More Magic, More Fun -- Sorcerer/Wizard Remixes (3.5, PEACH)

[Grod_The_Giant]

The wizard is arguably the most powerful class in 3.5 edition D&D, thanks to his nearly-unrestricted access to the most powerful spell list in the game. The sorcerer is "only" tier 2, due to more limited access to the list. Now, I don't think that it's possible to nerf either class down to Tier 3-- the sorcerer/wizard list is just too good. I've tried to weaken the wizard, but the main thing I'm trying to do here is to make the classes more fun. That means actual class features. That means making a clearer distinction between the two classes. That means (to me, at least) changing the prepared spells mechanism. I hold no illusions that these are significantly weaker classes-- if anything, my sorcerer is stronger. But the goal is fun-to-play Tier 2's. So, without further ado...

Sorcerer

Hit Die- d4
Class Skills- Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at 1st Level- (4 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level- 2 + Int modifier.

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Max Spell Level	Arcana/Day
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Arcana, Heritage, Birthright	1	4
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Heritage Power	1	7
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Body Burn	2	11
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Magesight	2	17
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4		3	25
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Heritage Power	3	34
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	High Arcana	4	44
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Magetouch	4	56
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		5	70
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Soul Burn	5	85
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7		6	101
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Heritage Power	6	119
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		7	139
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Perfect Sight	7	160
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Great Arcana	8	182
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Heritage Power	8	206
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		9	232
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Body Fuel	9	259
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Imbue Arcana	9	287
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Heritage Power	9	317

Weapon and Armor Proficiency- Sorcerers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a sorcerer’s gestures, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.

Spells- A sorcerer casts arcane spells which are drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below).

To learn or cast a spell, a sorcerer must have a Constitution score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a sorcerer’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the sorcerer’s Charisma modifier.

A sorcerer’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A sorcerer begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of your choice. At each new sorcerer level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the table below. These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the sorcerer has gained some understanding of by study. The sorcerer can’t use this method of spell acquisition to learn spells at a faster rate, however.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered sorcerer level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a sorcerer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the sorcerer "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level sorcerer spell the sorcerer can cast. A sorcerer may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a sorcerer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his arcana for the day (see below). He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.

Sorcerer Spells Known

Level	0 lv	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	6	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	7	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	8	6	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	9	6	5	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	10	6	6	4	2	—	—	—	—	—
8th	10	6	6	5	3	—	—	—	—	—
9th	10	6	6	6	4	2	—	—	—	—
10th	10	6	6	6	5	3	—	—	—	—
11th	10	6	6	6	6	4	2	—	—	—
12th	10	6	6	6	6	5	3	—	—	—
13th	10	6	6	6	6	6	4	2	—	—
14th	10	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	—	—
15th	10	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	2	—
16th	10	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	—
17th	10	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	2
18th	10	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3
19th	10	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4
20th	10	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5

Arcana- A sorcerer doesn’t use spell slots, as most spellcasters do. Instead, he has a certain number of arcana points per day, as indicated on the table above. Each time he casts a spell, he must pay a certain number of arcana points, based on the level of the spell he is casting, as indicated on the table below. If he does not have sufficient points, he cannot cast the spell. While waking and active, a sorcerer regains a number of arcana points per hour equal to his Constitution modifier. Eight hours of sleep (or trancing, or meditating, if the sorcerer is of a race that doesn't normally sleep) is sufficient to regain all expended arcana points. If awakened prematurely, a sleeping sorcerer can be judged to have regained Contitution modifier points per hour, as normal, plus an additional 10 points per hour spent sleeping.

A sorcerer may apply metamagic feats to his spells. If he does, he must pay the arcana cost for a spell of the modified level (although he does not increase the casting time). For example, an empowered magic missile would normally use up a 3rd level slot, so a sorcerer must pay 5 arcana points to cast the spell.

0-level spells (cantrips) do not cost any arcana to cast, and a sorcerer can cast all 0-level sorcerer spells he knows at will. However, if he casts more than (Constitution Modifier) cantrips in a single minute, he must spend one arcana point.

Spell Level	0 lv	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
Arcana Cost	0	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17

Arcana points may only be used to cast sorcerer spells. Any prestige class that advances spellcasting also advances arcana. Items or abilities that grant bonus spell slots grant an equivalent amount of bonus arcane, as shown on the table above.

Heritage- A sorcerer’s power comes from some sort of pact or ancestry with magical beings. At first level, he selects a source of power: Aberrant, Abyssal, Aquatic, Celestial, Draconic, Elemental, Fey, Infernal, Necromatic, Primal, Shadow, or Starsoul. Each source of power comes with a special birthright ability. In addition, he gains a heritage power at 2nd, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels. This ability counts as the relevant heritage feat (if one exists) for the purposes of prerequisites. Heritage powers are described below.

Body Burn—Starting at 3rd level, a sorcerer may channel his own life force to boost the power of his spells. As a swift action, he may deal himself 2Xd6 points of damage, where X is any number up to his Constitution modifier. The next spell he casts has its caster level increased by X. For example, a sorcerer might deal himself 4d6 damage to boost the caster level of a fireball spell by 2. This extra damage cannot be prevented in any way, and always is subtracted from the sorcerer’s real hit points—temporary hit points don’t help. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to his Constitution modifier.

Magesight (Su)- Starting at 4th level, a sorcerer can use the spell detect magic at will, with the following exceptions. As a swift action, he can toggle this ability on or off. He does not have to concentrate to keep it active, although unless he does he can only detect the presence or absence of magic. He can never be stunned by an overwhelmingly powerful aura. Otherwise, it works as the spell.

Magetouch (Sp)- Starting at 8th level, a sorcerer may use the spell identify at will. He does not need to provide a material component.

High Arcana— A sorcerer’s spellcasting power continues to increase by leaps and bounds, but his body remains frail in comparison. Spells of 4th level and above are considered high arcana, and are subject to additional restrictions.

• A sorcerer may only cast (Constitution Modifier) high arcana spells of the highest level available to him. Every hour, he regains one potential spell of each level, and eight hours of rest resets the count completely. He may attempt to cast spells after he has exceeded the limit, but doing so is both difficult and costly. He must make a Concentration check (DC 15+ Spell Level x 2) to cast at all. If he succeeds, he casts the spell as normal, but takes Constitution damage equal to one-half the level of the spell he just cast. If he fails, he takes 1d6 damage per level of the spell he was attempting to cast, and the action is wasted.
• Increase the damage when using Body Burn with a high arcana spell by one step, from 2Xd6 to 2Xd8.
• Increase the cost of using Soul Burn with a high arcana spell to 2 points of Constitution damage per point of caster level cap increase.

Soul Burn—Starting at 10th level, a sorcerer’s ability to pour his life force into spells increases. As a move action, he may deal himself X points of Constitution damage, where X is any number up to his Constitution modifier. The next spell he casts has any relevant caster level cap increased by X. For example, a sorcerer might deal himself 3 points of Constitution damage to increase the damage cap of a fireball spell from 10d6 to 13d6. This extra damage cannot be prevented in any way. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to his Constitution modifier. He may use both Body Burn and Soul Burn in the same turn to affect the same spell.

Perfect Sight (Su)- At 14th level, a sorcerer’s Magesight improves. He may now toggle the spell true seeing on and off at will, in addition to detect magic. He may not have both abilities active simultaneously.

Great Arcana—A sorcerer’s spellcasting power is the stuff of legends, but despite the cosmic wellspring of power within his soul, his body is only mortal. Spells of 8th level and above are considered great arcana, and are subject to the following restrictions. These new restrictions override those of high arcana. In addition, he no longer faces a restriction on the number of High Arcana spells he can cast.

• A sorcerer may only cast (Constitution Modifier) great arcana spells of the highest level available to him, and (Constitution Modifier times two) great arcana spells of the second highest level available to him. Every hour, he regains one potential spell of the level, and eight hours of rest resets the count completely. He may attempt to cast spells after he has exceeded the limit, but doing so is both difficult and costly. He must make a Concentration check (DC 20+ Spell Level x 3) to cast at all. If he succeeds, he casts the spell as normal, but takes Constitution damage equal to one-half the level of the spell he just cast. If he fails, he takes Constitution damage equal to one-half the level of the spell he was attempting to cast, and the action is wasted.
• Increase the damage when using Body Burn with a great arcana spell by two steps, from 2Xd6 to 2Xd10.
• Increase the cost of using Soul Burn with a great arcana spell to 3 points of Constitution damage per point of caster level cap increase.

Body Fuel (Ex)- At 18th level, a sorcerer may sacrifice his own body on the alter of his magic. When affected by an anti-magic field or similar effect, he still cast spells by dealing himself Constitution damage equal to the level of the spell he wishes to cast, and making a DC 30+Spell Level Concentration check. If he has no Constitution score, he instead damages both his Strength and Dexterity. This damage cannot be prevented or reduced by any means.

