Wild Casting idea...

[Treebore]

I've been chatting with my brother and he proposed an interesting, to me at least, "Wild Casting" idea.

Currently the only versatility I allow spellcasters to have is Divine/Arcane Blasts and to allow Clerics/Druids to swap out prayed for spells for healing spells of equal level or lower.

What this "Wild Casting" would do is allow the Divine/Arcane casters to convert memorized spells into needed known but not memorized/prayed for spells. That exchange ratio can be 2/1, 3/2, 3/1, whatever a given CK thinks fits their campaign best.
Anything left over (say you convert a third level spell to feed a first level magic missile or sleep) is wasted.

Anyone doing anything like this? If so what have your thoughts been?

[Relaxo]

shold work.
but why not just play a sorceror type and let thwm swap all the time?
to limit it, I suppose
There's an option like this in the CKG.
But yeah, I say it sounds fine.

Ok, rereadinf your post, you mean the caster MUST sacrifice a HIGHER LEVEL spell slot? that's a cool twist, actually. the flexibility comes with a price. I like it.
depends on the power level you want, which of course, you konw alreayd.

[Treebore]

shold work.
but why not just play a sorceror type and let thwm swap all the time?
to limit it, I suppose
There's an option like this in the CKG.
But yeah, I say it sounds fine.

Ok, rereadinf your post, you mean the caster MUST sacrifice a HIGHER LEVEL spell slot? that's a cool twist, actually. the flexibility comes with a price. I like it.
depends on the power level you want, which of course, you konw alreayd.

Not necessarily higher level, but depending on whatever ratio a given CK decides upon you would pay 2 levels per level of the non memorized, but still "known", spell the casters needs right now. OR it could be a 1.5 to 1 ratio, whatever a given CK thinks is needed to give some versatility, but will still keep it from being abusable.

So you can sacrifice two memorized 1st level spells to cast a known first level spell that you need RIGHT NOW, or a second level spell to fuel that needed first level spell, and so on.

[zarathustra]

I think it would GREATLY add to a mages versatility & power.

They would have the spell for every occasion. The usual counter-argument runs along the lines of "what about the player skill required in selecting an apporopriate spell list for a scenario? That gets lost".

That aside, if I were to add such a rule IMC, I would add a risk of spell failure for wild-casting; make it a desperate and dangerous move. Something along the lines of an intelligence save, CL is the spells level (maybe +1 for each previous time that day wild casting had been attempted). This would add some drama to it and act as a balancing effect.

[Treebore]

I don't think it would greatly do anything, especially if you have the cost ration at 2:1 or greater, because by doing this they will be cutting their number of spells in half. So yes, it gives them the ability to be somewhat versatile, but it will cost them.

[serleran]

I think that, once a character has a supply of useful wands and/or scrolls (especially these as they can be made rather cheaply), the need/desire to "wild cast" diminishes dramatically so one would likely only see an impact at low levels where spell selection (and control on what spells they have access to) is far more critical.

In the end, I can see it being somewhat useful... but used only in desperation. Perhaps that was the intent.

[KaiserKris]

I think it would GREATLY add to a mages versatility & power.

They would have the spell for every occasion. The usual counter-argument runs along the lines of "what about the player skill required in selecting an apporopriate spell list for a scenario? That gets lost".

I don't think it would greatly do anything, especially if you have the cost ration at 2:1 or greater, because by doing this they will be cutting their number of spells in half. So yes, it gives them the ability to be somewhat versatile, but it will cost them.

I think it depends enormously on the particulars of the campaign that you're running. If your norm is to throw in, say, one major combat encounter and maybe 1-2 traps in a game 'day', or if the players are able to pick their battles effectively, than it's going to be a massive boon. If you've got one big fight, I think the sacrifice is probably going to be more than worth it in a pinch.

In a classic dungeon crawl with many potential dangers, both monster-related and environmental, the cost is going to be heavier and heavier. I like the idea of making the Intelligence save for the spell swap, though, maybe even more than the 2:1 sacrifice. It ought to be a dangerous move.

[Rikitiki]

Back in my 1e AD&D days...our DM allowed spellcasters no penalties if they cast their prepared spells for the day (other than the usual 'penalties' of targets getting saving throws, etc). But her rational was that, in a tight situation, spellcasters would try to throw a spell they knew but hadn't memorized out of sheer survival tendencies -- so, if you had that level spell-slot left, you could throw something other-than-what-you'd-memorized-for-the-day (as long as it was in your spell-book, etc.), BUT you had to roll and, if you failed the spell went crazy: backfired, 1/2 effect, permanent, next-closest spell, and so on (she had made a spell backfire table).
It was awesome -- many times even better when things went wrong.

[koralas]

What I have done in the past, is allow the wizard or illusionist to cast any spell in their repertoire in place of an existing spell they have memorized. This required a memorized spell of the same level or higher to be given up. The one caveat was they had to have a source to read the spell from. The character must then make an intelligence check, and yes, back in the day it was roll under your intelligence on a d20 + spell level. If the character failed the test by 5 or if the player rolled a natural 20, the spell in their spell book or scroll is ruined, and must be copied from another source. If they rolled a natural 1, then the spell is cast as normal, and the memorized spell that the character was dropping is not lost.

If one wanted, this could be used in SIEGE by requiring a Int check and reversing the order, so a Natural 20 is best case, and 5 under, or a natural 1, burns the spell from the book.

Clerics and druids were allowed to select one spell each time they gained access to a new spell level corresponding to their diety or alignment that could be used to swap out with a memorized spell. The selected spell could be from any spell level the character is able to cast. The same rule as above is used, that you can swap out to a spell of equal or lower level. Thus a 6th level cleric may choose one first level, one second level, and one third level, or 2 1st and 1 3rd level, or 2 1st and 1 2nd level spell.