Heeey thanks for the shoutout! Love your guys take on it! Yeah, it’s in the back of the DMG, and I know they have adjusted mana pools and stuff for warlocks and such. I feel you Eric. I too learned on pen and paper. My group is almost solely pen and paper (apps for spells) while my husband’s group is almost solely laptops (minus me). And personally, I feel that my group focuses better most days because it’s so easy to get distracted by discord or other things when on a laptop. Also, I’d love to do more horror stuff, but I feel like I’m still too new to dming to do it well. I did a small homebrew horror 1-shot in October and went well, but I definitely need to practice descriptions lol (Edit for spelling)
Hey I've actually used the "Spell Points" system a few times specifically on Sorcerers and its awesome! The sorcery point to spell point conversion is basically one to one to how it is normally because the point to slot cost is actually mirrored to how much each leveled spells costs under the mana system. For example, it costs 2 sorcery points to create a 1st level spell slot. In the mana system it costs 2 spell points to cast a 1st level spell. So the conversion is one to one. I actually specially like this system for sorcerers because it makes them feel like their magic operates by different and less bounded rules which feels thematic to the classes theme to me. Loved the video this was my 1st time watching yall!
There's gotta be some kind of shared consciousness in this universe, because I independently also had the idea to start using mana instead of spellslots for my own solo roleplay adventures this past week. I just got so fed up with pretty much exactly what you said about casting first level spells, except, the opposite. It just doesn't make sense that first level spells are so limited by the time a player is level 20, they should be childs play for the high level casters. Honestly, I think the system is pretty balanced as is with that one simple decision. I don't think it massively overpowers spellcasting, because sure they can cast level 1 magic missile as much as they want, but it's still level 1. They have to spend the requisite mana to heighten a spell. AND metamagic becomes an easy couple extra mana to spend on a spell which means it's more likekly to be uses (as it should imo). It just makes everything more economical. Definitely the way I"m going to have magic work for the games that I GM from now on.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the reason I think it's already balanced is because I did change 1 more thing. Mana does NOT fully replenish after a long rest. Basically it's a number of dice (equal to half your caster level rounded up) x (the size of the dice which is determined by the level of spell you can cast: 1=d4, 3=d6, 5=d8, 7=d10, 9=d12). So at 20th level, a spellcaster can regain 10d12 mana or 60 on average per long rest. In pathfinder, a sorcerer has 270 mana at 20th level, so that's a fraction of their potential. The reason that this balances things out, is that it gives the players freedom to cast at will when the NEED to, but unless they're being economical with their casting most of the time, they could very well run the well dry, so it becomes a choice to cast a spell worth 9 mana (9th level spell or heightened lower level spell). But I like this system a lot more overall because it makes doing things like counter-spelling a lot more approachable. It also greatly incentivizes downtime activities to give the casters a full and proper couple of nights rest where they can truly prepare for another long venture or big battle ahead of them.
One last thing just to illustrate my point. At full mana, sure a caster could cast a 9th level spell 30 times (as they should be able to). Seems crazy. But they're only going to recover on average enough mana to cast a 9th level spell 6 times the next day, so with that in mind, it's more likely they'll stick to casting a 9th level spell only when the occasion really calls for it, and 4 or 5th level spells far more often, with a healthy smattering of first through third level spells sort of sprinkled on top. Like an ice cream sundae!
You know, I do like spell slots, but as a way to show more primitive, instinctual magic. But say for classes that should have a better relationship with their source of magic, namely clerics, druids, and wizards, for them I use the spell points system. I also run an alternate mana system for classes or subclasses that fall into what I call abstrusion in my games, so basically unconventional ways to gain magic or unconventional combination, mainly used for Artificer. The idea is a little like a combination of both mana points and spell slots. The idea is that at long rest you only restore up to half your max, but you can drink potions or consume crystals to bring you to max. This can also allow you to bring you to beyond your max, up to 50% above your max. The catch is everytime you pass a 10 pt threshold, players must roll a con and sanity save and lose 1 of an ability score in whatever save they failed. They can take a point of exhaustion instead of lost the ability score.
I don't know how uncommon a homebrew rule this is but since BG3 came out I've been letting my players drink potions as bonus actions. It's not broken at all and it results in the potions I give them actually being used. (EDIT) What you said about Final Fantasy is true but interestingly the magic system in the first final fantasy had something more akin to spell slots than a mana pool. Not a criticism, just a fun fact.
Don't know how much you've been following the drama about their VTT but yes, this is 100% intentional. All of their focus is moving towards support of the VTT that they're trying to release but once it's out, I won't be surprised if they don't even print books within the next 10 years. They want everyone in their digital ecosystem. I'm 100% NOT onboard with the direction they are going, not because of the digital thing but because their business practices are becoming increasingly more corporatized. It's understandable because capitalism but it's also going to remove the community driven soul from the game.
I got this dress the day before we filmed in the mail and I'm OBSESSED with it
It’s a good color. Easy to accessorize too.
Heeey thanks for the shoutout! Love your guys take on it!
