Or spread out the spells a bit, with some spells in between (say) Magic Missile and Scorching Ray that you could call level 2 (probably most of these even-leveled spells would be existing spells that were either already a little too powerful/not powerful enough for their level, or tweaked to be less/more powerful).
Or, as Belkar helpfully suggests, just use another word. You get your first Tier Seven spell at level 13.
I’ve often pondered what people would think of levels within a D&D setting. It wouldn’t take wizards long at all to figure out that spells come in discrete power levels. Call Magic Missile (and Charm Person, and Silent Image, and so on) a spell of the first circle, Scorching Ray (and Alter Self and Bull’s Strength…) a spell of the second circle, Fireball (and Dispel Magic and Fly) a spell of the third circle, and so on. Then, it’s trivial to notice that every wizard has a highest-circle of spell that they can cast, so you’d carry over the terminology: An apprentice just starting to learn magic (who can cast Magic Missile but not Scorching Ray) is a wizard of the first circle, one who can cast Scorching Ray but not Fireball is a wizard of the second circle, and so on.
It also wouldn’t take long to realize that divine casters follow basically the same pattern, so you’d have priests of the first, second, and so on circles. But then, an adventuring wizard might notice that his fighter companion learns new combat techniques at about the same rate as the wizard gains circles, so you might even have a notion of circles of fighters (still on the same 1-9ish scale).
After they had the circles figured out, then they might start considering finer gradations. Not all nth-circle wizards are the same: Some can cast their highest-circle spells more often than others, and those wizards also tend to get more range, duration, etc. out of their spells. So they’d probably talk of a wizard being in the Lower Half of the Third Circle, if he’s just learned how to cast Fireball, or the Upper Half of the Third Circle, if his fireballs have more range but he still can’t cast fourth-circle spells.
But now, consider sorcerers. Sorcerers also have circles, much like wizards… but when a sorcerer has just attained spells of the Third Circle (i.e., he’s in the Lower Half of the circle), his spells have the same range, duration, etc. of those of a wizard in the Upper Half of the circle. Faced with this evidence, scholars within the game world might well conclude that sorcerers are more powerful than wizards.
The Kickstarter was to get the out-of-print books back in print. It also turned that it enabled (and required) further printings of the books that weren’t out-of-print. So all the books are now in print and that made the Kickstarter successful. But it was not done to distribute the books via mainstream bookstores. Such bookstores could order them, but the books are not in their distributors’ catalogs, so it would take extra effort.
So the only places you can get them are some gaming stores and on-line. Note that you can now get two of the books in pdf format, which saves money. They’re cheaper and there’s no S&H.
I really like this! Nice! I think I had the generic idea of circles but you really took it to the next level and I like how you extended it to martial classes as well.
Going further, maybe rogues have locks of a circle or pouches, for pick pocket? Maybe, as skill monkeys, they have fewer circles in their rating system but more things to rate overall?
Thanks!
5th edition has actually mitigated some of these inconsistencies. Sorcerers and wizards gain spell levels at the same rate now, and many spells can be supercharged by being cast using spell slots that are of a higher level than the spell. Sometimes it’s a damage boost, other times it’s another kind of increased efficacy.
I agree that “class level” vs “spell level” is kind of confusing at first, but it’s such a core component of D&D that I don’t see it being changed any time soon, especially since 5e (with its emphasis on playability) would have been the time to do it.
**New **one up (1012: Yellow Means Caution)!
Should I know who that is?
So, uh, who’s the guy with the blue hat with a crown on it, and why hasn’t he voted?
And I guess the backup plan must involve Banjo, but I’d think he’d vote against Hel.
I’m assuming it’s Gontor.
You mean the vampire at the end?
It’s the guy Durkon killed in #995.
He’s just about to do so.
Durkon: “There is still one vote outstanding, actually.”
The Giant explains
OK, so the cutaway to the Mechane is unrelated to the vote remaining to be cast? And why is Durkon particularly looking forward to it? And what is going on (or about to be going on) on the Mechane, anyway? If Hel gets her last Aye vote, then nothing on the airship could make any difference.
Perhaps recruiting Banjo?
Hmmm. Maybe Gontor is there to steal the hand puppet. Otherwise, why would Elan vote to destroy the world?
I don’t think Gontor kidnapping Haley would be enough to blackmail Elan into voting “yes”.
That was my first thought too, but, IIRC, Elan once tried to get Banjo into the Norse pantheon but was rejected.
Actually, Odin was ready to accept him.
Here I was going to think Gontor would be casting Firestorm to blow up the Mechane, thereby preventing any loose ends from interfering. But Gontor has already used his spells for the day and vampirization doesn’t restore those.
The strip does bring to mind the question of why Belkar didn’t bring his familiar with him. I would think that getting chomped on would make the cat go ballistic due to the empathic link, which would alert the rest of the order.
Unless I’m mistaken, the cat’s not a familiar. Familiars are limited to spellcasters, which Belkar is not. The cat is a Ranger class companion animal, and those don’t get an empathic link to their master.
No spells, but a vampire could still wreak a lot of wreckage.
In OOTS vampirism, does a vampire have any kind of telepathic or magical link with the vampire who made him? Can Durkula communicate directly with Gontula?