3rd Edition Mana System

[The Kender]

The Mana System v.01 Alpha

This is my first attempt at a real serious Mana System. This is meant to supercede the one in the PHB. You can reply or send comments or questions to ThornHighhill@Hotmail.com

Finding MP Per Day: Every Spellcaster has a certain amount of Mana Points Per Day. You can find this number by consulting the PHB Spells Per Day. Every spell costs The Spell Level x 2. Cantrips and Orisons count as 1 point. Add up all the numbers to get your MP Per Day. A spell caster also gets their INT Bonus as bonus MP.

Casting a Spell: A spell costs it's spell level x 2 to cast. Deduct this from your allowed MP Per Day. Cantrips and Orisons cost 1 pt of Mana.

Spells Known: A Sorcerer and Bard still has spells known.

Spells in Spellbook: A Wizard character still can only cast spells that are in his spellbook. Scribing Rules still apply.

Specializing in a school: A Wizard may still specialize. He gets a second set of Mana that he can use just on spells from his specialty school. This bonus amount is the highest spell level the wizard can cast x 2.

Metamagic Feats: A character can use a metamagic feat just like casting a higher level spell. Thus, a quickened charm person would be just like casting a 5th level spell. This means it costs 10 MP. The character must be able to cast a spell of at least the increased level. Metamagic feats never increase casting time.

Prestige Classes: Prestige Classes that grant +1 Per Level increase the Mana per Day just like if another level in the spellcasting level had been gained. Sorcerers and Bards still get spells known as if they have leveled in their class.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Have you tried Psions?

 

[Ace]

An easier way to do this is to make each spell cost Lvl+1

0=1
1=2 and so on

I did this for a Diablo2 game for 2nd edition and I want to warn you. It makes mages really powerfull.


It also obsoletes the Sorcerer so consider carefully.

 

[CRGreathouse]

As a historical note, psions were originally given power points equal to the cost of the slots of an equal-level sorcerer. It was *so* powerful in playtests that they had to change it to what it is now...

 

[Al]

Doesn't this screw sorcerors and psions?
I mean, half the point of sorceror and psions is their ability to cast 'on the fly' without having to memorise spells like their wizardly counterparts, for which they paid for with a limited repertoire.
If the mana system is introduced, wizards get the chance to cast ANY spell in their book 'on the fly', making them many times more versatile than the sorceror and the psion.
In the past discussions on which is the more powerful, sorcerors' key advantage is this ability. The mana system not only removes this ability, it shifts the emphasis way over to the side of the wizard.

The only way this could be balanced would be to increase PP/MP for sorcerors/psions, and to behave expand their spells/powers known. As it stands it effectively destroys one core class and the fundamentals of an entire supplement BOOK.

 

[Tanager]

Not sure if this works at all, just posting off the top of my head.

Is a compromise position possible? Say something along the lines of Wizards memorizing a "spell pool", ie. a selection of spells from their book, which they can then cast using their PP/MP.

Playing with this hypothesis to compare wizards and Sorcerors:
Lets say that wizards can memorize up to their usual no. of spells/day as their pool, measured in spell levels and counting cantrips as .5 (bad form I know, but I haven't thought all this out yet).

Note: the "spell levels" is merely being used as a unit of mesurement, I think I'd still require wizards to memorize their spells in the usual No. of spells/level as given on the spells per day chart on page 52 of the PHB.

Metamagic feats applied to wizard spells on the fly should be subject to the same restrictions as sorcerors while "prepared" metamagic spells would still cost the modifed number of "levels/day".

First level wizards can memorize up to 2.5 levels worth of spells, selected from those scribed into their book each day. And have 8 MP, subject to modification for the intelligence bonus.

20th level wizards can memorize up to 182 levels worth of spells from their book and have an unmodified 364 MP.

First level Sorcerors cast from a spell pool 4 spell levels and have 11 unmodified MP.
20th level sorcs. cast from an available pool of 157.5 spell levels
and have an unmodified 546 MP.

Is this balanced? It's iffy, at best.

Not so much on the Wiz/Sorc. front but in terms of arcane caster/everyone else. At 20th level a sorceror can cast 91 third level spells every day!

 

[The Kender]

One bonus for Sorcerers is that they will get a bunch of MP Per day with their large spells per day table. Anyway, this is just an idea I had. And, I have seen the Psion. I am playing a Bard myself. If anybody would introduce a Psion like bard, I would jump at the chance. I saw the If Thoughts Could Kill artical. I think with some work, I could make a really good Mana System.

 

[Darklone]

Bad.

You gave the spellcasters much too many MP. Plus more flexibility. A mana system by itself is interesting and not as booky as the D&D magic system, but yours is surely not balanced.

Sorry for ranting, the others explained it better in comparison to the psion.

 

[CuriousBard]

The rules I've been trying has worked something like this.......

Spell casters that previously needed to prepare spells in advance, still do so. But they prepare each spell once and can prepare a number of spells equal to their level plus appropriate ability modifier (but never more than twice their level). This number is NOT how many they can prepare of EACH level. It is how many spells IN TOTAL they can prepare. 0-level spells are simple enough that they never need to be prepared.

The spells that are prepared are called Weaves and can be selected from any spell level that the caster is able to cast. Weaves fade over time and are useless after 24 hours.....at which time they must be prepared anew.

A caster uses his slots as Mana to power these Weaves. If he has a 3rd level spell prepared, he then uses a 3rd level slot (or higher) to power the Weave and bring about the spell effect. The Weave is not forgotten. In this way a spell can be cast over and over again as long as the appropriate slot is available to power it.

EXAMPLE: Bob the Wizard is 6th level and has an INT of 18. He can cast up to 3rd level spells that he has in his Spell book and can prepare a total number of Weaves equal to 10 (6 levels + 4 INT mod). He chooses 5 1st level spells, 3 2nd level spells, and 2 3rd level spells. 0-level spells don't need to be prepared ahead of time since they are simple tricks for one as smart and as wise in the ways of the arcane as he.
Now if there is a time when he needs to cast one of his spells, he can expend one of his slots as a charge. Needing Fireball, Bob expends a 3rd level slot to power his Fireball Weave. The spell takes effect as normal and he has one less slot. The Fireball Weave is still available and he can cast another Fireball if he wishes....but only as long as he has 3rd level slots available. Bob has access to his Weaves for 24 hours after preparing them. After that time, the Weaves blur and fade and he must prepare them again.......being able to swap out spells if he'd like after resting.

Now I also allow Wizards to slot their spells according to the original rules. They can to this to guard against Weaves fading on them, since a slotted spell is there indefinitely until cast.

As for Sorcerers..........

Sorcerers work WAY different in my game. They don't have to use any spell components (verbal, somatic, nor material). Any material component that has a cost to is is paid for in xps at a rate of 1 for every 25gps of value of the material. So casting IDENTIFY would cost 4 xps instead of 100gps. Plus gagging them, restraining them, etc, doesn't work to stop their casting. In truth, they could even wear armor if they gained proficiency in it.

Here's the kicker though........Sorcerers suffer Subdual damage for casting spells at a rate of 1pt for every spell level they cast. Therefore a Sorcerer with low hpts has to seriously consider the importance of his spells before tossing around high end spells since something like a Delayed Blast Fireball will hit him for 7pts of subdual damage (which, by the way, cannot be cured by clerical healing.......it must go away with natural rest).

 

[The Kender]

I kind of like what your Sorcerer Does. I would much rather use that for all spell casting classes. Just substitute INT or CHA for the base stat depending on what you want to play. The preparing just spell slots works ok. I suppose that is not much of a problem.