Comprehensive Spell Points Tables

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Comprehensive Spell Points Tables

The Spell Points system was initially introduced in Unearthed Arcana and was included in the OGC. However, it only included the core spellcasting classes in its table of spell point progressions. As a result, anyone that wanted to play a non-OGC spellcasting class with spell points would have to eyeball the calculations for their spell point progression (assuming the GM allowed Spell Points at all).

Luckily, someone figured out how WotC did their calculations:

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I'm going to try this again...and maybe this time I'll remember to include the important elements like nouns and such...

To calculate the spell points for minor spell casters such as paladins and rangers, use the following procedure:
1) Multiply the character's 1st level spells per day by 1.
2) Multiply the character's 2nd level spells per day by 3.
3) Multiply the character's 3rd level spells per day by 5.
4) Multiply the character's 4th level spells per day by 7.
5) Add these totals together.

For bards (and possibly other classes that can cast up to 6th level spells) use the following procedure:
1) Multiply the character's 1st level spells per day by 1.
2) Multiply the character's 2nd level spells per day by 3 (counting 0 spells per day as 1 spell per day).
3) Multiply the character's 3rd level spells per day by 5 (counting 0 spells per day as 1 spell per day).
4) Multiply the character's 4th level spells per day by 7 (counting 0 spells per day as 1 spell per day).
5) Multiply the character's 5th level spells per day by 9 (counting 0 spells per day as 1 spell per day).
6) Multiply the character's 6th level spells per day by 11 (counting 0 spells per day as 1 spell per day).
7) Add these totals together.

For wizards, clerics, and druids they used the following procedure for class levels 1 through 9 (remember not to include additional spells for domains or specialization):
1) Multiply the character's 1st level spells per day by 2.
2) Multiply the character's 2nd level spells per day by 3 (if the character can cast more than 1 2nd level spell, subtract 1 spell point from this total).
3) Multiply the character's 3rd level spells per day by 5.
4) Multiply the character's 4th level spells per day by 7 (if the character can cast more than 1 4th level spell, subtract 1 spell point from this total).
5) Multiply the character's 5th level spells per day by 9.
6) Add these totals together.
7) For each level above 9th add 16 to the previous level's total to get the current level's total.

For sorcerers, they used the procedure for wizards and priests but added an additional amount of spell points equal to (2X the character's highest spell level) -1 to the total.

For non-OGC spontaneous casters whose spell slot layout doesn't match up with the bard or sorcerer, use the wizard method, but the kicker described above should instead be a nerf of the same amount.

I hope that clears it up...and don't ask why I bothered to figure it out in the first place....

I've manually checked the methods given above (if you're the kind of person that would insist I "show my work", click the tabs at the bottom of the page at that link) and made some corrections and additions in red such that the results matched the OGC and were fair.

Anyway, so I've spent the last couple of hours crunching the numbers. The following is a comprehensive set of tables of the spell point progressions of every spellcasting class in D&D 3.5 that I could get my hands on, including...

• Bard (OGC)
• Standard Cleric (OGC)
• Standard Druid (OGC)
• Paladin (OGC)
• Ranger (OGC)
• Sorcerer (OGC)
• Wizard (OGC)
• Spontaneous Cleric (OGC)
• Spontaneous Druid (OGC)
• Archivist (Heroes of Horror)
• Artificer "Infusion Points" (Eberron Campaign Setting)
• Beguiler (Player's Handbook II)
• Death Master (Dragon Compendium)
• Dread Necromancer (Heroes of Horror)
• Duskblade (Player's Handbook II)
• Favored Soul (Complete Divine)
• Healer (Miniatures Handbook)
• Hexblade (Complete Warrior)
• Jester (Dragon Compendium)
• Mystic Ranger (OGC and Dragon Magazine #336 page 105)
• Nightstalker (Races of Ansalon)
• Savant (Dragon Compendium)
• Sha'ir (Dragon Compendium)
• Shaman (oriental) (Oriental Adventures)
• Shugenja (Complete Divine)
• Sohei (Oriental Adventures)
• Generic Spellcaster (OGC)
• Spellthief (Complete Adventurer)
• Trickster Spellthief (Complete Adventurer and Dragon Magazine #353 page 85)
• Spirit Shaman (Complete Divine)
• Urban Druid (Dragon Compendium)
• Warmage (Complete Arcane)
• Wu Jen (Complete Arcane)