Imbue Arcana (Su)- At 19th level, a sorcerer’s control over his own magical power is such that he can temporarily transfer a measure of it to an ally. As part of a ten-minute ritual, he may transfer up to twice his Charisma score Arcana points to a willing target. The benefits of the transfer last for ten minutes per point of the target’s Constitution score.

• If the target is a sorcerer, he may use them to cast spells normally.
• If the target is a spellcaster who does not use arcane points, the sorcerer may grant them extra spell slots—transferring 3 points grants them a second level spell slot, transferring 5 points grants them a third level spell slot, and so on (see the arcane cost for casting sorcerer spells).
• If the target has no spellcasting ability at all, the sorcerer may transfer the ability to cast one spell. Doing so removes it from the sorcerer’s list of spells known, and inflicts Constitution damage equal to the level of the spell transferred to the sorcerer. The sorcerer regains knowledge of the spell at the end of the duration.

Heritages

Aberrant

Spoiler

There is a taint in your blood, one that is alien and bizarre. You tend to think in odd ways, approaching problems from an angle that most would not expect. Over time, this taint manifests itself in your physical form.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell of the polymorph subschool, increase the duration of the spell by 50% (minimum 1 round). This bonus does not stack with the increase granted by the Extend Spell feat.
Bloodline Powers: Aberrant sorcerers show increasing signs of their tainted heritage as they increase in level, although they are only visible when used.

• Acidic Ray (Sp): Starting at 2nd level, you can fire an acidic ray as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The acidic ray deals 1d6 +1/sorcerer level points of acid damage. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier.
• Long Limbs (Ex): At 6th level, your reach increases by 10 feet whenever you are making a melee touch attack. This ability does not otherwise increase your threatened area.
• Unusual Anatomy (Ex): At 12th level, your anatomy changes, giving you a 50% chance to ignore any critical hit or sneak attack scored against you.
• Alien Resistance (Su): At 16th level, you gain spell resistance equal to your sorcerer level + 10. Unlike other forms of spell resistance, you may choose to allow allied casters to bypass your resistance without having to make a caster level check.
• Aberrant Form (Ex): At 20th level, your body becomes truly unnatural. You are immune to critical hits and sneak attacks. In addition, you gain blindsight with a range of 60 feet and damage reduction 10/—.

Abyssal Bloodline

Spoiler

Generations ago, a demon spread its filth into your heritage. While it does not manifest in all of your kin, for you it is particularly strong. You might sometimes have urges to chaos or evil, but your destiny (and alignment) is up to you.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell of the summoning subschool, the creatures summoned gain DR/good equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). This does not stack with any DR the creature might have.
Bloodline Powers: While some would say that you are possessed, you know better. The demonic influence in your blood grows as you gain power.

• Claws (Su): At 2nd level, you grow a pair of claws. These are primary natural weapons dealing 1d4 damage (if medium).
• Demon Resistances (Ex): At 6th level, you gain resist electricity 10 and a +4 bonus on saving throws made against poison
• Strength of the Abyss (Ex): At 12th level, you gain a +4 inherent bonus to your Strength.
• Added Summonings (Su): At 16th level, whenever you summon a creature with the demon subtype or the fiendish template using a summon monster spell, you summon one additional creature of the same kind.
• Demonic Might (Su): At 20th level, the power of the Abyss flows through you. You gain immunity to electricity and poison. You also gain resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10, and gain telepathy with a range of 60 feet (allowing you to communicate with any creature that can speak a language).

Aquatic

Spoiler

Your family traces its heritage back to the ocean depths, whether scions of undersea empires left in the wake of nomadic sea-tribes, or the spawn of creeping ichthyic infiltrators into remote seaside villages. The song of the sea hums in your blood, calling the waves and all those within to your command.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell of the water type, your effective caster level is increased by one, and summoned creatures with a swim speed or the aquatic or water type gain a +1 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Bloodline Powers: Your seaborn magical talents awaken changes in you, both mystical and physical, as you develop your powers.

• Dehydrating Touch (Sp): Starting at 2nd level, you can make a melee touch attack as a standard action that inflicts 1d6 +1/sorcerer level points of nonlethal damage and sickens the target for 1 round. Oozes, plants, and creatures with the aquatic or water subtypes suffer lethal damage instead. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier.
• Aquatic Adaptation (Ex): At 6rd level, you gain a swim speed of 40 feet. When immersed in water, you gain 60ft darkvision.
• Aquatic Telepathy (Su): At 12th level, you gain telepathy (100 feet) and can communicate with creatures with a swim speed or the aquatic or water types regardless of intelligence. You may cast suggestion on such creatures a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier. This ability is telepathic and does not require audible or visual components.
• Raise the Deep (Sp): At 16th level, you raise water as per control water, but no water need be present. This created water is stationary and does not flow out of the area where you create it; it lasts 1 round per sorcerer level and then disappears. You may use this ability once per day.
• Deep One (Ex): At 20th level, you gain darkvision 60 feet and your body is covered with fine, slippery scales granting DR 10/piercing, resist cold 20, and continuous freedom of movement. Underwater, you gain evasion and blindsight 120 feet, and you are immune to pressure damage from deep water.

Celestial

Spoiler

Your bloodline is blessed by a celestial power, either from a celestial ancestor or through divine intervention. Although this power drives you along the path of good, your fate (and alignment) is your own to determine.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell of the summoning subschool, the creatures summoned gain DR/evil equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). This does not stack with any DR the creature might have.
Bloodline Powers: Your celestial heritage grants you a great many powers, but they come at a price. The lords of the higher planes are watching you and your actions closely.

• Heavenly Fire (Sp): Starting at 2nd level, you can unleash a ray of heavenly fire as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. Against evil creatures, this ray deals 1d4+1/sorcerer level damage. This damage is divine and not subject to energy resistance or immunity. This ray heals good creatures of an equivalent amount of damage. Neutral creatures are neither harmed nor healed by this effect. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
• Celestial Resistances (Ex): At 6th level, you gain resist acid 10 and resist cold 10.
• Wings of Heaven (Su): At 12th level, you sprout feathery wings and gain a fly speed of 60 feet with good maneuverability.
• Conviction (Su): At 16th level, you can reroll any one ability check, attack roll, skill check, or saving throw you just made. You must decide to use this ability after the die is rolled, but before the results are revealed by the GM. You must take the second result, even if it is worse. You can use this ability once per day.
• Ascension (Su): At 20th level, you become infused with the power of the heavens. You gain Immunity to acid, cold, and petrification, Resistance 10 to fire and electricity, +4 racial bonus on saves against poison, and the ability to speak with any creature that has a language (as per the tongues spell).

Draconic

Spoiler

At some point in your family's history, a dragon interbred with your bloodline, and now its ancient power flows through your veins.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell with an energy descriptor that matches your draconic bloodline's energy type, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled.
Bloodline Powers: The power of dragons flows through you and manifests in a number of ways. At 1st level, you must select one of the chromatic or metallic dragon types. This choice cannot be changed. A number of your abilities grant resistances and deal damage based on your dragon type, as noted on the table below.

• Claws (Ex): At 2nd level, you grow a pair of claws. These are natural weapons dealing 1d4 damage (if medium).
• Dragon Resistances (Ex): At 6rd level, you gain resist 10 against your energy type and a +1 natural armor bonus.
• Breath Weapon (Su): At 12th level, you gain a breath weapon. This breath weapon deals 1d6 points of damage of your energy type per sorcerer level. Those caught in the area of the breath receive a Reflex save for half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Constitution modifier. The shape of the breath weapon depends on your dragon type (as indicated on the above chart). You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier.
• Wings (Ex): At 16th level, leathery dragon wings grow from your back, giving you a fly speed of 120 feet with average maneuverability.
• Power of Wyrms (Su): At 20th level, your draconic heritage becomes manifest. You gain immunity to paralysis, sleep, and damage of your energy type. You also gain blindsense 60 feet.

Dragon Type	Energy Type	Breath Shape
Black	Acid	60-foot line
Blue	Electricity	60-foot line
Green	Acid	30-foot cone
Red	Fire	30-foot cone
White	Cold	30-foot cone
Brass	Fire	60-foot line
Bronze	Electricity	60-foot line
Copper	Acid	60-foot line
Gold	Fire	30-foot cone
Silver	Cold	30-foot cone

Elemental

Spoiler

The power of the elements resides in you, and at times you can hardly control its fury. This influence comes from an elemental outsider in your family history or a time when you or your relatives were exposed to a powerful elemental force.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to match the type of your bloodline. This also changes the spell's type to match the type of your bloodline.
Bloodline Powers: One of the four elements infuses your being, and you can draw upon its power in times of need. At first level, you must select one of the four elements: air, earth, fire, or water. This choice cannot be changed. A number of your abilities grant resistances and deal damage based on your element, as noted on the table below.

