wilcoxon wrote:
I'd hate to see them essentially unusable until late T1 and marginally useful until late T2
Actually I have a second proposal that would help with that, and make those who want to focus on advanced spells more viable.
Change the benefit of Metaphysical Understanding from
Benefit: Any time you attempt to cast an Advanced spell, you gain a +2 bonus to all Arcanum Action Skill Rolls to successfully cast the spell. Also, when attempting to counter or dismiss an Advanced spell, you gain +3 bonus to your Arcanum Action Skill Roll.
To
Benefit: Any time you attempt to cast an Advanced spell,
reduce the final CTN to cast the spell by 2. This effect stacks with that of Spell affinity. Also, when attempting to counter or dismiss an Advanced spell, you gain +3 bonus to your Arcanum Action Skill Roll.
As to high tier advanced spells would be difficult to cast, my response is, good. High tier advanced spells are POWERFUL. With the addition of this change, a maxed out character would not be able to reliably (using passive) cast one of these till tier 5, and that is not a bad thing. It is a good reason to keep focusing on magic at your fifth tier. They would have a decent chance of getting it off with various talents and spells, (even better than 50/50) but there is going to be a chance for failure, and for doing two T4 spells at once when you are T4, that sounds about right.
Even with this change, it's still a bit more difficult to cast advanced spells than it is now, not everyone will be casting them, but it is now available to those who want to focus their character on advanced magic theory. (Which I think is a very cool concept - not just any spell slinger, but someone who understands the deeper theories.)