Spell Points in D&D

I thought I'd share one of the ideas I've had percolating in my mind. It has always occurred to me that spell points aren't broken, as many people say. I just think most D&Ders haven't seen a good one. This one is based entirely on existing 3.5 spells/level. This system is 99% compatible with the spells out of the 3.x rules. The only thing that might be weird is the "falls unconscious from the strain." If you don't like it, don't use it!

Spell Points

If you cast a 1^st level spell it costs 1 pt. If you cast a 2^nd level spell it costs 2 pts, a 7^th level spell will cost 7 pts, etc. Mages will know all first level spells.

Restrictions:

• You can never cast more spells of a given level per day than your main ability modifier +2. That means if you have a 16 Int, you can cast 5 spells per level per day, unless you make a Spellcraft roll. See below. This means five 1^st level spells, five 2^nd level spells, ad infinitum.
  
• You may cast five 0^th level spells per day, until 2^nd level onwards when you are able to cast six.
• You may not cast spells of more than ½ your character level (rounded down), except at 1^st level. That is, when you are a 7^th level mage, you may cast no more than 3^rd level spells. At 1^st thru 3^rd levels, you may cast no higher than 1^st level spells, unless you make a Spellcraft check. See below.
• You may make a Spellcraft check to cast higher level spells. The following table shows the DC:

Level of Spell DC

1 level higher	20
2 levels higher	25
3 levels higher	30
4 levels higher	35
5 levels higher	40

If you fail your Spellcraft DC, not only does the spell not activate, but you also lose the spell points for the spell. So, if you failed to cast a 7^th level spell, you would lose 7 spell points. If you roll a 1, you fall unconscious from the strain.
• You may attempt to cast more spells per day of a given level. You would have to make a Spellcraft roll for each spell. E.g., you are limited to 6 per day, and you want to cast a 7^th one. The DC for this would be 20 for the first one, 25 for the second one, and so on.

If you fail your Spellcraft DC, not only does the spell not activate, but you also lose the spell points for the spell. So, if you failed to cast that extra 3^rd level spell, you would lose 3 spell points. If you roll a 1, you fall unconscious from the strain.
• OPTIONAL: Instead of a Spellcraft check, GMs can opt to have the mage spend twice the spell points for the spell. That means if they want to cast an extra 3^rd level spell, they'd need to expend 6 spell points. If they can only cast 4^th level spells and they want to cast a 6^th level spell, then they'd need to spend 12 spell points.
• Once the spell points are all spent, the mage falls unconscious from the strain.

The following table shows how many spell points a spellcaster would have at each level.

Level Spell Pts

1st	3
2nd	4
3rd	5
4th	9
5th	10
6th	18
7th	19
8th	20
9th	22
10th	26
11th	28
12th	32
13th	34
14th	38
15th	40
16th	44
17th	46
18th	50
19th	52
20th	54

Most expensive d20 ever

Was there ever a better validation of our hobby than this? Now, when people make fun of you, you can say "It's been around since before any of the popular sports of today. Try 1800 years! Why, collectors are paying nearly $18,000 for the dice used in our hobby..." Well, on second thought you shouldn't say that. But I still think it's one of the coolest things ever. I think if I were to pay that much for a 20-sider, it had better give me the best rolls of my life!