy water, or natural font of water) to do the job, and what it exactly does is let you see someone else. Generally, when you see casters scrying on others (generally the BBEG scrying the heroes), the caster takes quite some time, and generally does it at its sanctum. Another such spell would be the Raise Dead line; while there are a few spells that allow temporary or split-second resuscitation (Last Breath, Revenance), Raise Dead goes anywhere from causing a minor inconvenience to the party to a quest JUST to find the 5,000 gp flawless diamonds. Raise Dead generally cheapens sacrifices, makes death only temporary for those with money, and when it DOES become a quest, by the time you get the diamond you probably get the Cleric (unless it's the Cleric that died) enough levels to cast it for itself (unless they took far too much, in which case it's either Resurrection or True Resurrection). Also, old school Raise Dead had the chance of turning the corpse into ashes, thus further ruining the character's chance to revive.

However, there ARE a few spells with expensive material components that aren't really meant for rituals. For example: Stoneskin is a very useful spell because it provides a sizeable, rare form of damage reduction; yet, it costs a whopping 250 gp worth of diamond dust. Restoration (both the normal, its lesser, and its greater ilk) have their costs: Lesser Restoration has none, Restoration requires 100 gp worth of diamond dust, and Greater Restoration requires a whopping 500 XP to work it out. Greater Restoration has a lengthy casting time, but the effect is not something you'd hate to have after all, so you may consider keeping it as a spell (even if it takes 10 minutes to work out).

Spells with extensive casting times: The ur-example of this is Hallow. Hallow takes an entire day to cast, and the effect is basically permanently blessing a place to be dedicated to the deity which the caster worships. This fits perfectly with a ritual rather than a spell that requires a spell slot, and frees the caster from keeping a spell slot expended for its use. Control Weather and Astral Projection are also spells with lengthy casting times, creating a massive area-wide effect and an effect that lasts for as long as you want and effectively grants you immunity to everything except finding your actual body, respectively. The casting time alone should warn you that they're best kept as rituals. Astral Projection is also a ritual offender; why a Monk, master of the use of ki and full of the wisdom of the cosmos, can't project astrally on its own, while the Wizard is capable of doing so? Truly baffling; unless it's turned into an invocation, in which the Monk's Wisdom and skills may grant it the ability to easily work such a trick (and adds to the power of the class, if it somehow gets the ability to deal damage while on the Astral Plane).

Thus, with those parameters, let's focus on how to work incantations.

Alterations to the rules of Incantations

1. Incantations are lengthy rituals to generate extremely powerful effects, but require great sacrifices as a method of payment. Thus, they can be as extense in breadth as you want to. Plane Shift, the ability to travel to ANY plane of existence, shouldn't be limited in scope, but should be hard to do.
2. Incantations may (or rather, have to) be used as part of the requirements for magical items. This is because some spells are required to create some magical items. Some items may not exist because of this, and some should be the realm of artifacts (Luck Blade and Ring of Wishes, I'm looking at you...)
3. Other than that, incantations work as shown here.

Wait, that easy? Well, considering it was a method to deal with the problem spells and the rituals, these exceptions had to be mentioned. Otherwise, it's a rather simple and flavorful method.

Thus, an example of a spell turned invocation would be like this:
Plane Shift
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Effective Level: 7th
Skill Check: Knowledge (arcana) DC 26 2 successes, Knowledge (the planes) DC 26 4 successes
Failure: Falsehood
Casting Time: 6 hours
Range: Touch
Target: Up to eight willing creatures touching hands
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (DC 16 + caster's Cha modifier)
Spell Resistance: Yes

This incantation moves the user (or users) to another plane of existence or alternate dimension. If several willing persons link hands in a circle, as many as eight can be affected by the plane shift at the same time, but all must contribute to the skill checks. At least one character must have a general idea on where to land, which serves as the main caster; the general accuracy of the destination depends on the familiarity of the main caster.

{TABLE=head]Familiarity|Location
Very familiar|Exact
Studied carefully|0.1 to 1 mile (roll d%)
Seen casually|1 to 100 miles (roll d%)
Viewed once|5 to 500 miles (roll 5d%)[/TABLE]

Plane shift transports creatures instantaneously and then ends. The creatures need to find other means if they are to travel back (such as using the incantation again).

