Proposed Solution
Quick Definition: currently, you gain access to spells at particular levels: level 1, 4, 7... I will henceforth refer to these as Rank 1 spells (those you need level 1 for), Rank 2 spells (those you need level 4 for), Rank 3 spells, etc.
We leave the current system as-is with only one modification.
For each Rank a spell is above your mastery of a particular school of magic, that spell costs 2 AP more to cast.
Let's look at some examples:
- I have 1 point in Air Magic and want to use a Rank 1 spell. No AP penalty.
- I have 1 point in Air Magic and want to use a Rank 3 spell. It costs 4 more AP to cast.
- I have 5 points in Air Magic and want to use a Rank 3 spell. No AP penalty.
- I have 1 point in Air Magic and want to use a Rank 5 spell. It costs 8 more AP to cast.
- I have 3 points in Air Magic and want to use a Rank 5 spell. It costs 4 more AP now.
So what does this do?
Jack-of-all-trades Wizards (1 point in each school of magic) are essentially the same as they are now. However, if they choose to swap out their lower level spells for the most powerful ones in each school, they suffer an AP penalty when using them based on how powerful the spell is and how many points they invested into the school.
^ this is amazing, I love how you kept it open to still being a jack of all trades kinda caster! this would also make t he Raistilin ( spell check ) trait a bit more appealing to casters. (the one that gives you more AP each turn, but lowers your health by I think 50%)
@Killy86 - It may seem like it punishes them, but honestly it makes them pretty amazing.
**Example**
Earth Specialist drops down the oil spell (forgot the name sorry) that leaves a ground effect that can then be lit on fire. Say they have 1 point in fire they can still next turn if they saved some AP use fireball or some other powerful fire spell. Next round do the rolling rock ball thing through the flaming ground making the rock thing light on fire for even more damage!
Oh I love the combinations that could be done! this would help balance it out while still maintains the build your own class idea.
*hugs* I think most of the players who play casters would also find it fun having to actually save AP for a round or so to use non specialized spells. Rather then just going nuke happy killing everything.
