Alternate Magic System for D&D

NOTE: The fatigue rules have been revised as of 4-3-2008.

I've never really been a fan of the Vancian magic system that D&D has used since the dawn of the original 70's brown box set. It's just...weird. Doesn't really make much sense either. The whole "Memorize and then forget" mechanic coupled with the strict "8 hours of recuperation or die" rule is so contrived and static that it actually hurts the flow and feel of the game. A mechanic like that shouldn't be a running gag that affects every single game session, ya know?

Anyway, this is my own personal attempt at an alternate point based "mana" system, borrowing heavily from the Unearthed Arcana spell point system, with some extra tweaks and additions. Whenever possible, I've co-opted existing feats to keep things as close to the existing official 3.5 rules as possible. I've also borrowed a bit from the psionics system.

Ok, here it is:

No More Spell Slots:

That's right, there are no more spell slots. Casters now get a pool of bonus spell or Mana Points to represent the raw magical power they have contained within themselves.

As with the existing core system, Divine and Arcane magic are two very different sources, and so an arcane caster cannot use arcane mana points to power divine magic, and vice versa. Any feats that grant an arcane or divine caster the ability to cast other types of spells.

Additionally, Nature Mana is an additional type used by Druids and Rangers. Nature mana can count as generic divine mana for the purposes of using scrolls or items that require a divine caster, but cannot be used to fuel regular divine spells, and nor can non-nature divine mana fuel nature spells or items.

Combining Mana Points:

• All arcane casters can pool their arcane spell points from all of their classes. They are still limited in how many spell points they can spend by the caster level of each class.
• Divine casters (NOT nature) can pool their points as well; clerics and favored souls, for example.
• Nature casters (Druids and rangers) can pool their points.
• Spells found under both the Nature (druid or ranger) and Divine (cleric) can be cast with any combination of nature or divine points (for example: some cure spells). The same is true if there are any spells that fall under the arcane and nature list for the character - (common for rangers: Bear's Endurance is a second level ranger and wizard spell, for example, so he could use points from his Nature mana and/or arcane mana to cast it).
• Spells on different lists that are cast at different levels can be cast at the lowest level the character knows. - (Read magic is a 1st level ranger spell, and a 0 level wizard spell. A ranger/wizard could always cast it as a zero level spell.)

Spell Points by Level and Class:

The formula there is to count up the points you'd have available for each spell they could cast per day.

The cost for spells is fairly simple:

1 for first, +2 points per level after first (2nd costs 3, 3rd costs 5, 4th costs 7, etc.)

Zero level spells are free to cast. This follows the Paizo pathfinder rules, so several zero level spells have been eliminated for balance.

This formula is also used for bonus spell slots from a high attribute. A bonus 1st level slot = +1, a bonus second level slot is worth another +3, a third is another +5, etc. Note that you don't get these bonus points until your caster level would allow you to cast spells of that level. So even if you've got an INT of 40, if you're a first level wizard, you're only getting 4 points for your four first level bonus slots. You'll suddenly jump to 16 once you hit level three though.

Edit: Sorry, had to kill the table for several classes, it was slaughtering the formating of this site.

Spell Strength and Level:

All spells are cast at full caster level, I'm not using the "minimum" caster level for damage based spells in this system, which requires you to spend more points to deal more damage. This is to escape the problem that it takes 9 points to cast a 5 1d4+1 missiles, and it takes 9 points to cast a 9d6 fireball: which would you choose, eh?

Metamagic Feats:

Using metamagic feats remains more or less the same. Applying them to a spell increases the caster level, and thus the cost of the spell. Silencing a magic missile boosts the level to 2, so the cost goes from 1 to 3. This eats into the maximum number of points you can spend per spell. The good news is that you can apply a metamagic feat to any spell at any time, on the fly. Wizards and other "memory" casters no longer need to pre-memorize a spell with a metamagic effect applied to it.

Daily Spell Lists and Memorizing Spells:

In the past, Wizards and clerics and druids had to memorize a specific set of spells each day, with the bonus of sometimes being able to "convert" their spells into summon or cure/harm spells.

Now, instead, they set a list of spells that they can draw their energies from each day. A wizard with four 0 level spells, three level 1, and one level 3 spell slot will select one different spell for each slot, and those are the spells they may cast that day. Rather than "memorizing" this is more along the lines of attunement to specific magical energies. In fact, a wizard who's happy with their attuned list may never need to crack open their spell book to "re-learn" spells again; they merely need rest to recharge their mana.

Clerics work the same way, selecting one spell per slot, and also get their domain spells in their list of available spells that they can always cast, and prayer and meditation can allow them to swap out how their energies are attuned.

Specialist Wizards and Domain Clerics:

Both of these class types or sub types get extra spell slots and known spells. Here's how to handle it:

Give them bonus mana points for their domain or specialist slots. These mana points can ONLY be spent on spells specifically from those domains, or those schools. For example, a third level cleric with the good and war domains gets a bonus 1st and 2nd level spell slot, so they get 4 bonus mana points that can only be spent on spells from the good and war domain list. They can use mana from their normal mana pool to cast these spells as well, but these four are limited to the domain spells.

