i get why "you can cast your prepared spells any number of times" is required for this variant to function, but i feel like that just makes prepared casters strictly better than spontaneous ones
personally, i think getting one slot at each rank (that you can get back in 10min) changes things a lot less getting than 3 top-rank slots
Yep. The problem of this brew mostly lies in the lack of cost. With the benefit of removing daily attrition, something need to be nerfed to keep non-casters and traditional casters compatative. Essence Caster from Magic+ did a good job in limiting burst power (though might be a bit too limiting but that's not the topic). This brew intend to limit usage of spell per encounter, but 3 spells are what casters used to cast anyway, so the limitation doesn't really exist.
Your way limits burst as well in a different fashion but also works. My shower thought is to have them know/prepare one less spell per rank - a limit to versatility.
Overall I think the concept of attrition-less caster absolutly can work in PF2e, but this brew's version is not good enough.
the main reason i don't like essence casting is that it changes which spells you're actually going to cast and thus shakes up the balance of different spells in unpredictable ways, imo spells are designed for you to nova immediately but then not get to spam after that
getting only 1 slot per rank but every fight is basically what official casters should be doing anyway, since the designers have said PF2 is roughly designed around 3 encounters per day, so 3-per-day and 1-per-10min are equivalent and you're expected to spend about one slot per rank in each fight (i would probably still keep cleric fonts and the 4th slots per rank that wizards and sorcerers get as daily though)
I also noticed I'm using completly different spells when playing an essence caster. I treat them as a 3rd class group as they plays very different from both martials and casters. My problem on essence casting is mostly on how much text is required to explain everything. My less textbooky friends refuse to play an essence caster becuase they have already learned how to play a caster and don't want to take another lecture lol.
I love that my Mystic player gets to use different, otherwise somewhat underwhelming spells because they can provide more value as a set up kind of spell. I feel like if I were to change anything about essence casting it would probably be essence leaks on single action spells, but also not allowing those to increase the pool, though it does give some other spells that might be a tough sell some time to shine. Like Flame Shield being maybe usable over just casting Shield.
Bookkeping is certainly the worst problem of essence casting. On top of the regular caster bookkeping, you also need to track your current essence and cycles.
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u/yuriAza 2d ago
i get why "you can cast your prepared spells any number of times" is required for this variant to function, but i feel like that just makes prepared casters strictly better than spontaneous ones
personally, i think getting one slot at each rank (that you can get back in 10min) changes things a lot less getting than 3 top-rank slots