• Elemental Ray (Sp): Starting at 2nd level, you can unleash an elemental ray as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d6+1/sorcerer level points of damage of your energy type. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier.
• Elemental Resistance (Ex): At 6th level, you gain energy resistance 15 against your energy type.
• Elemental Blast (Sp): At12 level, you can unleash a blast of elemental power once per day. This 20-foot-radius burst does 1d6 points of damage of your energy type per sorcerer level. Those caught in the area of your blast receive a Reflex save for half damage. Creatures that fail their saves gain vulnerability to your energy type until the end of your next turn. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier.
• Elemental Movement (Su): At 16th level, you gain a special movement type or bonus. This ability is based on your chosen element, as indicated on the table below.
• Elemental Body (Su): At 20th level, elemental power surges through your body. You gain immunity to sneak attacks, critical hits, and damage from your energy type.

Element	Energy Type	Elemental Movement
Air	Electricity	Fly 60 feet (perfect)
Earth	Acid	Burrow 30 feet
Fire	Fire	+30 feet base speed
Water	Cold	Swim 60 feet

Fey

Spoiler

The capricious nature of the fey runs in your family due to some intermingling of fey blood or magic. You are more emotional than most, prone to bouts of joy and rage.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell of the [mind affecting] subschool, increase the spell's DC by +2.
Bloodline Powers: You have always had a tie to the natural world, and as your power increases, so does the influence of the fey over your magic.

• Laughing Touch (Sp): At 2nd level, you can cause a creature to burst out laughing for 1 round as a melee touch attack. A laughing creature can only take a move action but can defend itself normally. Once a creature has been affected by laughing touch, it is immune to its effects for 24 hours. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier. This is a mind-affecting effect.
• Woodland Stride (Ex): At 6th level, you can move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at your normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. Thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion, however, still affect you.
• Fleeting Glance (Sp): At 12th level, you can turn invisible for a number of rounds per day equal to your sorcerer level. This ability functions as greater invisibility. These rounds need not be consecutive.
• Fey Magic (Su): At 16th level, you may reroll any caster level check made to overcome spell resistance. You must decide to use this ability before the results are revealed by the GM. You must take the second result, even if it is worse. You can use this ability at will.
• Soul of the Fey (Su): At 20th level, your soul becomes one with the world of the fey. You gain immunity to poison and DR 10/cold iron. Creatures of the animal type do not attack you unless compelled to do so through magic. Once per day, you can cast shadow walk as a spell-like ability using your sorcerer level as your caster level.

Necromantic

Spoiler

The taint of the grave runs through your family. Perhaps one of your ancestors became a powerful lich or vampire, or maybe you were born dead before suddenly returning to life. Either way, the forces of death move through you and touch your every action.

Birthright: Some undead are susceptible to your mind-affecting spells. Corporeal undead that were once humanoids are treated as humanoids for the purposes of determining which spells affect them.
Bloodline Powers: You can call upon the foul powers of the afterlife. Unfortunately, the more you draw upon them, the closer you come to joining them.

• Grave Touch (Sp): Starting at 2nd level, you can make a melee touch attack as a standard action that causes a living creature to become shaken for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). If you touch a shaken creature with this ability, it becomes frightened for 1 round if it has fewer Hit Dice than your sorcerer level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier.
• Death's Gift (Su): At 6th level, you gain resist cold 10 and DR 5/— against nonlethal damage.
• Grasp of the Dead (Sp): At 12th level, you can cause a swarm of skeletal arms to burst from the ground to rip and tear at your foes. The skeletal arms erupt from the ground in a 20-foot-radius burst. Anyone in this area takes 1d6 points of slashing damage per sorcerer level. Those caught in the area receive a Reflex save for half damage. Those who fail the save are unable to move for 1 round. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. This power has a range of 60 feet, and you may use it a number of times per day equal to you Constitution modifier.
• Incorporeal Form (Sp): At 16th level, you can become incorporeal for 1 round per sorcerer level. While in this form, you gain the incorporeal subtype. You only take half damage from corporeal sources as long as they are magic (you take no damage from non-magic weapons and objects). Likewise, your spells deal only half damage to corporeal creatures. Spells and other effects that do not deal damage function normally. You can use this ability once per day.
• One of Us (Ex): At 20th level, your form begins to rot (the appearance of this decay is up to you) and undead see you as one of them. You gain immunity to cold, nonlethal damage, paralysis, and sleep. You also gain DR 10/—. Unintelligent undead do not notice you unless you attack them. You receive a +4 morale bonus on saving throws made against spells and spell-like abilities cast by undead.

Infernal

Spoiler

Somewhere in your family's history, a relative made a deal with a devil, and that pact has influenced your family line ever since. In you, it manifests in direct and obvious ways, granting you powers and abilities. While your fate is still your own, you can't help but wonder if your ultimate reward is bound to the Pit.

Birthright: Whenever you cast a spell of the charm subschool, increase the spell's DC by +2.
Bloodline Powers: You can draw upon the power of Hell, although you must be wary of its corrupting influence. Such power does not come without a price.

• Corrupting Touch (Sp): At 2nd level, you can cause a creature to become shaken as a melee touch attack. This effect persists for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). Creatures shaken by this ability radiate an aura of evil, as if they were an evil outsider (see detect evil). Multiple touches do not stack, but they do add to the duration. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
• Infernal Resistances (Ex): At 6th level, you gain resist fire 10 and a +4 bonus on saving throws made against poison.
• Hellfire (Sp): At 12th level, you can call down a column of hellfire. This 10-foot-radius burst does 1d6 points of fire damage per sorcerer level. Those caught in the area of your blast receive a Reflex save for half damage. Good creatures that fail their saves are shaken for a number of rounds equal to your sorcerer level. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier.
• On Dark Wings (Ex): At 16th level, you grow fearsome bat, giving you a fly speed of 120 feet with good maneuverability.
• Power of the Pit (Su): At 20th level, your form becomes infused with vile power. You gain immunity to fire and poison. You also gain resistance to acid 10 and cold 10, and the ability to see perfectly in darkness of any kind to a range of 60 feet.

Primal

Spoiler

You have in your veins the ever-changing wildness of primal chaos, the raw essence of unbound creation. Your mind and spirit burst with the constant inspiration of consummate freedom, though you have difficulty following through on a task when another, new and exciting, catches your interest.

Birthright: Your magic of creation and changing is hard to unravel. The DC to dispel transmutation or conjuration (creation) spells that you cast is increased by +4.
Bloodline Powers: Your ancestral immersion in primordial chaos begets your curiously warped magical talents.

• Protoplasm (Sp): At 2nd level, you can create a ball of entropic protoplasm and hurl it at targets within 30 feet. This protoplasm acts as a tanglefoot bag that also inflicts 1 point of acid damage per round to a creature entangled by it. The protoplasm dissolves within 1d3 rounds. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier.
• Protean Resistances (Ex): At 6th level, you gain resist acid 10 and a +2 bonus on saving throws against polymorph, petrification, and other transmutation spells or effects.
• Reality Wrinkle (Sp): At 12th level, you can surround yourself with a mobile, 10-foot-radius emanation of mutable reality. This rippling distortion is similar to solid fog but does not provide concealment or block line of sight. Your movement is not slowed by this aura. Attacks from outside the aura suffer a 20% miss chance against targets inside the aura. You may use this ability a number of rounds per day equal to your sorcerer level, though this duration need not be continuous.
• Spatial Tear (Sp): At 16th level, once per day, you can unravel the fibers of reality and ride along them as they snap back into place. This power functions as dimension door, while also creating a mass of black tentacles centered on your former location. Both of these effects use your sorcerer level as the caster level.
• Avatar of Chaos (Ex): At 20th level, you are infused with the essence of raw chaos. You gain immunity to acid, petrification, and polymorph, as well as a +2 bonus to save DCs and on checks to overcome spell penetration against creatures with the lawful subtype.

Shadow

Spoiler

Spirits from the shadow plane dally at times in the world of light, and such as these lay with your ancestors once upon a time, imparting the mystery of shadow-stuff into your lineage. You are often sullen and withdrawn, preferring to skulk at the fringes of social circles and keep to yourself, cultivating an air of mystery and majesty that is all your own.

Birthright: Add Hide and Move Silently to the list of sorcerer class skills. Whenever you cast a spell with the [darkness] descriptor or the shadow subschool, you gain a circumstance bonus on Hide checks equal to the spell’s level for 1d4 rounds.
Bloodline Powers: Your benighted heritage infuses your mastery of magic with the essence of shadowstuff.

