Odd question on balance.

[Amechra]

So, if Vancian casters had their normal casting replaced b a version of that of a Shadowcaster (use schools of magic instead of the specific routes of Mysteries), how would their tier change?

[X-Codes]

So, if Vancian casters had their normal casting replaced b a version of that of a Shadowcaster (use schools of magic instead of the specific routes of Mysteries), how would their tier change?

You'd have to give more information than that.

[Amechra]

I'll write something up when I'm not frazzled by end-of-year essays.

[Negative Zero]

Short answer: They'll probably be fine, being restricted to Conjuration or Transmutation would probably drop them to tier 2, so using the ill-described system above would probably not be worse than that.

[Unbeliever]

For our Malazan themed campaign we restrict people to "warrrens," the magical system of that setting.  They are thematically linked -- so there's a Warren of Earth, Fire, Ice and Stasis, and so on.  We are pretty lax about it, though, so long as you can sell us on a refluff of the spell that fits your warren(s) (powerful mages can have a few), you're welcome to it. 

It hasn't changed things all that much.  Oh, and all of our casters are spontaneous, though we let you have pretty much as many spells known -- w/in reason and w/ the aforementioned thematic restriction -- as you like.  Like I said, it hasn't really changed our general sense of game balance.  Although my group doesn't really do some of the standard spellcaster optimization and we don't tend to keep around too many spells that you just cast during downtime. 

So, yeah, what other people say, Tier 2 likely.  I'm pretty supportive of this idea -- I like the idea of confining any character to a few tricks, if only to differentiate them. 

[Amechra]

The basic idea is that you take a shadowcasters spell-casting type ability (couple times a day to use abilities, progress from spells (1/day each)->SLAs (2/day each)->supernatural abilities(3/day each)), and replace the abilities they can pick from to be spells, with spells 1-9 instead of mysteries, and cantrips instead of fundamentals. For example (derived from the Death, Healing, and War domains):

Apprentice Paths:
Death I
1.Cause Fear
2. Death Knell
3. Animate Dead
Healing I
1. Cure Light Wounds
2. Cure Moderate Wounds
3. Cure Serious Wounds
War I
1. Magic Weapon
2. Spiritual Weapon
3. Magic Vestment
Initiate Paths:
Death II
4. Death Ward
5. Slay Living
6. Create Undead
Healing II
4. Cure Critical Wounds
5. Cure Light Wounds, Mass
6. Heal
War II
4. Divine Power
5. Flame Strike
6. Blade Barrier
Master Paths:
Death III
7. Destruction
8. Create Greater Undead
9. Wail of the Banshee
Healing III
7. Regenerate
8. Cure Critical Wounds, Mass
9. Heal, Mass
War III
7. Power Word Blind
8. Power Word Stun
9. Power Word Kill

As with the shadowcaster, you need to take any given spell/mystery in order in a given path (can't grab Animate Dead without Death Knell and Cause Fear), but you can start a new path as long as you qualify for the spells/mysteries, level wise (so you can grab Divine Power without needing any ability from War I)

At level 14, you start playing Pathfinder (i.e., infinite cantrips.)

[Echoes]

Using your examples, Healing I is so incredibly boring I yawned while reading it. That has more to do with the terrible state of healing in D&D, but it's still there. Also, every cleric ever takes War I & II and never takes War III. They instead take Death III and cackle madly. You would definitely have to re-balance the domains (or whatever grouping you choose) to ensure that every path has viable options at each level.

The idea itself has merit, but needs to be tweaked to be playable. For example, while clerics can get away with having only 1 spell at level 1, because they're also fighters, Wizards can't. That is where the shadowcaster fails hardest (mysteries also blow for the most part, which only exacerbates the extremely limited uses they get).

What you could do, however, is grant a number of slots at each tier equal to your choices in that tier modified by the tier multiplier (x1 for spells, x2 for SLAs, x3 for su.), which can be used to cast any spell of the appropriate tier you know. Functionally, you get 1 slot per spell you know, 2 slots per SLA you know, and 3 slots per su. you know, which can be used to cast any spell of the relevant tier. Do that, and hand out enough spells known, and you'd be fine.

[X-Codes]

I think he's just talking about the idea, not necessarily that breakdown.  Note that he basically took the first three, second three, and third three spells in each domain and turned them into a path.

Also, this:

These are explicitly fixes for the Shadowcaster, but can generally work with Cleric/Wizard/etc.  Most of them are good, some of them are trash.  For example, simply state that you can only learn spells/mysteries that are of a level equivalent equal to class level / 2, rounding up.  Also, the rule that you must select spells from paths in order is a good one, IMO.

As three examples, a Sorcerer would learn spells pretty much exactly the same as a Shadowcaster.  An exception I would make is to give them an additional spell at each odd-numbered level.  That way they have the benefit of endurance over a Wizard.

Meanwhile, a Cleric would learn one spell from his general list at every level, and one spell from his selected domains at every odd level (domains should be cut down to 1 or 2 paths in this variant, instead of a full 9 spells).  If he doesn't have a domain spell available to learn at a given level, he loses that spell.

Finally, a Wizard would begin play with a spellbook containing 2+int mod spells (4+int mod with Collegiate Wizard), of which he readies one per level each day.  A minimum of 6 Apprentice path spells must be prepared before any Initiate path spells are prepared, and a minimum of 6 Initiate path spells must be prepared before any Master path spells are prepared.  He gets to add 2 spells to his spellbook each level (4 with Collegiate Wizard).

This is giving me ideas...

[Amechra]

Alright, so this sounds balanced? I personally enjoy thinking up stuff like this (one system used like another system), so... yeah.

And, yeah, the domains that I put up there were examples. Healing I would be horrid, just horrid.