View source for Mana-Based Spellcasting (3.5e Variant Rule)

=== Strain Costs ===

A spell level has a set strain cost when you first receive access to it. This cost decreases by 0.5 points of strain as your caster level increases beyond the necessary mimimum for casting these spells, plus an immediate two when you get your next-highest level of spells. Strain cost is always rounded up. If your class has specialist rules, like a specialist wizard, spells of your specialization cost 1 less strain.

{| class="d20"
|-
! colspan="11" | Base Strain Costs
|-
| '''Spell Level''' || 0<sup>th</sup> || 1<sup>st</sup> || 2<sup>nd</sup> || 3<sup>rd</sup> || 4<sup>th</sup> || 5<sup>th</sup> || 6<sup>th</sup> || 7<sup>th</sup> || 8<sup>th</sup> || 9<sup>th</sup>
|-
| '''Base Strain''' || 3 || 6 || 6.5 || 7 || 7.5 || 8.5 || 9.5 || 10.5 || 11.5 || 12.5
|}

==== Example Table: The Mage (formerly Wizard) ====

The Mage is what we're now calling the Wizard under this variant. They ready spells each day in the same fashion as their Wizard cousins, but cast from Strain/Mana instead. As noted under [[#Casting a Spell|Casting a Spell]], they do not lose prepared spells once they cast them -- instead, their spells are limited by their available Strain. This table does not use any new rules; it is simply an expansion of the above base strain rules for your convenience.

{|  class="zebra d20"
|+ {{Anchor|Table: Mage Strain Costs}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | Level || colspan="10" | Strain Cost
|- 
! 0 || 1<sup>st</sup> || 2<sup>nd</sup> || 3<sup>rd</sup> || 4<sup>th</sup> || 5<sup>th</sup> || 6<sup>th</sup> || 7<sup>th</sup> || 8<sup>th</sup> || 9<sup>th</sup>
|- 
|1st||3||6||—||—||—||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|2nd||3||6||—||—||—||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|3rd||2||3||7||—||—||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|4th||2||3||6||—||—||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|5th||1||2||4||7||—||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|6th||1||2||3||7||—||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|7th||0||1||3||4||8||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|8th||0||1||2||4||7||—||—||—||—||—
|- 
|9th||0||0||2||3||5||9||—||—||—||—
|- 
|10th||0||0||1||3||4||8||—||—||—||—
|- 
|11th||0||0||1||2||4||6||10||—||—||—
|- 
|12th||0||0||0||2||3||6||9||—||—||—
|- 
|13th||0||0||0||1||3||5||7||11||—||—
|- 
|14th||0||0||0||1||2||5||7||10||—||—
|- 
|15th||0||0||0||0||2||4||6||8||12||—
|- 
|16th||0||0||0||0||1||4||6||8||11||—
|- 
|17th||0||0||0||0||1||3||5||7||9||13
|- 
|18th||0||0||0||0||0||3||5||7||9||12
|- 
|19th||0||0||0||0||0||2||4||6||8||10
|- 
|20th||0||0||0||0||0||2||4||6||8||10
|}

''(Special note: feats like Versatile Spellcaster ([[Publication:Races of the Dragon|RDr]]) would not allow you to sacrifice level 3 castings for level 4 castings at level 20, because such feats explicitly deal in spell slots and this variant does away with such a concept.)''