• Shadowstrike (Sp): At 2nd level, you can make a melee touch attack as a standard action that inflicts 1d4+1/sorcerer level points of nonlethal damage. In addition, the target is dazzled for 1 minute. Creatures with low-light vision or darkvision are not dazzled by this ability. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier.
• Nighteye (Ex): At 6th level, you gain darkvision 60 feet. If you already possess darkvision, its range is increased by these amounts.
• Shadow Well (Sp): At 12th level, you can use the Hide skill even while being observed and without cover or concealment, as long as you are within 10 feet of a shadow other than your own. In addition, when within an area of darkness or dim light, as a standard action you may choose to switch places with a willing ally within 60 feet, who must also be in darkness or dim light. You may use the ability to switch places a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier.
• Enveloping Darkness (Sp): At 16th level, you may create an area of deeper darkness that you can see through without penalty. All creatures except you are entangled within this darkness unless using freedom of movement or a similar effect. You may use this ability once per day.
• Shadow Master (Su): At 20th level, you can see perfectly in natural or magical darkness. When you use shadow conjuration or shadow evocation spells, your creations are 20% more real, and any creatures you create gain the benefits of the Augment Summoning feat.

Starsoul

Spoiler

You come from a line of stargazers and explorers who delved deeply into the darkness beyond the stars. In touching the void, the void touched them, and your mind, spirit, and body yearn to span the gulf between worlds.

Birthright: Whenever you cast an evocation spell, targets that fail their saves are dazzled by tiny sparkling starlights for 1 round per level of the spell.
Bloodline Powers: Your skyward gaze and communion with the heavens focus and enhance your magical talents.

• Minute Meteors (Sp): At 2nd level, you can summon a rain of tiny meteorites as a standard action to fall in a 5-foot column, 30 feet high, with a range of 30 feet. The meteors inflict 1d4 + 1/sorcerer level points of fire. A Reflex save negates this damage. The save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier.
• Voidwalker (Ex): At 6th level, you gain low-light vision, immunity to extremely hot and cold temperatures, as though protected by an endure elements spell, and you no longer need to breathe.
• Aurora Borealis (Sp): At 12th level, you can create a sheet of cascading colors. This power acts as a wall of fire, but it inflicts cold damage and does not radiate heat. However, one side of the aurora designated by you fascinates creatures within 10 feet, up to a maximum of 2 HD of creatures per sorcerer level. A Will save negates this fascinate effect. The save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. You may use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to your sorcerer level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
• Breaching the Gulf (Sp): At 16th level, your caster level is increased by 3 when casting spells of the teleportation subschool. In addition, once per day you can teleport a single creature within 30 feet into the void of space if it fails a Will save. The save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. The target can attempt a new saving throw as a full-round action each round to return. While trapped in the airless void, the target suffers 6d6 points of cold damage per round and must hold its breath or begin to suffocate.
• Starborn (Ex): At 20th level, you gain immunity to cold and blindness, and you can see perfectly in natural or magical darkness. In addition, you gain fast healing 1 when you are outdoors at night.

Sorcerer Variant-- The Classic Sorcerer

For those who object to Arcana points.

Lose: Arcana, Imbue Arcana
Gain: Imbue Magic

Imbue Magic— At 19th level, a sorcerer’s control over his own magical power is such that he can temporarily transfer a measure of it to an ally. As part of a ten-minute ritual, he may transfer up to twice his Charisma modifier spell levels to a willing ally, who must participate in the entire ritual as well. The benefits of the transfer last for ten minutes per point of the target’s Constitution score.

• If the target is a spontaneous spellcaster, he gains a number of bonus spells equal to the number of spells transferred. For example, if a sorcerer transfers 4 third-level spells (12 spell levels) to a Favored Soul, the latter would gain 4 additional castings of third-level spells. These temporary spell slots are used first, just like temporary hit points.
• If the target is not a spontaneous spellcaster, he gains the ability to cast each transferred spell once as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to his hit die, and a saving throw DC based on his Charisma score.

Other Changes:

• Spells per day as described in the Player’s Handbook
• Bonus spells for a high Constitution modifier
• Delete the first bullet point from High and Great Arcana.

Divine Sorcerer Variant— The Channel

The gift of magic manifests differently in every sorcerer, depending on their ancestry. A dragon-blooded sorcerer will have very different gifts from another mage who can claim the blood of a fey lord. Sometimes, that gift develops into an entirely different form of magic. The blood of gods runs in a Channel’s veins, granting them incredible divine might.

Loses: Birthright.
Gains: Domains, Domain Mastery

Hit Die: d6

Weapon and Armor Proficiency- Channels are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor, but not with shields.

Spellcasting - As normal for a Sorcerer, except that the Channel casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric list.

Heritage- must be either Celestial, Abyssal, or Infernal.

General Change— replace all instances of Constitution in spellcasting and class features with Wisdom.

First Domain- At 1st level, a Channel chooses one domain and adds the spells to his list of spells known.

First Domain Power- at 5th level, a Channel gains the domain power for his chosen domain, with an effective cleric level equal to his Channel level (if applicable).

Second Domain- At 9th level, a Channel chooses a second domain and adds the spells to his list of spells known.

Second Domain Power- at 13th level, a Channel gains the domain power for his second chosen domain, with an effective cleric level equal to his Channel level (if applicable).

Domain Mastery- at 17th level, a Channel chooses one of his two domains. When casting spells from that domain, he may either Extended or Empower them (his choice, on casting the spell) without increasing the casting time or spell level. The choice of domain cannot be changed.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Wizard

Hit Die- d4.
Class Skills- Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Speak Language (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magical Device (Cha)
Skill Points at 1st Level- (4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level- 4 + Int modifier.

Level	Base Attack	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	0 lv	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Forms, Rituals	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Summon familiar	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Spell Trick, Knowledge Focus	4	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus feat	4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Spell Trick	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Knowledge Focus	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Spell Trick	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Bonus feat	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Spell Trick , Knowledge Focus	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Stored Ritual	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Spell Trick	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Knowledge Focus, Bonus feat	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Spell Trick	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Fast Ritualist	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Spell Trick , Knowledge Focus	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Bonus feat	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Spell Trick	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Knowledge Focus	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Spell Trick	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Quickdraw Ritualist, Bonus feat	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Weapon and Armor Proficiency- Wizards are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a wizard’s movements, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.

Spells- A wizard casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the wizard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a wizard’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the wizard’s Wisdom score. Like other spellcasters, a wizard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. his base daily spell allotment is given on the table above. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score.

A wizard’s spells are divided into two categories, forms and rituals. Both terms are synonymous with “spell,” except when relating to class features. See below for details.

Forms- Forms are battle magic. A wizard may cast any form he knows without preparing it ahead of time. A wizard begins play knowing 10 zero-level forms and two first level forms. Each time he levels up, he learns two new forms of any level he could normally cast.

Upon reaching 3rd level, and at every wizard level thereafter, a wizard can choose to learn a new form in place of one he already knows. In effect, the wizard "loses" the old form in exchange for the new one. The new form’s level must be the same as or lower than that of the form being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level wizard form the wizard can cast. A wizard may swap only a single form at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the form at the same time that he gains new forms known for the level.

Unlike normal spontaneous casting, a wizard may apply metamagic feats to his spells without increasing their casting times.

Rituals- Rituals are utility spells. A wizard may cast any ritual he knows without preparing it ahead of time, however, doing so takes a great deal of effort.

First, a wizard must write the ritual in his spellbook. Doing so takes 24 hours, takes up one page/level of the spell, and costs one hundred gold per page. Rituals can be copied from other wizards’ spellbooks, from scrolls, or developed through independent research. Researching a new ritual takes two days per level of the spell, and costs 500 gold and 50 experience per level of the spell being researched. A wizard begins his career with (Intelligence Modifier) rituals in his spellbook.

Casting a ritual takes ten minutes per spell level. If the spell’s casting time is normally more than one full round, add that time to the total casting time of the ritual. Material components must be provided normally. At the conclusion of the ritual, the spell is cast normally.

The wizard may pay 25 experience/spell level to increase the duration of the spell by one step (rounds/level -> minutes/level -> hours/level -> days/level -> weeks/level). He may apply any metamagic feat he knows to the spell being emulated, taking the increased time to cast a spell of the adjusted level.

The spell a ritual is emulating must be of a level the wizard is normally capable of casting.

Familiar- At 2nd level, a wizard can obtain a familiar. Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The wizard chooses the kind of familiar he gets. As the wizard advances in level, his familiar also increases in power.

If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the wizard, the wizard must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per wizard level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a wizard’s experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one familiar at a time.

Knowledge Focus (Ex)- At 3rd level, and every subsequent third level, a wizard gains a permanent +2 bonus to one Intelligence-based skill of your choice. These bonuses can be stacked, or they can be applied to different skills.

Spell Trick- Wizards have a smaller arsenal of battle magic than other spontaneous casters, but their mastery over the more technical aspects of the craft gives them an edge of petty sorcerers. At 3rd level, and every subsequent odd-numbered level, a wizard may learn a single spell trick from the list below. Alternately, he may select a spell trick he already knows and gain an additional 3 daily uses.

You may only apply one spell trick to any given casting of a spell. Each spell trick may be used a number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier. Applying a spell trick requires a swift action.