Yeah, it’s in the back of the DMG, and I know they have adjusted mana pools and stuff for warlocks and such.
I feel you Eric. I too learned on pen and paper. My group is almost solely pen and paper (apps for spells) while my husband’s group is almost solely laptops (minus me). And personally, I feel that my group focuses better most days because it’s so easy to get distracted by discord or other things when on a laptop.
Also, I’d love to do more horror stuff, but I feel like I’m still too new to dming to do it well. I did a small homebrew horror 1-shot in October and went well, but I definitely need to practice descriptions lol
(Edit for spelling)
Hey I've actually used the "Spell Points" system a few times specifically on Sorcerers and its awesome! The sorcery point to spell point conversion is basically one to one to how it is normally because the point to slot cost is actually mirrored to how much each leveled spells costs under the mana system. For example, it costs 2 sorcery points to create a 1st level spell slot. In the mana system it costs 2 spell points to cast a 1st level spell. So the conversion is one to one. I actually specially like this system for sorcerers because it makes them feel like their magic operates by different and less bounded rules which feels thematic to the classes theme to me. Loved the video this was my 1st time watching yall!
There's gotta be some kind of shared consciousness in this universe, because I independently also had the idea to start using mana instead of spellslots for my own solo roleplay adventures this past week. I just got so fed up with pretty much exactly what you said about casting first level spells, except, the opposite. It just doesn't make sense that first level spells are so limited by the time a player is level 20, they should be childs play for the high level casters. Honestly, I think the system is pretty balanced as is with that one simple decision. I don't think it massively overpowers spellcasting, because sure they can cast level 1 magic missile as much as they want, but it's still level 1. They have to spend the requisite mana to heighten a spell. AND metamagic becomes an easy couple extra mana to spend on a spell which means it's more likekly to be uses (as it should imo). It just makes everything more economical. Definitely the way I"m going to have magic work for the games that I GM from now on.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the reason I think it's already balanced is because I did change 1 more thing. Mana does NOT fully replenish after a long rest. Basically it's a number of dice (equal to half your caster level rounded up) x (the size of the dice which is determined by the level of spell you can cast: 1=d4, 3=d6, 5=d8, 7=d10, 9=d12). So at 20th level, a spellcaster can regain 10d12 mana or 60 on average per long rest. In pathfinder, a sorcerer has 270 mana at 20th level, so that's a fraction of their potential.
The reason that this balances things out, is that it gives the players freedom to cast at will when the NEED to, but unless they're being economical with their casting most of the time, they could very well run the well dry, so it becomes a choice to cast a spell worth 9 mana (9th level spell or heightened lower level spell).
But I like this system a lot more overall because it makes doing things like counter-spelling a lot more approachable. It also greatly incentivizes downtime activities to give the casters a full and proper couple of nights rest where they can truly prepare for another long venture or big battle ahead of them.
One last thing just to illustrate my point. At full mana, sure a caster could cast a 9th level spell 30 times (as they should be able to). Seems crazy. But they're only going to recover on average enough mana to cast a 9th level spell 6 times the next day, so with that in mind, it's more likely they'll stick to casting a 9th level spell only when the occasion really calls for it, and 4 or 5th level spells far more often, with a healthy smattering of first through third level spells sort of sprinkled on top. Like an ice cream sundae!
You know, I do like spell slots, but as a way to show more primitive, instinctual magic. But say for classes that should have a better relationship with their source of magic, namely clerics, druids, and wizards, for them I use the spell points system.
I also run an alternate mana system for classes or subclasses that fall into what I call abstrusion in my games, so basically unconventional ways to gain magic or unconventional combination, mainly used for Artificer. The idea is a little like a combination of both mana points and spell slots. The idea is that at long rest you only restore up to half your max, but you can drink potions or consume crystals to bring you to max. This can also allow you to bring you to beyond your max, up to 50% above your max. The catch is everytime you pass a 10 pt threshold, players must roll a con and sanity save and lose 1 of an ability score in whatever save they failed. They can take a point of exhaustion instead of lost the ability score.
I don't know how uncommon a homebrew rule this is but since BG3 came out I've been letting my players drink potions as bonus actions. It's not broken at all and it results in the potions I give them actually being used.
(EDIT) What you said about Final Fantasy is true but interestingly the magic system in the first final fantasy had something more akin to spell slots than a mana pool. Not a criticism, just a fun fact.
I do bonus action to drink, but normal action to feed someone a potion.
I do bonus action or full action to drink a potion. Bonus you roll, full action you get the max amount. That’s whether you’re taking it or feeding it
Don't know how much you've been following the drama about their VTT but yes, this is 100% intentional. All of their focus is moving towards support of the VTT that they're trying to release but once it's out, I won't be surprised if they don't even print books within the next 10 years. They want everyone in their digital ecosystem. I'm 100% NOT onboard with the direction they are going, not because of the digital thing but because their business practices are becoming increasingly more corporatized. It's understandable because capitalism but it's also going to remove the community driven soul from the game.