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Bard-Type includes the Bard, Jester, Nightstalker, and Trickster Spellthief.
Wizard-Type includes the Wizard, Standard Cleric, Standard Druid, Death Master, Shaman (oriental), Urban Druid, and Wu Jen.
Paladin-Type includes the Paladin, Ranger, Hexblade, Sohei, and Spellthief.
Sorcerer-Type includes the Sorcerer, Spontaneous Cleric, Spontaneous Druid, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Favored Soul, Shugenja, and Warmage.

Level	Bard-Type	Wizard-Type	Paladin-Type	Sorcerer-Type
1		2		3
2	0	4		5
3	1	7		8
4	5	11	0	14
5	6	16	0	19
6	9	24	1	29
7	14	33	1	37
8	17	44	1	51
9	22	56	1	63
10	29	75	4	81
11	34	88	4	97
12	41	104	9	115
13	50	120	9	131
14	57	136	10	149
15	67	152	17	165
16	81	168	20	183
17	95	184	25	199
18	113	200	26	217
19	133	216	41	233
20	144	232	48	249

Artificers don't have "Spell Points", but instead have "Infusion Points".

Level	Archivist	Artificer (Infusion Points)	Mystic Ranger	Duskblade	Healer
1	4	2		2	6
2	6	3	1	3	8
3	11	6	2	4	16
4	16	9	5	5	19
5	26	17	8	11	36
6	34	22	14	15	41
7	49	22	19	21	64
8	61	34	29	25	71
9	82	41	37	35	105
10	98	41	51	44	121
11	114	50	63	54	137
12	130	59	70	62	153
13	146	66	84	77	169
14	162	87	85	89	185
15	178	101	92	103	201
16	194	106	92	118	217
17	210	124	104	137	233
18	226	133	104	153	249
19	242	144	109	179	265
20	258	144	109	200	281

Savant has two columns here because it has separate Spell Point pools for its arcane spells and divine spells.
The calculations for the Sha'ir, Spellcaster, and Spirit Shaman all use the "spontaneous nerf" I added to the methods quote at the top of this post.

Level	Savant (arcane)	Savant (divine)	Sha'ir	Spellcaster	Spirit Shaman
1			3	3	3
2			5	5	5
3			6	7	10
4			13	12	15
5	0		16	15	26
6	0		29	28	36
7	1		36	36	52
8	1		54	52	67
9	1		64	67	90
10	1	1	80	81	106
11	4	1	94	97	120
12	4	1	110	111	136
13	9	1	124	127	150
14	9	4	140	141	166
15	10	4	154	157	180
16	17	9	170	171	196
17	20	9	184	187	210
18	25	10	200	201	226
19	26	17	216	217	242
20	41	20	232	233	258