List of Spell Tricks

Spoiler

Elemental Trick— When casting a form which deals energy damage, you may modify the spell to use a new type of energy-- fire, cold, electricity, or acid. The spell's description changes to the new energy type.

Admixture Trick— When casting a form which deals energy damage, you may modify the spell to use a second type of energy-- fire, cold, electricity, or acid. The damage becomes half the original type of energy, and half the newly chosen type. Prerequisite: Elemental Trick

Area Trick— When casting a form that affects an area, you may modify the area to either a cylinder (10-foot radius, 30 feet high), a 40-foot cone, four 10-foot cubes, a ball (20-foot-radius spread), or a 120-foot line. The sculpted spell works normally in all respects except for its shape.

Transdimensional Trick— When casting a form, you may shift its effects onto a contingent plane, such as the Ethereal Plane or the Plane of Shadows.

Range Trick— When casting a form with a range other than personal, you may alter the range one step- touch->short->medium->long. Each step up imposes a -1 penalty to ranged touch attacks and spell save DCs, each step down gives a +1 bonus on ranged touch attacks and spell save DCs. The effects of the step from touch to short range, and vice versa, are doubled.

Stealth Trick— When casting a form with a duration of Immediate, such as magic missile or fireball, you may suppress all visible aspects of the spell. This imposes a -4 penalty on any checks to identify who’s casting the spell, and enemy casters must make a Spot check (DC as normal for a spell of the level you’re casting) before attempting to counterspell you. It also enables a you to cast spells from hiding without exposing your own position, although enemies may hear you speaking.

Merciful Trick— When casting a form which deals damage, you may convert the damage into nonlethal damage.

Channeling Trick— When casting a form with a range of touch, you may transfer its power into a weapon you are currently holding. The next time that weapon is used to strike a foe, it deals damage as normal, and the target is affected by the spell as if it had been struck by a successful touch attack. The spell fades if not used within 1 minute.

Save Trick— When casting a form that requires an opponent to make a saving throw, you may change the type of saving throw requires- Fortitude, Reflex, or Will. However, due to the nature of the trick, you take a -2 penalty to the spell's save DC. Prerequisite: Wizard 7

Precision Trick— When casting a form that affects an area, you may exclude a number of squares equal to one-half your Intelligence modifier from the area of affect. However, due to the imprecise nature of the modification, any target adjacent to one of the excluded squares gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against the spell's effects. Prerequisite: Wizard 7

Familiar Trick— When casting a form, you may chose to have its effects emanate from your familiar’s square instead of your own. Your familiar must be within your line of sight to use this trick. Prerequisite: Wizard 7

Spellpower Trick— When casting a form, you may take a penalty to caster level when determining the damage, duration, range, and other attributes of the form which depend on caster level to gain an equivalent bonus to caster level checks to defeat spell resistance. For example, a 10th level wizard might take a -5 penalty to caster level when casting a fireball spell. The spell would have a range of 600 feet and would only deal 5d6 damage, but the wizard’s bonus to defeat spell resistance would be +15, excluding any other feats or abilities affecting his caster level. Prerequisite: Wizard 7

Dual-Casting Trick— When casting a form with a single target, you may affect two targets instead. However, your caster level is halved when casting the form, and you take a -2 penalty to the spell’s save DC. Prerequisite: Wizard 7

Bonus Feats- At 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level, a wizard gains a bonus feat. At each such opportunity, he can choose a metamagic feat, an item creation feat, a reserve feat (see Complete Mage), a spell trick feat (see below), or Spell Focus, or Spell Mastery. Other magic-related feats may be allowed as well, pending the DM's approval. The wizard must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums.

Stored Ritual (Sp)- At 10th level, a wizard learns how to ‘store’ nearly completed rituals for later use. When casting a ritual, he may spend 25 experience per spell level to store the energies in specially constructed vessel, such as a gemstone or wand. Constructing a vessel costs five hundred gold per level of the spell to be stored in it, but vessels can be reused. Stored spells last for one day per Wizard level. If the spell is not cast at the end of this duration, he regains two-thirds of the expended experience (the rest of the energy is lost to entropy). At any point while the spell is stored and available, he may take a swift action to trigger it. He then casts the spell as if it were one of his forms.

Fast Ritualist (Sp)- At 14th level, a wizard has figured out how to perform rituals quickly, when need be. A number of times per day equal to his Wisdom modifier, he may reduce the casting time of a ritual to one round per spell level, minus one-half his Intelligence modifier rounds. Doing so is an extremely inefficient process, and to compensate, the wizard must pay 50 experience per spell level.

Quickdraw Ritualist (Sp)- At 19th level, when using his Fast Ritualist ability, a wizard may spend an additional 25 experience per spell level to reduce the casting time to one full round.


School Specialization
A school is one of eight groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme. If desired, a wizard may specialize in one school of magic. A specialist wizard casts spells from his chosen school at +1 caster level, and he gains a +1 bonus to spell save DC with spells of his chosen school. Every level he gains access to a new spell level, starting at 1st, he gains a bonus form from his school. Finally, casting rituals from his chosen school only takes seven minutes per spell level, rather than ten. Alternately, he may take the normal ten minutes per spell level and pay 15 experience per spell level to increase the spell's duration by one step, rather than the usual 25.

The wizard must choose whether to specialize and, if he does so, choose his specialty at 1st level. At this time, he must also give up one other school of magic, which become his prohibited school. Spells of the prohibited school are not available to the wizard, either as forms or as rituals, although he can cast them from scrolls, wands, and the like. He may not change either his specialization or his prohibited school later.

The eight schools of arcane magic are abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation. Spells that do not fall into any of these schools are called universal spells. Note: Detect Magic and Read Magic count as universal spells, and may be learned by any wizard, even one who has given up the divination school.

Divine Wizard Variant-- the Seeker

Loses/Gains- None as such;See below for changes
Special- A wizard may be both a Seeker and a Scribe-- the combination is known as the Archivist, and replaces the class of the same name.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency- Seekers are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor, but not with shields.

Spellcasting- As normal for a wizard, except that the Seeker casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric list. In addition, because a Seeker leans his magic through study, rather than having it granted directly from a deity, he suffers from armor-based spell failure when wearing armor heavier than light or when using a shield.

Rituals-A Seeker seeks power and knowledge in from all avenues of divine magic. He may learn druid spells as rituals as well as cleric spells. However, doing so costs twice as much-- to research the spell, and to scribe it in his prayerbook-- and performing a druidic ritual takes him 15 minutes per spell level, rather than the normal ten.

Foreign Spell- At 3rd level, and every subsequent odd-numbered level, a Seeker may add a single ritual to his spellbook for free. Unlike normal rituals, this one may come from the sorcerer/wizard list, or from the druid list without the usual penalties.

Wizard Variant-- the Scholar

Loses- Summon Familiar, All Foreign Spell iterations.
Gains- Dark Knowledge, Dark Skill, Dark Mastery
Special- A wizard may be both a Scribe and a Seeker -- the combination is known as the Archivist, and replaces the class of the same name.

Dark Knowledge (Ex)- Three times per day, a Scribe can draw upon his expansive knowledge of monsters, granting his allies benefi ts against the creatures they face. Doing this counts as a move action. The secrets of dark knowledge pertain only to aberrations, elementals, magical beasts, outsiders, or undead. A Scribe unlocks new dark knowledge abilities as his level increases and can also call upon his dark knowledge more often, gaining one additional daily use for every two Scribe levels (4/day at 2rd level, 5/day at 4th level, and so forth).

Using dark knowledge requires a Knowledge check of a type appropriate to the creature faced. A Knowledge (arcana) check reveals secrets of magical beasts, Knowledge (dungeoneering) pertains to aberrations, Knowledge (religion) covers undead, and Knowledge (the planes) applies to outsiders and elementals. The DC of the check is 15. Most of the Scribe’s dark knowledge abilities increase in effectiveness if he succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more. Dark knowledge can only be used once against any given creature.

The Scribe’s dark knowledge can affect a single creature or all creatures of the same race, depending on the effect used. A target creature must be within 60 feet, and the Scribe must be aware of the creature’s presence, although he need not have a line of sight to it. The effects of dark knowledge last for 1 minute, unless stated otherwise.

• Tactics: The Scribe knows the general combat behaviors of creatures of that race, granting his allies a +1 bonus to attack rolls made against them. For example, a Scribe confronted by hydras who succeeded on his Knowledge (arcana) check would grant his allies the attack bonus against all the hydras they fought in that encounter. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, then this bonus increases to +2. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, then this bonus increases to +3.
  
• Puissance: Starting at 5th level, the Scribe can use his dark knowledge to help his allies fi ght off the corrupting infl uence of other creatures. Allies within 60 feet of the Scribe gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against the affected creature’s abilities. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, this bonus increases to +2. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, this bonus increases to +3.
  
