I've long been dissatisfied with the Exotic Spell feat presented in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed. While the spell system is plus-good in general, the limitations of Exotic Spell mean that most campaigns will simply not see any use of most exotic spells. Similarly, because you must burn a feat to learn a single exotic spell, there's no provision in the system for original spell research or the proliferation of exotic spells.
After some thought and experimentation, here's what I've come up with:
Because of your special magical training, you can research, teach, and learn exotic spells.
Prerequisite: Spellcaster level 1st+
Benefit: You may choose any exotic spell and add it to your list of known spells.
You are able to perform original spell research.
You are able to participate in the Spell Exchange ceremony if you have a truename. This ceremony is performed by two creatures capable of casting spells, both of whom must have the Exotic Spell feat. During the ceremony, one of the spellcasters learns a spell from the other and can henceforth ready it as he would any other spell he knows. The ceremony takes one day to perform and one week to prepare. The cost of the ceremony is 100 gp per level of the spell to be learned (50 gp for cantrips). The ceremony is very draining and both spellcasters lose 50 xp times the minimum caster level of the spell.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time, you learn a new exotic spell without having to perform original spell research or participate in the Spell Instruction ceremony.
N.b.: Spell research would be performed in a manner substantially similar to that laid out in the DMG. Arcana Unearthed does not specify whether participants in a ceremony must share truenames or learn the truename of the subject of the ceremony, so I have decided they don't.
Posted by Greg at December 19, 2003 9:40 AM