Question for new spellcaster class (Crunch Help)

[Johnny Wraith]

I'm making different classes for my setting and it's time to think about spellcasters, arcane ones. Now, I don't want neither the wizard nor the sorcerer in my CS, instead I have this class I'm working on that takes away all the versatility spells (like spider climb, fly, y'know all those spells that could be used to outshine someone from a different class). These guys have mostly offensive and defensive spells, with just a tad few ones like Hold Portal or Sepia Snake Sigil.

Before I propose my idea, I'd like you to know that the setting is fairly low-magic and that if a spellcaster would want to create something, it'd be very costly for him (I'm thinking of doubling or tripling all money and xp costs). That would mean that scrolls aren't so easy to find/make. I am using the spell-points variant from Unearthed Arcana.

Now, my idea (Though I think would empower wizards even more) is to make these new casters able to cast any spell that they know without preparing them ahead of time. They would follow the Sorcerer progression to determine the higher level spell they can cast. Finally, they would get spell points as wizards do. Would that empower them too much?

Btw, this would be a quick fix so that spellcasters in my CS don't have to bother themselves with preparing their spells (Which is a mechanic that bothers most of my players). I was thinking of using the spontaneous casting variant from the same book if this didn't work out, but I am fairly open to suggestions. The end result I'm trying to go for is a caster that has an easier time casting offensive and defensive spells but with a versatility that would be more relative to the elements of the spells (No transmutation spells, for instance) rather than to what they can do with them

[Hibou]

Nice idea, but usually from my experience the arcane spellcaster's greatest reason for overshadowing non-casters is their access to such elemental spells, or worse, their access to elemental damage spells AND buff/enhancement spells. The enhancements themselves aren't all that bad because they usually have a limited duration and have other drawbacks involved (Concentration and AoOs, etc.).

But since you want elemental spells, I'll suggest something. Let them have their elemental magic, but tie some non-damage spells to specific elements based on the traits of the element. For example, a fire mage might have access to a few spells like Haste, Earth might have Stoneskin, Air might have Fly, Water might have Water Breathing/Freedom of Movement, etc. Give them a few spells that "fit" the elements that aren't damagers (but limit them to a few each).

You might not need to increase gold/xp costs for scrolls and the like, because if spellcasters and shops run by them are already rare. As for making them, a cool feature would be to make them much more generically usable, but require that the maker have a book to write the incantations as if a wizard were to write a spell in a spellbook. There are many explanations for such a system to be made.

I don't think spell points will empower them too much in a game where they're only the arcane spellcasters. However, I would suggest that if you plan on removing a large number of spells from the original sorcerer/wizard list, give the ones you do take away to other classes (such as your take on the druid, or another new spellcaster).

[Johnny Wraith]

Well, part of what I'm doing with the class is actually taking away spells such as Fly or Haste (I'm not sure but I think I left stoneskin there). Some of the spells I am taking away I am giving to other classes (New ones). For instance, divination is given to a witch class and they're the only ones that will have access to it (To give each class a niche).

Now, since I am taking so many spells from them, I was thinking of giving them some class abilities. It's my way to make this wizard more in tune with the theme.

The problem is that I want to know how broken or not this variant could be as I will give them their class abilities accordingly. I am going to run a game soon enough, but I think I won't be able to playtest the class completely since this new wizard is most likely going to be available only to characters with evil alignment. I will get a chance to test it as an NPC but due to the nature of the variant I think I'd need a PC to use one.

[Ra-Tiel]

The major problem I see is using spellpoints here, because spells (especially of higher level) were not designed to be thrown around 20+ times a day.

I would suggest either leaving the slots as is, or using a mechanic similar to this.

As for spells known, you could mimic the magewright from Eberron. They get Spell Mastery several times and can spontaneously cast any spell they have mastered.

[Xeviat]

I think you could easily convert the Warmage to spell points and be done with it. I have a working spell point system up on this site's hosting (linked in my signature). I'm still ironing out some things, but it's worked for me so far, and I'd love additional playtesters.