• Foe: Starting at 11th level, a Scribe can direct his allies to attack vital spots of his enemies. On a successful Knowledge check, he grants them a bonus to weapon damage rolls made against the target creatures equal to 1d6 points of damage. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, then this bonus increases to 2d6. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, then this bonus increases to 3d6.
  
• Dread Secret: By speaking aloud a dread secret of the target creature, a Scribe of 13th level or higher can dazzle a target creature for 1 round. Unlike other dark knowledge, this ability can be used only against a single creature. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, then the target is dazed for 1 round. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, then the target is stunned for 1 round (if the target is immune to being stunned but not immune to being dazed, such as most undead, then the Scribe can choose to daze the target instead of stunning it).
  
• Foreknowledge: Starting at 17th level, a Scribe can better prepare his allies for the attacks of the affected creature, making it harder for the creature to land blows and successfully deal damage. Allies within 30 feet of the Scribe gain a +1 insight bonus to Armor Class and saving throws that applies to attacks by the affected creature only. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, this bonus increases to +2. If the Scribe succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, this bonus increases to +3.

Dark Skill- At 7th level, a Scribe may use Dark Knowledge as a swift action.

Dark Mastery- At 19th level, a Scribe may use Dark Knowledge as a free action.

New Feats

Extra Forms
Prerequisite: Wizard 3
Benefit: You may learn up to two new forms of any level up to one level lower than the highest level you can cast. You must already know the spell you wish to learn as a ritual. You may learn cleric or druid spells in this manner, but you learn them at one level higher than normal. (thus, cure light wounds would become a second level spell). These spells are cast as arcane rituals; thus, this feat does not allow you to qualify for prestige classes as though you cast divine spells.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time, you learn two more spells.

Extra Trick
Prerequisite: Wizard 3
Benefit: You may learn one additional spell trick, or else gain an additional 3 daily uses of an already known trick.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time, you learn a new spell trick, or get more uses from an already-known one.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Just noticed that I forgot to post the sorcerer heritages. Whoops! They're up now, and 99.9% ripped from Pathfinder.

[nonsi]

With so many Spells Known and so much arcana to burn on the higher level spells (plus all those class features), your Sorcerer amounts to what people often refer to as Tier-0.
From 4th level and on, you need to cut down the Arcana/Day pool by half, otherwise the Wizard is no competition (not to mention any other class).

[Ashtagon]

I agree with nonsi here. Why would anyone ever choose not to play straight sorc or wiz 20 under these rules?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by Ashtagon

I agree with nonsi here. Why would anyone ever choose not to play straight sorc or wiz 20 under these rules?

Why would anyone ever chose to play a straight sorcerer or wizard under the existing rules? I operate under the philosophy that base classes should be mechanically and flavorfully appealing at all levels. Prestige classes should be special, picked to fulfill your specific vision of the character, not because your base class is weak and/or boring.

Nonsi, the hypothetical tier 0 is reserved for things like the psionic artificer (can access literally every spell and power in the game, make dorjes with 9th level powers, recharge way more easily) or the beholder mage PrC (can cast I think 9 spells a turn, every turn).

My sorcerer knows 19 more spells than the original, yes (not counting cantrips; on average, an extra two per level). The total is still roughly compatible with the Favored Soul, with a slight tweak in progression so that he does gain new spells every level. He can go nova if he wants, but apart from the extremely slow regeneration, he loses out in terms of spells/day from the original sorcerer-- I calculated Arcana points adding up spell slots times spell level (a 1st level spell slot was worth 1 arcana point, a 2nd level spot was worth 2, a 3rd level slot was worth 3, and so on), but set the cost of the spell levels in arcana points equal to an unaugmented psionic power.

[nonsi]

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

Why would anyone ever chose to play a straight sorcerer or wizard under the existing rules? I operate under the philosophy that base classes should be mechanically and flavorfully appealing at all levels. Prestige classes should be special, picked to fulfill your specific vision of the character, not because your base class is weak and/or boring.

I say this quite a lot (in so many words).
Click my sig (in this message and on, not earlier messages).
I believe you're really gonna like what you'll find there.

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

Nonsi, the hypothetical tier 0 is reserved for things like the psionic artificer (can access literally every spell and power in the game, make dorjes with 9th level powers, recharge way more easily) or the beholder mage PrC (can cast I think 9 spells a turn, every turn).

A DM that allows a player to cast 9 spells / turn (even if the RAW supports it) is an idiot.
Period.
End of discussion.

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

My sorcerer knows 19 more spells than the original, yes (not counting cantrips; on average, an extra two per level). The total is still roughly compatible with the Favored Soul, with a slight tweak in progression so that he does gain new spells every level.

This, on its own is fine.

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

He can go nova if he wants, but apart from the extremely slow regeneration, he loses out in terms of spells/day from the original sorcerer-- I calculated Arcana points adding up spell slots times spell level (a 1st level spell slot was worth 1 arcana point, a 2nd level spot was worth 2, a 3rd level slot was worth 3, and so on), but set the cost of the spell levels in arcana points equal to an unaugmented psionic power.

When you can spam 10 spells of your highest level before shooting blanks, something's wrong.
The ability to manipulate spell points gives you incredible versatility.
Even with my suggestion implemented, I'd play one in a heartbeat and shoot for level 20, because having the right spell for practically any occasion means you spend a lot less than a character that needs to rely on proximity spells more often than not.


Edit: sig not updated yet. That one links to the previous version. You can find the updated version in the first page of the same forum. I'll update my sig later on today.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by nonsi

A DM that allows a player to cast 9 spells / turn (even if the RAW supports it) is an idiot.
Period.
End of discussion.

It's a monster-only class that has a beholder using each eyestalk to cast a different level spell. 9 spells/turn is the POINT, not an unintentional loophole. But yeah, agreed.

When you can spam 10 spells of your highest level before shooting blanks, something's wrong.
The ability to manipulate spell points gives you incredible versatility.
Even with my suggestion implemented, I'd play one in a heartbeat and shoot for level 20, because having the right spell for practically any occasion means you spend a lot less than a character that needs to rely on proximity spells more often than not.

I feel your pain, and I just spent a little while playing with the math. I don't want to lose the unique system, and I think it can be balanced. How about these rules?

"Casting spells places incredible stresses on the body. When you have spent more than half your Arcana points, you are fatigued. When you have spent more than three-quarters of your Arcana points, you are exhausted. These conditions cannot be removed by any means except regenerating Arcana."

and

"The more you draw on your magical powers, the harder it gets. Each time you cast a spell of a given level, the cost of casting another spell of that level increases, as shown on the table below:

Highest spell level	+5 points/casting
2nd-4th highest spell levels	+2 points/casting
5th highest spell levels and lower	does not increase

"

[nonsi]

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

"Casting spells places incredible stresses on the body. When you have spent more than half your Arcana points, you are fatigued. When you have spent more than three-quarters of your Arcana points, you are exhausted. These conditions cannot be removed by any means except regenerating Arcana."

and

"The more you draw on your magical powers, the harder it gets. Each time you cast a spell of a given level, the cost of casting another spell of that level increases, as shown on the table below:
"

1. Full spellcasters are quite unimpressed by physical penalties - and even more so with level progression.
2. Balance-wise, the second part seems to be a mitigating factor (to some degree), but the higher the SLs, the less the extra toll is going to be meaningful. Furthermore, this will cost you heavy gametime bookkeeping.

I suggest you take a look at Surgo and Lord Blackfang's system. It's the only spell-points-like system I've ever encountered that's actually balanced (spell-points per-se never work - trust me on this one, I've seen literally hundreds of systems and they all fail miserably, because SLs indeed scale exponentially, so you either end up with too little or too much).
And on that note, my sig is now up to date, and in my house rules codex I've given Surgo and Lord Blackfang's system a nice finishing touch (among hundreds of other improvements to 3.5e).

But if you really insist on keeping your latest suggested mechanics, then I suggest that instead of [+5/+2/+0], you make it [Arcana-Cost/SL-Cost/No-Cost] respectively (e.g. an extra 5th level spell cast by a 9th level Sorcerer would increase the Arcana cost by +9, an extra 4th level spell would increase the Arcana cost by +4, and so on) - this way, it will not be ridiculously high at the very early levels and barely noticeable at higher levels.
OTOH, to not further encourage the 15-minute-workday, reset this extra toll on a per-encounter basis (or 10 minutes). And make it very clear that one should really not count on a 15-minute-workday, to prevent the players from going NOVA as they please.
If you're up to the bookkeeping, then this seems balanced to me.

[absolmorph]

Originally Posted by nonsi

With so many Spells Known and so much arcana to burn on the higher level spells (plus all those class features), your Sorcerer amounts to what people often refer to as Tier-0.
From 4th level and on, you need to cut down the Arcana/Day pool by half, otherwise the Wizard is no competition (not to mention any other class).

... What.
No, seriously.
What.
"So many spells known"? They get 1-2 extra known per spell level (at least in their current iteration).

