Presented below are numerous options for using Card Casting outside of Spheres of Power.
Card Casting 3: Volatile Variance
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Card Stamina
If a character possesses the Combat Stamina feat or similar mechanics which allow for them to gain and use stamina, they may apply the Card Casting drawback and any associated drawbacks (such as mana pool or gradual ramp) to their stamina pool, creating a Stamina Deck (effectively making the Stamina deck a separate “casting tradition” which uses Card Casting without actually being tied to sphere effects). A character does not need to be a spherecaster or have Card Casting as a drawback in an existing tradition to create a Stamina Deck. Any effect related to the Card Casting which applies to abilities which cost 1 or more spell points apply to abilities which cost 1 or more stamina points.
For example, a character using Card Stamina must play a card corresponding to Power Attack in order to use the stamina effect associated with the Power Attack feat. Similarly, if the character possesses the mana pool drawback, they must fill their Stamina Deck with mana point cards which determine the amount of stamina that the character may spend on any given effect.
For each drawback you select for your Stamina Deck (including Card Casting), your stamina pool increases by 2 points. In place of gaining 4 stamina points, you may select a Deck feat which applies to your Stamina Deck. You may also select Deck feats normally, using your base attack bonus in place of your spheres caster level for effects related to your Stamina deck. You may not spend stamina points in place of spell points for Deck feats or Deck Manipulations.
If you have both a Stamina Deck and a deck as part of a casting tradition, you may select the Combined Decks feat without meeting the prerequisites, treating your Stamina Deck as a deck from another casting tradition for the purposes of the feat. If you Stamina Deck is combined with a deck used in conjunction with spherecasting, spellcasting, or manifesting through the Combined Decks feat, you may use spell points, power points, spell slots, or prepared spells in conjunction with Deck feats and Deck Manipulations from your stamina deck. A character who has specific feats may meet the prerequisites for feats or effects of feats as if they possessed certain spheres or talents at GM discretion.
In a game where Combat Stamina is heavily used, it is advised that the Fortified Healing feat be banned due to its capacity to devalue the cost of stamina points into irrelevance.
Vancian Spell Cards and Card Casting
If players are in possession of a spell card deck which contains spells or powers for a specific class (hereafter referred to as “Vancian Spells”), certain elements of Card Casting may be adapted for use with this system (effectively making the Vancian spell deck a separate “casting tradition” which uses Card Casting without actually being tied to sphere effects). A character does not need to be a spherecaster or have Card Casting as a drawback in an existing tradition to create a Vancian spell deck.. Players may use their own created cards in place of published spell card decks.
For every spell the character has prepared or known, the player writes down the effect on a notecard (or using an existing spell card printed by one of several publishers) and shuffle as many of these cards as they wish together into a deck. The player may choose not to write down certain abilities that they don’t think they will use, although they may only change what cards make up a deck when a character regains their spell slots or power points. Effects modified by metamagic feats are considered distinct effects, so an effect must have any applied metamagic effects determined as part of creating its card.
When the character rests to regain spell slots or power points, the player creates a deck composed of the above cards. The deck created must have a minimum of 20 cards. The player can include the same card multiple times in your deck if they wish, but the maximum number of cards in your deck which create an identical effect cannot differ from the lowest number of identical effect cards in the deck by more than the character’s casting or manifesting ability modifier (for example, if a wizard has a casting ability modifier of 4 and runs only a single card which creates a haste spell unmodified by metamagic in her deck, she could not run more than 5 cards which create an unmodified slow spell).
When the character rolls for initiative, the player draws a number of cards from the top of their deck equal to 1 + the character’s casting ability modifier (minimum 2). The player may shuffle their starting hand back into their deck and re-draw it any number of times, drawing 1 fewer card each time they do (a player cannot shuffle and re-draw if they have only 1 card in hand). At the start of every round thereafter, the player draws another card. If they have no cards in their deck, they cannot draw any more cards. At the end of the combat encounter, the player shuffles all cards currently in your hand back into your deck.
In order to cast a spell, the player must have the card corresponding to that spell in their hand. When the character casts that spell, the player plays the card onto the table. This requires the normal action and spell slots or prepared spell needed to cast the spell. If that spell has an ongoing effect, the card remains placed on the table for the duration of the effect. When a card’s effects have been fully resolved (immediately for a card with an instantaneous effect, or when the effect expires for an ongoing effect) that card is shuffled back into the player’s deck.
If a character chooses to apply this effect to their spells or powers, their casting or manifesting ability score is treated as 4 higher for the purpose of determining their bonus spells or bonus power points per day. A character may also apply the Cooldown and Deckout modifications to their spellcasting, treating their ability score as 2 higher for each of these modifications applied.
A character which uses card casting in this way is considered to have the Card Casting drawback and casting abilities for the purpose of meeting prerequisites for Deck feats, using their caster or manifester level in place of their spheres caster level. If a Deck feat would require a character to spend additional spell points, the character instead spends a spell slot or prepared spell of 1 level higher or 2 additional power points for each spell point that would be required. A character who knows specific spells or powers may meet the prerequisites for feats or effects of feats as if they possessed certain spheres or talents at GM discretion (for example, a wizard who can cast detect thoughts may be able to use the Hand Peek effect of Control Caster).