Failure
Failing two consecutive skill checks risks the chance of emerging on a false destination. This destination may be a similar area in an entirely different plane (or demiplane), ending astray on the Astral Plane, or similar circumstance.

Focus
A small, forked metal rod. The size and metal type dictates to which plane of existence or alternate dimension the spell sends the affected creatures.

Extra casters (Optional)
Any creature wishing to travel with the main caster is considered a secondary caster. If there is only one caster, add +2 to the skill checks to succeed on the incantation.

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The Plane Shift incantation works almost exactly as the Plane Shift spell, with wizards and clerics having the easiest way to pull it off, but bards and factotum may also pull it off. An expert that somehow gets one of the few copies of the incantation may serve as a "courier" between planes, making a job out of it, and probably requiring the payment of bodyguards while at it.

Important points about incantations:
The idea behind turning problem spells into incantations is to keep them in the game, but making them harder to pull off. Certainly, someone who has a +25 on both Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (the planes) will pretty much auto-succeed on Plane Shift, but since it requires a skill check and not a standard action spell, and because it takes about 6 hours to complete (four to analyze the plane to visit and how to land, and two to complete the conduit), it won't be as troubling.

Of course, this serves a dual purpose: it removes Plane Shift from the game, in case the DM wishes to ban it. If the group needs or wants Plane Shift, they could find one of the few scrolls available to cast it, learn the incantation, and then attempt to use it...potentially falling into a worse plane of existence on their first try and then getting lost royally. Later on, when things are safer, they'll be capable of doing so, but they can't count on traveling amongst the planes in order to be safe. What's worse, the 6 hour requirement makes attempting to take advantage of certain planar traits a bit of an impossibility.

It is important for a DM to consider that this returns a bit of control to them, rather than having the rules favor the player. As a DM, by choosing to turn certain spells into incantations, you are removing them from the game and specifically from the spellbooks of wizards (and from the access of deities, so they can't deliver them to their clerics), so returning the spell becomes your decision. It is easy to restrict the access to Plane Shift ("no, you can learn spells automatically as a Wizard, but that spell is so rare that you need to see a scroll or the spellbook of a very powerful archmage to learn"), but with this method you're essentially removing the ruling that may bypass it ("erm, the rules state that I automatically learn two spells each level, and that it represents all the time spent studying the spell; hence, I found rare writings that allow me to write Plane Shift into my spellbook, so there!"), hence recovering control over your story. Likewise, it is important for a player to consider that this removal of accessibility works at their favor, since the chance of finding the rare incantation of Plane Shift, for example, invariably leads to a quest (and thus, to XP and loot, which improves you and your partners furthermore). And, once you get it, the entire group benefits (that way, you can have someone like the Warlock or the Bard or the Factotum or even an expert hireling/cohort use the incantation for you and your party).

How would incantations be gained, then?
The easiest way would be to get a scroll to teach you. A book detailing the nature of the incantation is also viable. The idea is that it shouldn't be part of a random treasure, but something earned. You can, through Scribe Scroll, write up an incantation and sell it (for the same price you'd sell the original scroll); do consider that selling what's essentially a copy of a very rare ability may cause imbalances that may kick the player's rears eventually (such as having death squads pursue them through time, for example, if they choose to sell the secrets behind Plane Shift and Scrying). Very rarely, someone who knows the incantation may tutor the party into learning it, or one devout party member gains it from divine inspiration (such as having Fhlarlanghn or the Traveler teach the Monk how to do Plane Shift, or the master of an ancient hidden monastery teaches the secret for Astral Projection). Whatever the source, it isn't easy to get it; thus, a scroll with such a spell should be re-rolled unless the DM intends to give them the scroll as random loot.

The next post should detail which spells are turned into incantations, and the revised descriptions for those on the SRD. Other spells may be altered with time. The last post should indicate how to deal with problem spells that don't make the cut for incantations, so that they don't cause their usual problem.