Wordcasting Suckage

So, after my last post (probably not related to my last post) KEJR decided to allow Ultimate Magic in the Council of Thieves game.


"Great!", I thought to myself (who else would I think to? anyway...).  Now I can convert my level 8 bard to wordcasting.  The concept held a lot of promise for me, and I was kind of excited to get to use something in this $40 book I have.  Something.  Anything.  


So I asked KEJR, and he okayed a change.  He even gave a thumbs up to retraining Spell Focus (Enchantment) and Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment) (which I've referred to as the bran muffin of a spellcaster.  It's a really good thing to make it harder to save, but it's two whole feats invested.  But at the time, and still, I think/thought that it's a good thing to do.  Bran muffins - not always what you would prefer to eat, but it's better for you.)  


So I sat down to see exactly what I could do with the casting.  And the results were surprising.


As an 8th level human bard, with bard as favored class, I get an extra spell each level (at least one level lower than highest spell I can cast).  So at 8th level, I get:


Spell Level    Spells Known
       0                     9
       1                     8
       2                     6
       3                     3


And I can spend these spells on either effect words or meta words.  So far, so good.  


So I look at what words are available to bards.  


Spell Level    Effect Words   Meta Words
       0                       6                    3    (1 is given free at first level)
       1                      11                   3
       2                      15
       3                      10

Okay, so right off, there's a problem.  I know 9 level-0 words, but there are only 8 available to bards.  Hmm.  Well, there's a wasted bonus.  I guess that would turn into a skill point.  (grumble,grumble).


Then I look at the level 1 meta words.  There's "Careful", "Quiet", and "Simple", which are effectively eschew materials, silent spell, and still spell (not in that order).  But hey, I thought bards couldn't use silent spell?  Look in rules.  Look at Bards.  Hmm.  Nothing in the rules.  I can't believe this isn't an oversight, so I throw that out anyway to limit my own power gaming.  (Yes, it's really me.)


Then I start actually looking at the words.  Okay, what I understood to be the idea behind the wordcaster was that he gave up some power level in exchange for versatility.  For any spell, you specify a target word, one or more effect words, and then one or more meta words.  I can live with that.  I like versatility.


So I'm looking at the target words.  I get things like Selected (one creature), Burst, Line, Cone.  Cool!  But waitasec.  I'm looking at my effect words.  

0-Level Bard Words		Targeting Limitation
Beacon	Divination	Personal
Cramp	Pain	None
Decipher	Language	Personal
Echo	Illusion	Burst
Lift	Gravity	Personal
Sense Magic	Detection	Cone
1st-Level Bard Words
Friendship	Command	Selected
Simple Order	Command	Selected
Fade	Concealing	Selected
Spook	Fear	Selected
Glide	Flight	Selected
Lesser Cure	Healing	Personal, Selected
Radiance	Illumination	Burst(emanation)
Decipher *	Language	Personal
Wrack	Pain	None
Servitor I	Summoning	Selected
Dash	Time	Personal
2nd-Level Bard Words
Paralyze Humanoid	Binding	Selected
Enhance Form	Body	Personal, Selected
Disappear	Concealing	Selected
Sense Hidden	Detection	Cone
Sense Thoughts	Detection	Cone
Suppress	Dispelling	Selected
Float	Flight	Selected
Moderate Cure	Healing	Personal, Selected
Gloom	Illumination	Burst(emanation)
Glimmering	Illusion	Burst(emanation)
Translate	Language	Selected
Discordant Note	Sonic	None
Servitor II	Summoning	Selected
Accelerate	Time	Selected
Decelerate	Time	Selected

  Out of 32 words available to me as an 8th level bard, only six allow any kind of choice in targeting.  And three of those are the choice between Personal and Selected.  Which mean that for just about all of my potential casting, targeting words really do nothing.  Wow.  This is not as good as I thought it might be.  In fact it's less good than I'd probably want to deal with.  


Oh.  But waitasec again!!!  I get Meta words!!  Three times a day, I can apply a meta word to my spells, just as if I had applied a metamagic feat!  That's pretty cool.  So what Metas do I get?


I automatically get Boost.  So I'm looking at my spells, and either the boost is a 1 level bump to the spell level (accounting for the repeats on my available words list, which cut down the actual number of words I get), or they are 3 level bumps to the spell level.  Which put them outside of my ability to cast.  And really just turn "1 Creature" target spells to "1 Creature/Level".  Hmmm.


Okay, so I can sort of see some logic here.  They really didn't want to give wordcasters any brokenness.  They wanted to give them flexibility.  


EXCEPT THEY AREN"T FLEXIBLE!!!!


All the spells I get, are either the same level, or higher level than a straight spellcaster.  All the spells I get (well, basically all) are hardwired as to what I can choose as a target word.  


So what I'm left with is an extremely short spell list, that provides far less power than if I were just a straight caster.


I really really wanted to like this system.  But it's really just 34 pages of unusable dreck.  It's a restatement of basic spells, under the guise of being a new system.  A spontaneous caster should be able to do lots of cool awesome stuff by mixing and matching effects and targets and metas, but really, nothing is mix-and-matchable.


Sigh.


As one of the designers pointed out on the Paizo messageboards, sometimes players make poor choices in building their characters, and Paizo views it as their job to provide those poor choices.  (Or something suspiciously familiar to that.)