My Reasoning for each Class

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• Spontaneous Druid has the same spell slots as a Standard Druid, but is a spontaneous caster, so it's essentially-identical to the Sorcerer.
• Spontaneous Cleric has the same spell slots as a Standard Cleric, but is a spontaneous caster, so it's essentially-identical to the Sorcerer.
• Archivist was calculated using the Wizard method.
• Artificer Infusion Points were calculated using the Bard method.
• Beguiler has a near-identical spell slot layout to the Sorcerer.
• Death Master has an identical spell slot layout to the Wizard.
• Dread Necromancer has an identical spell slot layout to the Sorcerer.
• Duskblade was calculated using the Paladin method because Duskblades get access to a new spell level every ~4 levels.
• Favored Soul has an identical spell slot layout to the Sorcerer.
• Jester has an identical spell slot layout to the Bard.
• Healer was calculated using the Cleric method.
• Hexblade has an identical spell slot layout to the Paladin.
• Savant (both lists) was calculated using the Ranger method because Rangers get access to a new spell level every ~4 levels.
• Mystic Ranger was calculated using the Bard method (despite only having up to 5th-level spells).
• Nightstalker has an identical spell slot layout to the Bard.
• Sha'ir was calculated using the Sorcerer method but the kicker is a nerf instead.
• Shaman (oriental) has an identical spell slot layout to the Cleric.
• Shugenja has an identical spell slot layout to the Sorcerer.
• Sohei has an identical spell slot layout to the Paladin.
• Spellcaster was calculated using the Sorcerer method but the kicker is a nerf instead.
• Spellthief has an identical spell slot layout to the Paladin.
• Trickster Spellthief has an identical spell slot layout to the Bard.
• Spirit Shaman was calculated using the Sorcerer method but the kicker is a nerf instead.
• Urban Druid has an identical spell slot layout to the Druid.
• Warmage has a near-identical spell slot layout to the Sorcerer.
• Wu Jen has an identical spell slot layout to the Wizard.

Bonus Spell Points
For convenience, here's the bonus spell points table so you don't have to cross-reference it in the OGC while you're looking at this page:

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To determine your number of bonus spell points gained from a high ability score, first find the row for the character’s ability score. Use whichever ability score would normally award bonus spells for the character’s class (Wisdom for clerics and druids, Intelligence for wizards, and so forth).

Next, find the column for the highest level of spell the character is capable of casting based on his class level (even if he doesn’t have a high enough ability score to cast spells of that level). At the point where the row and column intersect, you find the bonus spell points the character gains. This value can change each time his ability score undergoes a permanent change (such from an ability score increase due to character level or one from a wish spell) and each time his level changes.

Score	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
12-13	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
14-15	1	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
16-17	1	4	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
18-19	1	4	9	16	16	16	16	16	16
20-21	2	5	10	17	26	26	26	26	26
22-23	2	8	13	20	29	40	40	40	40
24-25	2	8	18	25	34	45	58	58	58
26-27	2	8	18	32	41	52	65	80	80
28-29	3	9	19	33	51	62	75	90	107
30-31	3	12	22	36	54	76	89	104	121
32-33	3	12	24	38	56	78	104	119	136
34-35	3	12	27	48	66	88	114	144	161
36-37	4	13	28	49	76	98	124	154	188
38-39	4	16	31	52	77	110	136	166	200
40-41	4	16	36	57	84	117	156	186	220
42-43	4	16	36	64	91	124	163	208	242
44-45	5	17	37	65	101	134	173	218	269
46-47	5	20	40	68	104	148	187	232	283
48-49	5	20	45	73	109	153	205	250	301
50-51	5	20	45	80	116	160	212	272	323

Regardless of these findings, the Spell Points system as-written is thoroughly broken. As-written it's ambiguous, blatantly favors prepared-type casters, royally screws-over spontaneous-type casters, and generally makes spellcasting even more hopelessly overpowered compared to mundanes.

I mean, it's great if you want to run an all-casters game (and there's ways to run an all-caster party well), but otherwise Spell Points as-is don't help all that much. Then again, it's worth noting that many videogame RPGs dating back to the SNES era ran all-caster parties in some fashion even if some of the characters were initially mundane-flavored such as Crono (Chrono Trigger) or Bartz (Final Fantasy 5). It's not an entirely-foreign concept to have a party like that, especially if you include the martial spellcasters and are careful to limit the power-creep non-martial casters live for.

Personally, in my regular game I run, I've implemented a blanket change to the Spell Points system by making specific edits to the "Regaining Spell Points" and "Vitalizing" sections such that they actually make sense and give pure-spontaneous casters an edge again. Additionally, I added a new mechanic called "Spell Point Burn" that helps reign-in over-spending your Spell Points while at the same time allowing the creation of "Mana Potions". However, in response to those changes I've had to make small alterations to the psionics rules and the meldshaping rules, and I've had to allow pure-mundanes to gestalt by default to help bring spellcasters-in-general back into their former uneasy balance... so it got really complicated really fast. On the flip-side though, all encounters the party faces now start at "APL+2" and "all-day buffs" (such as Mage Armor) recover their Spell Point cost so fast that they've unintentionally become dedicated all-day buffs without need for "persisting" tricks. Take from that what you will.

