A simple versatility cap

[Necroticplague]

A little bit ago, a discussion about Vancian Casting came up. In it, the point was raised that some spells weren't very vancian by a definition of it because some spells are significantly more open ended than others. Fireball always does exactly one thing, and serves one purpose [the fact it does it relatively poorly as a side point]. Alter Self can do about half a dozen different things, and can serve many purposes. This got me thinking: what if we took a lot of the open-ended spells, and instead just made them templates for creating spells? So instead of having Shadow Conjuration, you have Shadow Lightning Bolt, Shadow Fireball, ect. Each form for Polymorph would be a different one (likewise for Alter self, Shapechange [sans 'transform as free action'], and similar). The standard uses of Wish could be split up into a few ('wish for power' for improving your stats, . Obviously, it's not a complete nerf, but does anyone foresee any possible side-effects this might cause/that might need further house-ruled. A few I've considered:

1. Widens power gap between "can learn all the spells" and other casters (since they can afford to learn all the variations that are actually decent). Undesirable. Possible fix: Those types of casters need to learn the spells, while those who aren't can learn the template itself as a spell's known.

2. Shadowcraft Mage ability breaks somewhat (as in, mechanically, not power-level wise). Undesirable. Possible Fix: rewrite Shadow Illusion ability so it no longer references either of the template spells. Easy enough

3.Renders the druid a better transformer than anyone else, thanks to Wild Shape still being open-ended. Possibly undesirable, given the shapechanging arcane casters are based around the spells. Solution: Ban Planar Shepherd, give said arcane prestige classes (master transmorgrifist, possibly others) access to the templates.

[Grod_The_Giant]

1. Widens power gap between "can learn all the spells" and other casters (since they can afford to learn all the variations that are actually decent). Undesirable. Possible fix: Those types of casters need to learn the spells, while those who aren't can learn the template itself as a spell's known.

It does, but in an organic way, I think. You already have to choose between Fireball and Lightning Bolt when they're basically the same thing; why not Alter Self (Troglodyte) and Alter Self (Varg) as well?

2. Shadowcraft Mage ability breaks somewhat (as in, mechanically, not power-level wise). Undesirable. Possible Fix: rewrite Shadow Illusion ability so it no longer references either of the template spells. Easy enough

No great loss there, to be honest.

3.Renders the druid a better transformer than anyone else, thanks to Wild Shape still being open-ended. Possibly undesirable, given the shapechanging arcane casters are based around the spells. Solution: Ban Planar Shepherd, give said arcane prestige classes (master transmorgrifist, possibly others) access to the templates.

Another possible solution: restrict how many Wild Shape forms the Druid can access.

And another issue: the Druid's spontaneous summoning feature.

[nerghull]

Instead if restricting, why not opening ? Ie, instead of "doing stuff with fire spells" (fireball, wall of fire, fire shield, combust, orb of fire....), having one unique spell.

[Balmas]

Instead if restricting, why not opening ? Ie, instead of "doing stuff with fire spells" (fireball, wall of fire, fire shield, combust, orb of fire....), having one unique spell.

Right now, casters are already the most versatile classes. Giving them more options is not the way to make them less versatile.