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I'm working on a homebrew Sorcerer class and was thrilled to run across @user55434's and @Akixkisu's answers to How does the Variant: Spell Points system from the DMG affect game balance?: if the idea of the sorcerer is flexibility, then of course she should just use the Spell-Point variant but use her Spell Points for spells, Metamagic, and class features.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to make that work, though.

Of the two answers I mentioned, the former doesn't mention a mechanism. It seems clear, though, given the issues raised by the answer to What is the conversion rate for Sorcery Points to Spell Points?, that saying a Metamagic that costs 3 Sorcery Points under RAW now costs 3 Spell Points is likely to create a seriously overpowered character.

The latter of the answers I mentioned discusses converting Spell Points to Sorcery Points. I can imagine doing that, and then using the numbers from the Spell-Point-to-Spell-Slot conversion table (so 1 Sorcery Point costs 2 Spell Points, 2 Sorcery Points cost 3 Spell Points, etc.). But that raises other questions. How many extra Spell Points should sorcerers get to make up for the Sorcery Points that are being “taken away”? How many Sorcery Points can be created at any one time?

I'm interested in hearing from people who have played in a game with a Spell-Points-only version of the sorcerer. What mechanism did you use, did it keep the game more or less balanced, and did the person playing the sorcerer enjoy it?

Laurel
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Joel Derfner
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  • Questions asking "what are good ways to do XYZ" tend not to be in the scope of what RPG.SE does; we don't really do idea generation. So I'm voting to close this. That said, there seems to be a disconnect between the title of the question and its body, such that it might be salvageable if you clarify what you're looking for. That last paragraph, in particular, seems like it might contain a nugget of a question we can answer. – screamline Oct 13 '21 at 20:34
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    (Put differently: I'm not sure you've defined "good" sufficiently for us to answer.) – screamline Oct 13 '21 at 20:36
  • Thanks so much for this guidance. Something felt off when I was posting, but I couldn't figure out what. I've retitled and hope this makes it a better question. – Joel Derfner Oct 13 '21 at 21:32
  • @ChristoferWeber please don't answer in comments. – Purple Monkey Oct 14 '21 at 10:05
  • I have voted to reopen this question, but it might still end up being closed because some of us might now regard it as too subjective and might direct you to a discussion forum. – ZwiQ Oct 15 '21 at 09:51
  • @ZwiQ Thanks—are there further edits I can make to make it less subjective? – Joel Derfner Oct 16 '21 at 11:33
  • Are you interested in creating a portable homebrew solution or something that works at your table in particular? – Akixkisu Oct 17 '21 at 07:37
  • @Akixkisu The former. I'm a player, not a DM, and I love the idea of the sorcerer, but my experience playing one was so unsatisfying that I'm trying to come up with something I can take to DMs open to homebrew and ask to use. – Joel Derfner Oct 17 '21 at 18:58

1 Answers1

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Keep Spell Points and Sorcery Points separate.

In short, follow the RAW: when using the Spell Point optional rule, a Sorceror would get a number of Spell Points instead of Spell Slots, along with a number of Sorcery Points based on their normal Sorceror progression that they could use for metamagic and class features. These would be separate pools, though they could convert one into the other using the rules for converting Sorcery Points into Spell Slots, and then converting the Spell Slots into an appropriate number of Spell Points in accordance with the relevant tables.

Following this guidance, you should avoid altering the power level of the Sorceror relative to every other spellcasting class that is also using the Spell Points system.

nick012000
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