A specialist wizard at third level also gets a bonus 1st and 2nd level spell slot. Not only does this allow them to add two domain-specific spells to their daily list, but it gives them four bonus mana as well, but these mana points can only be spent on their specialist domain. This means that they can use it on any spell they know so long as it's from that domain, so it's not totally restricted to their bonus slots.

Bonus Spell Slots from Feats or Classes:

Dragon Disciple and the feat Extra Slot are the first examples that come to mind. Quite simply, give the character a number of bonus points equal to the level of the spell. A bonus 3rd level spell slot would grant 5 points, for example.

Radically New Mechanics: 

There are a handful of all-new mechanics that should be noted. These go beyond the "convert slots to mana points" conversions listed above.

Out of Mana? No Problem! Just Overchannel!:

Edit: The older rule about becoming fatigued at half mana pool has been killed. You will now only become fatigued if you over-channel and burn HP to power a spell.

Just because a caster is out of mana doesn't mean they have to stop casting. For every mana point you cannot come up with, you can instead take a point of non-lethal damage and still cast the spell!

There's a bit more of a catch, however. First: draining your HP in this fashion automatically makes you fatigued.

You need to make a concentration roll, with a DC equal to 15 + the spell level + the amount of non-lethal damage you're going to take. If you succeed, fine, the spell goes off and you take your non-lethal damage. If you fail, however, two things happen:

1. You take lethal damage in addition to the non lethal damage. Five non lethal would also add another five lethal, for example.
2. You then need to make a new concentration check, normal DC 15 + spell level + the lethal and non-lethal damage you just took. Fail, and the spell doesn't go off at all, and you burned out for nothing.
3. If you fail, you go from fatigued to exhausted, as the poorly channeled magical energies fry your nerves and muscles.

Casting Spells From Spell Books and Scrolls:

This is a pretty major one, so pay attention.

Wizards and other "memorization" casters can now cast spells directly from their spell books without having to prep them ahead of time.

Yes, that's right, every spell in your book is accessible now. There are a few things of note:

1. First of all, it takes much longer to do it this way, since you need to attune your energies on the fly and read all the steps and processes and such in the book to do it. All spells cast this way take a minimum of 1 full round action, +1 full round action per level of the spell, OR double the normal casting time listed for the spell, whichever is more.
2. Second, you cannot do anything else while casting in this way, and you provoke each round without any chance of making a caster check to avoid it.
3. Any concentration checks due to damage or other interference to keep casting are at a +5 DC while doing this, and the book needs to be in a position where you can freely read it and turn pages.
4. You still need to spend your own mana to do it.

Pretty cool, eh?

Clerics and Druids/Shamans and other casters can do similar things. There are now versions of spell books for each of these classes, although obviously they are far less reliant on them than wizards. Clerics typically rely on other items such as prayer books, items of devotion, or relics that have the required information and have been made to elicit the proper link to the divine. Shaman or druids would use totems or fetishes or perhaps the preserved remains of ancient ancestors, specially prepared incense and devotional statues, etc.

You can even do this using scrolls!

Rather than burn off the energies contained within a scroll, if you have the same mana type used to create the scroll available, you can treat the scroll as if it were a spell in a spell book, and cast it that way. This increases the casting time the same as if you were casting out of your spell book.

Edit: The idea of casting directly from another caster's book has been killed. Made things too open. Now you've got to either translate it into a user friendly scroll, or transfer it to your own spell book.

The game effects this will have should be obvious. No more will casters have to choose between that "knock" spell or some other rare-use specialty utility spell, or another bloody magic missile.

Rest and Recuperation:

I hate the 'Eight hours -DING!' rest system in D&D. It's retarded. So we're going to do something new.

Divide a caster's Mana pool(s) by 10, round up, and that's how many mana points you can recover per hour. A full eight hours of uninterrupted rest will still completely regenerate a caster's pool of mana. You need a minimum downtime of an hour to be able to focus enough to regain some energy. Pools that are not combined (For example, Wizard and Cleric) recuperate separately, but at the same time. If you had a pool of 50 mana for each class, an hour of rest would give you back 5 mana points for each, for example.

Swapping out an attuned slot can also be done, but requires different time. 30 minutes per spell level will let you exchange an attuned spell for a different spell of the same level, but this time requires rest and meditation and possible study. Zero level spells only take ten minutes to swap out.

This will let a caster spend a half an hour to exchange a burning hands out for a magic missile, or an hour and a half to swap a fly spell for a lightning bolt. This isn't changing what they have memorized, but shifting their harnessed and stored energies so that they can quickly cast these spells. A full night of rest (eight hours) and a morning of brief study is still adequate to exchange the bulk of a caster's attuned spells; this just gives options to swap things in the middle of the day, if needed.

Also note that any effort spent swapping spells does NOT count as rest; the character is exerting themselves through study, meditation, or prayer.

This requires the caster's full attention, so any interruption will stop the process and force the caster to start over.

That's all for now; more later.