[Maginomicon]

I've added the following classes to the list:

• Mystic Ranger (Dragon Magazine #336 page 105): A variant ranger that gets spell access at 1st level (through orisons but gets higher-level spells starting at 2nd level) as well as gaining a few 5th-level spells.
• Trickster Spellthief (Dragon Magazine #353 page 85): A variant spellthief that gets a bard's spellcasting progression and access to the bard spell list.

[aleucard]

I just have one problem with this.

Isn't the sorcerer supposed to have ~50% more casting reserves than a wizard? The level 20 versions of both only give the Sorcerer 1 more level 9 spell. That makes them even more hosed than usual compared to wizards. I'd love to use spell points myself, but I prefer having viable options without one being strictly better than the other, at least not to the point of ridiculousness like this.

[Maginomicon]

I just have one problem with this.

Isn't the sorcerer supposed to have ~50% more casting reserves than a wizard? The level 20 versions of both only give the Sorcerer 1 more level 9 spell. That makes them even more hosed than usual compared to wizards. I'd love to use spell points myself, but I prefer having viable options without one being strictly better than the other, at least not to the point of ridiculousness like this.

That's just the way the Spell Points system was originally written. Personally, I account for the difference in my games by giving spontaneous casters a unique recovery system for their spell points.

[aleucard]

That's just the way the Spell Points system was originally written. Personally, I account for the difference in my games by giving spontaneous casters a unique recovery system for their spell points.

Any chance you'll give it here? The only real idea I got is some sort of SP regen thing that can give a caster a certain percentage of their max back over a given amount of downtime (no SP regen mid-combat or anything comparably stressful, reduced regen for active states like marching, full for relaxing but not sleeping).

[Fax Celestis]

Another quick fix would be to make spell points work like power points in psionics: the value to cast a power as listed is to cast it at minimum caster level (5 for a fireball, for instance), and then each additional spell point spent increases the caster level of the cast spell by 1, to a maximum of the caster's effective caster level (so including things like orange prism ioun stones). Works fine for psionics, probably work service for spells.

[aleucard]

Another quick fix would be to make spell points work like power points in psionics: the value to cast a power as listed is to cast it at minimum caster level (5 for a fireball, for instance), and then each additional spell point spent increases the caster level of the cast spell by 1, to a maximum of the caster's effective caster level (so including things like orange prism ioun stones). Works fine for psionics, probably work service for spells.

This only works if the spells have costs equivalent to their power and/or usefulness. Otherwise, blasty spells get even more hosed than they are already, and you only have to pay enough to summon something for ~10 rounds, just for a quick and dirty example. If you want to do it, you'd have to retool the entire magic system, and laser-nerf several things from the books also (or make the only spells that exist ones that you've already touched up or are made by players in-game). It's an ambitious undertaking, and one not to be done half-assed.

[Maginomicon]

Any chance you'll give it here? The only real idea I got is some sort of SP regen thing that can give a caster a certain percentage of their max back over a given amount of downtime (no SP regen mid-combat or anything comparably stressful, reduced regen for active states like marching, full for relaxing but not sleeping).

I'd be happy to give it in PM. It's just rather long. Basically, like I talk about at the end of the OP, every energy subsystem has its own short-term recovery method appropriate to their tier. On top of this, it only works out if you run games such that the 15min workday is prevented by putting modules and scenarios on a timer (2 days before the BBEG sacrifices the princess, for example).

The basic gist of my fix can be found by going to the "Energy Systems" section of this "cheat sheet" document. Like I said, it's more complex than just that, and I'd prefer to give the link to the campaign setting document that contains the full details in PM, so PM me if you want to see that. On top of that I make certain "overpowered" spells use spell-point-powered incantations so that they can't be used in-combat at all.