Originally Posted by nonsi

A DM that allows a player to cast 9 spells / turn (even if the RAW supports it) is an idiot.
Period.
End of discussion.

Or they play with a group that doesn't follow your standards. Don't assume your play-style is universal.
Now that discussion can end.

Originally Posted by nonsi

When you can spam 10 spells of your highest level before shooting blanks, something's wrong.
The ability to manipulate spell points gives you incredible versatility.
Even with my suggestion implemented, I'd play one in a heartbeat and shoot for level 20, because having the right spell for practically any occasion means you spend a lot less than a character that needs to rely on proximity spells more often than not.

... Do you also complain about psions being able to manifest level 9 powers 20 times in a row without any bonus PP?
Honestly, this gives the sorcerer a little bit more versatility, but it's not giving them a huge boost. They can pick up a spell that fits their character but doesn't really have any other purpose without crippling themselves.
Also, this makes way more sense for someone who draws magic from within themselves than a vancian casting system; yes, they can cast 15 level 9 spells in a row (and only need to take 1 Con damage to cast a 16th), but then they're done for the day.

Increasing the Arcana cost of the spells for each casting seems like it's not really necessary; yes, they can cast a lot of their highest level, but those also consume a lot of resources. Keep in mind that lower levels have far more limited Arcana to spend, so with the chart you have now, Grod, a sorcerer could only cast 1 spell per day until level 3, and then cast 4 at level 4.
Even with nonsi's version, they only get 2 spells/day at level 3.
Given that (at the moment, at least), they can't get any bonus Arcana...

[nonsi]

Originally Posted by absolmorph

... What.
No, seriously.
What.
"So many spells known"? They get 1-2 extra known per spell level (at least in their current iteration).

Read the whole sentence.
In the my next reply I said "This, on its own is fine."

Originally Posted by absolmorph

Or they play with a group that doesn't follow your standards. Don't assume your play-style is universal.

No, but after playing quite a bit since 1989 in most D&D systems, I have a reasonable idea about stuff that will totally trash a game session.

Originally Posted by absolmorph

... Do you also complain about psions being able to manifest level 9 powers 20 times in a row without any bonus PP?

Honestly, I don't do psionics, but psionics < spellcasting for more reasons than just the increased initial PP cost (maintenance cost for instance).

Originally Posted by absolmorph

Also, this makes way more sense for someone who draws magic from within themselves than a vancian casting system;

No need talking me out of vancian casting. I despise vancian casting.

Originally Posted by absolmorph

yes, they can cast 15 level 9 spells in a row (and only need to take 1 Con damage to cast a 16th), but then they're done for the day.

9th level spells are easily campaign-changers (Wish, Genesis, Miracle and many more). Spamming 15 of them a day is ridiculous.

Originally Posted by absolmorph

Increasing the Arcana cost of the spells for each casting seems like it's not really necessary; yes, they can cast a lot of their highest level, but those also consume a lot of resources. Keep in mind that lower levels have far more limited Arcana to spend

Which is the reason for my suggestion in the reply just above yours.

Originally Posted by absolmorph

Even with nonsi's version, they only get 2 spells/day at level 3.
Given that (at the moment, at least), they can't get any bonus Arcana...

And one level after, they can suddenly spam 5, but that can be remedied by playing with the Arcana pool values a bit (15 at level 5 and less than 25 at 6th will make things more gradual).

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by nonsi

1. Full spellcasters are quite unimpressed by physical penalties - and even more so with level progression.
2. Balance-wise, the second part seems to be a mitigating factor (to some degree), but the higher the SLs, the less the extra toll is going to be meaningful. Furthermore, this will cost you heavy gametime bookkeeping.

True...

But if you really insist on keeping your latest suggested mechanics, then I suggest that instead of [+5/+2/+0], you make it [Arcana-Cost/SL-Cost/No-Cost] respectively (e.g. an extra 5th level spell cast by a 9th level Sorcerer would increase the Arcana cost by +9, an extra 4th level spell would increase the Arcana cost by +4, and so on) - this way, it will not be ridiculously high at the very early levels and barely noticeable at higher levels.
OTOH, to not further encourage the 15-minute-workday, reset this extra toll on a per-encounter basis (or 10 minutes). And make it very clear that one should really not count on a 15-minute-workday, to prevent the players from going NOVA as they please.

If I understand this right, every time you cast, your highest level spell increases by (caster level), your second-fourth highest increase by (Spell Level), and there's no increased cost to lower-level spells?

Hmm. Since we're mostly worried about spamming the highest-level spells, how about one of the following:

"Using magic is exhausting, and the more powerful the spell, the more it hurts. Each time you cast a spell of the highest level you can cast, you deal yourself (1/2 spell level) Constitution damage. Each time you cast a spell of the second highest level you can cast, you deal yourself 2 constitution damage. These penalties only apply to spells of 5th level and above."

Spoiler

Constitution damage is impressively nasty, which makes this a significant penalty. Every ninth level spell you cast deals you 4 points of Con damage, which includes 40 damage. Sure, your Con will be high, but... if you have 30 Con, four 9th level spells will drop it down to 18, at which point you can't cast any more 9th level-ers. Con also powers Arcana regeneration and most of your class abilities. This also fits the whole body-fueled-magic motif I have going on.

or

"Using magic is exhausting, and the more powerful the spell, the more it hurts. You may only cast (1/2 Constitution modifier) spells of the highest level you can cast before having to rest, and (Constitution modifier) spells of the second highest level you can cast. Every hour, you regain one potential spell of the level, and eight hours of rest resets the count completely. You may attempt to cast spells after you have exceeded the limit, but doing so is both difficult and costly. You must make a Concentration check (DC 20+ Spell Level x 3) to cast at all. If you succeed, you cast the spell as normal, but take Constitution damage equal to the level of the spell you just cast. If you fail, you take one point of Constitution damage, and your action is wasted."

Spoiler

More of an arbitrary limit, but it certainly stops the whole spam-9th-level-spell cold.

[nonsi]

You got my concept right.
Its big plus is that it scales evenly across levels 1 - 20. It doesn't tax you for first use and it resets at each encounter.
So, on one hand you have a mitigating factor vs. overpowering, and on the other it doesn't drain resources too fast to promote 15-min-workday. As for SL -4 to your highest and south - of those you can spam to your heart's content (almost).
So by the time a sorcerer gains 7th level, he can cast 4 spells with no extra cost - and with level progression, you can do it at multiple encounters (just a bit of resource management - not too difficult with the Spells Known table you suggested)



My primary gripe with involving Con with spellcasting is that it's counter-intuitive to the concept of arcane spellcasters using their mental prowess over their physical abilities.
Also, now you turned the table around and suddenly it's not at all worth being a Sorcerer anymore (my aim was to find an equilibrium, not to cripple the class, or to force a spellcaster to be a bodybuilder to be functional on a practical level).

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'm not so sure about CL as an increasing cost, even if it resets after every combat. It just seems like more of a nerf than I really want, somehow, especially since 9th level spells will be obliterating game balance however I handle it.

A 1st level sorcerer has 3 points, after which he's forced to use either a crossbow or cantrips. The first casting of a 1st level spell would take 2 points. The second would take a hypothetical 4-- not going to happen without time to regenerate arcana, and that's not likely to happen in a classic dungeon craw scenario. Boom, you just made low-level mages even weaker. (There's a reason I delayed my systems until 5th level spells)

A 10th level sorcerer has 71 points, and a 5th level spell has a base cost of 9. The first casting takes 19 points (more than a quarter of his resources for the day). The second takes 29, 40% of the daily resources. Two turns, two spells, and two-thirds of points are gone. That's... not appealing.

A 20th level sorcerer has 270 points. The first casting of a 9th level spell takes 37 points (about 14%). The second casting takes 57 points (21%). The third takes 77 points (28%). Now we're up to three spells to consume around 2/3 of your daily resources.

The non-math related concern is that adding caster level to point cost means that your spells are actually harder to cast as you level up. That kind of scaling is great mechanically, but... I quibble with the fluff.

Originally Posted by nonsi

My primary gripe with involving Con with spellcasting is that it's counter-intuitive to the concept of arcane spellcasters using their mental prowess over their physical abilities.

Well, that's part of my vision of the sorcerer. The magic comes from his body and his heritage. The class is built around a Cha-Con dual-stat focus. He has to be touch to channel his magic effectively, because it hurts every time-- and if it's really strong magic, it burns.

Also, now you turned the table around and suddenly it's not at all worth being a Sorcerer anymore (my aim was to find an equilibrium, not to cripple the class, or to force a spellcaster to be a bodybuilder to be functional on a practical level).

The Con-focus is central to the class, as I mentioned. I can see the first method being too much (if only when compared to to other casters), but what about the second? The second if we reduce the penalty for exceeding the limit to 1/2 spell level?

