Rambling thought experiment.

I have heard some talk about how 4E is going to have more by way of per encounter special abilities and spells to try to remove some of the resource management out of the game. This is, I suppose, to counter the wizards complaint of having the best 5 minutes of their day followed by being useless, but a) I've always seen the resource management aspect as a key part of D&D and 2) if you're not contributing with your personality and skills you're probably not a good fit for my games anyway.

 

But this raised an idea (which might be in 4E for all that I know) that rather than having X number of spells per day per level, spellcasters instead ratchet up on how often they can use their more limited number of spells. For example

 

( Example behind cut )

 

I'm not sure this would be better, or even viable, but I think it would be interesting.

 

Now the rambling part: the idea of spells refreshing per solar arc fits Emirikol nicely. In that world each day is always 14 hours, sunrise to sunset, with the seasons coming from the phases of the sun. In the height of summer there is some time of horizon glow for an early dawn and lingering dusk, but for practical purposes the night is always 10 hours. The moon is visible every night, with monthly phases but a constant path.

 

That got me thinking about the other aspects of Emirikol's planetary structure. The sun, we know, is goddess of fire, dying and being reborn every year. I don't recall ever settling on what the Moon is, so there are probably many fields of thought on the subject - a pool of ocean in the sky? The home of the celestial court? It predates the ascension to godhood of the last emperor, so we know it's not him, but everyone other philosophy and cult lays claim to it, including Chaos worshippers.  The Stars are indeed the spirits of ones greatest ancestors, and the sky becomes a little more crowded every year. In rare instances the final end of a once prominent family line has caused whole constellations to wink out of existence, as the ancestors no longer have ties to the world.

 

Just some random thoughts. It's a magical world, after all. No reason not to make it magical in construction.