December 31, 2011

A second look at Table 11: Spell Progression

This is the last table from my Customized Classes for B/X post.  I'm pushing through to finish this thing before the new year.  Here we go.


Table 11: Spell Progression
Cleric Spell Table - +120%
Magic User Spell Table - +250%



Impressive, right?

I wrote quite a bit below this in the original post.  Enough that I'd rather summarize than copy/paste it all.  If you go back and take a look you'll see that I went on to give suggestions about customized spell progression tables and their costs.  The numbers I gave assume that the highest cleric spells are 7th level, and the highest magic user spells are 9th level.  Then I mentioned how elves top out with 5th level magic user spells so they have special needs if you're jacking with custom spell progression and concerned about keeping elvish xp totals unchanged.

I don't really have anything enlightening to add.  Instead, I'll just offer an alternative method for making customized spell progression tables.  This one assumes that 6th level spells are the highest available to both clerics and MUs.  Magic users get their first spell at Lv1, clerics at Lv2.

Custom Spell Progression
Level at which you gain first spell
Level    Cost
 1    100%
 2    60%
 3    35%
 4    25%
 5    20%
 6    15%
 7    10%
8     5%
9    0%

MU spells cost +25% per max spell level attainable
Cleric spells cost +10% per max spell level attainable

Now elves just need another 25% to bring their total back up to 800%.  Giving them the MU ability to create spells, scrolls, and magic items (Magic Research at L9 - +25%) would fit rather nicely I think.


That's all I've got.  I'm pretty happy with how this project turned out.  Now I just need to turn the whole thing into a PDF.  It's a holiday though, and I'm sleepy, so don't hold your breath or anything.

Happy New Year!

3 comments:

  1. Hey, man. I just noticed these posts are not tagged. You should really have a 'customized classes' tag.

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  2. After thinking more about the Elf class, I've decided that casting Magic User spells while wearing armor is a perk that needs to be paid for. It's neat and tidy, and puts a fair price on munchkin classes of heavily armored dudes throwing fireballs.

    So, Elves get a reduced cost to their spells since these top out at 5th level, but the added cost of Armored Spellcasting and Magic Research would even the score and keep their xp totals unchanged.

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