[DeAnno]

I think the worries of too many power points and spamming high level spells are really in the wrong direction. The Psion not only has higher base PP, but he gets bonus PP from his Int and will often have over 400 at level 20. He can spam tons of his 9th level powers if he wants, and they are pretty much just as broken as 9th level spells. We're talking stuff like Greater Metamorphosis (Shapechange+), Reality Revision (Wish), and Time Regression (You don't even want to know.) The Psion has to augment his low level powers to get full caster level, but this doesn't really affect how many high level powers he can manifest anyway (nor the more broken ones), so that's not relevant to the discussion really.

Honestly I don't like the direction you've taken the Sorcerer in terms of Spells Known vs Spells per Day. Now, he barely has more staying power than the old wizard, and he's traded it for a bunch of extra spells known. While this may be a beneficial swap in most cases, I don't think it's a thematic swap for the Sorcerer at all. I would ramp up Arcana/day severely (probably to Psion levels or above, and giving bonus Arcana/day for a high Con score) and if you feel the need to pay for it, ramp down Spells Known, possibly all the way to what he had before. You might also consider bumping the Arcana regeneration to something which will be significant after level 3, scaling it as (Con Mod)*(Caster Level)/N where N is a constant of your choice.

Some mechanical notes:
- True Sight is not strictly better than Detect Magic, since it doesn't do many things Detect Magic does. Because of this, you probably shouldn't completely "replace" the Detect Magic Ability

- Body Burn doesn't specify an action, and can easily be speed-healed with a wand of Lesser Restoration. This can be used to turn money into Arcana (outside of battle no less!), which is probably not the intent.

[nonsi]

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

A 20th level sorcerer has 270 points. The first casting of a 9th level spell takes 37 points (about 14%). The second casting takes 57 points (21%). The third takes 77 points (28%). Now we're up to three spells to consume around 2/3 of your daily resources.

Ok, you didn't get me correct, my friend.
Your interpretation of my idea obviously means throwing the class into the garbage can (no wonder you thought it sucks).
I meant that (for a 17th+ level Sorcerer) the first 9th-level spell of an encounter would cost 17 points and that each 9th level spell thereafter would cost 17+17=34. The first 8th level spell would cost 15 points and each one after that would cost 15+8=23. And so on for levels 7th & 6th. For 5th level spells and south you'd just use the listed Arcana cost and that's it.


As for the way DeAnno describes the Psion (as I said, I don't do psionics), it is more broken than any spellcaster (even with the maintenance costs here & there), so it shouldn't be a basis for comparison (reminder: Pun Pun is also legit RAW).

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by nonsi

As for the way DeAnno describes the Psion (as I said, I don't do psionics), it is more broken than any spellcaster (even with the maintenance costs here & there), so it shouldn't be a basis for comparison (reminder: Pun Pun is also legit RAW).

Psionics is tier 2, thanks to a limited power list, and individual powers generally being weaker than spells (the exceptions being those that copy spells, natch). The primary difference between the psion and the sorcerer is that low-level spells auto-scale, while psions have to augment them to keep them relevant. Nova potential can be mitigated by including the recommended 4-5 encounters a day.

I have used psionics in-game, on both sides of the screen, and find it to be a generally simpler, more intuitive version of spellcasting than wizard or sorcerer-style. It was never troublesomely over-powered, even when my campaign style left the players facing only 1-2 encounters per game.

---

Right now, I'm thinking about instituting my limit-on-highest-level-spells and adding in more Arcana points. I don't want to lower the spells known-- a limited spell lists has been the biggest complain most sorcerer players have had, in my experience.

[absolmorph]

Originally Posted by nonsi

As for the way DeAnno describes the Psion (as I said, I don't do psionics), it is more broken than any spellcaster (even with the maintenance costs here & there), so it shouldn't be a basis for comparison (reminder: Pun Pun is also legit RAW).

... You are wrong, but this isn't worth spending my time to write up a post explaining all the problems with this statement.

Personally, I don't see any problem with the sorcerer as it is right now.

I'd like to see the Wizard rituals, though.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by absolmorph

I'd like to see the Wizard rituals, though.

The wizard rituals are spells. He has a limited list that he casts spontaneously from-- his forms-- and a normal wizard spellbook. He may cast any spell from his spellbook at any time, but the casting time is drastically, drastically increased. The mechanism is intended to allow him his hallmark versatility without the broken-ness of the current model. (and also because I hate preparing spells)

For example, a 10th level wizard needs to teleport his party across the continent to a port town. He pulls out his spellbook, sits down, and takes 50 minutes + 1 standard action to cast teleport. After the 50 minutes of ritual time, the actual mechanics of the spell work normally.

[Grod_The_Giant]

UPDATE 1, 2/4: After a little playtesting, I've updated the sorcerer with more arcana points, a revised version of the Body Burn idea, and more restrictions on higher-level spells.

UPDATE 2, 2/4: Added two wizard variants that together add up to the Archivist-- one gives divine spellcasting, the other adds dark knowledge.

UPDATE 3, 2/10: Added two sorcerer variants-- one for divine spellcasting, and one that does away with Arcana points entirely. (Also, consolidated my last few posts for efficiency's sake)

[DeAnno]

Randomized Magic is such a horrible trap that I think it shouldn't be an option even in system mastery rife 3.5e. As if it wasn't insulting enough to give you random spells, you get random spells of random level for something as valuable as a feat.

[absolmorph]

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

The wizard rituals are spells. He has a limited list that he casts spontaneously from-- his forms-- and a normal wizard spellbook. He may cast any spell from his spellbook at any time, but the casting time is drastically, drastically increased. The mechanism is intended to allow him his hallmark versatility without the broken-ness of the current model. (and also because I hate preparing spells)

For example, a 10th level wizard needs to teleport his party across the continent to a port town. He pulls out his spellbook, sits down, and takes 50 minutes + 1 standard action to cast teleport. After the 50 minutes of ritual time, the actual mechanics of the spell work normally.

So, the difference between a form and a ritual whether the wizard has used on of his 40 forms known to learn it to be able to cast it spontaneously?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by absolmorph

So, the difference between a form and a ritual whether the wizard has used on of his 40 forms known to learn it to be able to cast it spontaneously?

He can cast both spontaneously; the difference is that rituals take an extra ten minutes per spell level to cast.

[absolmorph]

Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

He can cast both spontaneously; the difference is that rituals take an extra ten minutes per spell level to cast.

Oh. Right.
But any spell can be a form and any spell can be a ritual?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by absolmorph

Oh. Right.
But any spell can be a form and any spell can be a ritual?

Yes. Any suggestions for how I might clear up the wording?

[Grod_The_Giant]

UPDATE: Tweaked the Channeler variant, made Randomized Magic less crap, fixed the missing section of School Specialization, and threw in a whole bunch of new feats, mostly focused on a new mechanism: the spell trick.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Another update! Removed Random Spell altogether-- it's either too arbitrary to be good, or too abusive-- and added some language about what happens if a sleeping sorcerer is woken up early.

I'm also debating on whether or not to remove Foreign Spell from the wizard. On the one hand, dead levels, and being a general master of magic... on the other, he gets access to a new spell level at all of the "dead" levels but 19, and I can see protestations of abuse. Hmm... add it back in as a feat? Come up with a few more Spell Tricks and let the wizard pick off a list? Decisions, decisions.

Finally, considering making a feat/feat chains that offer some potential for other casters, or even non-casters to have a bit of access to rituals, 4e style. No idea how abusive that would be. Maybe attach an experience or material cost to the things.

[Grod_The_Giant]

So many updates, and so little commentary? Many sad faces.

Anyway, I came up with a few more spell tricks and made them a class feature. Foreign Spell was ditched completely-- you can still learn a few druid or cleric rituals, but you have to take a feat to do so.

[RollynT.Glal]

I love these variants! Thank you Grod, world building will be a slightly easier process :).

If its not too much trouble I have a couple questions:

1. If your wizard variant was a prepared caster would you change anything?

2. If your sorcerers and wizards were in a low magic (like to the point where item creation feats are at 1.5 x required caster level) would you change anything?

As I said these are fantastic they add much needed difference between the mechanics of the classes spellcasting, thank you.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Originally Posted by RollynT.Glal

I love these variants! Thank you Grod, world building will be a slightly easier process :).

I've glad you like them!

1. If your wizard variant was a prepared caster would you change anything?

Not really sure, since the entire point of the two-part build here was to avoid the inherit balance-difficulties (read, near-impossibilities) of prepared casting. My best thought to keep it from getting overpowered would be to make scribing more than, say, [Intelligence Modifier] forms/level cost experience as if you were scribing a scroll.

Although you raise a good point; I should do something to address how my wizard interacts with classic prepared-casting Wizard PrCs.

2. If your sorcerers and wizards were in a low magic (like to the point where item creation feats are at 1.5 x required caster level) would you change anything?

If you really want low-magic, low-power, you might put them both on an adept-style casting progression, so that they top out at 5th level, and cut the sorcerer's Arcana point total in half.