Needing a second look at homebrew abillities

I am developing a homebrew class and need someone to double check and see if these two abilities are fair and playable. I am open to suggestions in changing them and I can explain anything that is not clear. Chaotic casting: A Chaos Magician, when casting a spell, selects a spells from all Chaotic Casting lists that they have earned* (maximum 4[2 from each list]). Each of the spells is assigned to a number 2-5 and the Chaos Mage rolls 1D6 to determine which spell is being used before declaring targets. If the die lands on 1 or 6 the caster takes 1d6 damage**. For every 5 levels gained as a chaos magician the damage is increased by 1D6**. Any spell on the chaotic casting list cannot be on the normal spell list. If no targets are available, the spell simply dissipates. *: The Chaotic Casting spell list levels up at a different rate than the normal Chaos magician spells. A Chaos magician who’s class level is 1-5 has access to Level 1 Chaotic Casting Spells and gains an additional level for every 5 Chaos magician levels gained. (10,15, and 20) **: If a Chaos magician has the chaotic mind feat then the following goes into effect: If the die lands on 1 then the caster takes 1D6 damage and if the die lands on 6 the caster gains up to 1D6 health. (example: if caster’s max is 15 and he/she has 13 HP when they roll six, then only 2 HP is gained.) An additional 1D6 is added for every 5 levels gained as a Chaos magician. Special: Due to the undisciplined nature of Chaotic Casting, Chaos Mages ignore any chance of Arcane Spell Failure unless they are wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield. A Chaos Magician who does not use Chaotic Casting may select their spells normally from the Chaos magician spell list, but do not ignore Arcane Spell Failure when casting them. All spells on the chaotic spell list do not use up a chaos magician’s spell limit but causes the Chaos magician to be fatuged for 1D6 minutes and a Chaos magician cannot use any spells while fatigued. Special continued: If a spell is cast using the Chaotic Casting ability then the target must win a contest roll against the Chaos magician using either their charisma mod OR wisdom mod VS. the Chaos magicians charisma mod. (For example if the target [inanimate or living] rolls a DC of 10 with a charisma mod of +2 OR a wisdom mod of +2 and the Chaos magician rolls a DC of 5 with a charisma mod of +4 then the spell has been successfully resisted and has no effect on the target) Unpredictable: When using an improvised weapon a Chaos magician does not take the normal -4 penalty and damage dealt by the improvised weapon is increased by 1D4

I like the risk/reward balance you have worked out, although the ability that lets you actually heal through Chaotic Casting seems like it might be too powerful. Probably simpler to make 2-6 cast a random spell, and 1 deal damage to the caster. I'm not quite sure how the bonus to improvised weapons would fit with the class. The "unpredictability" makes some thematic sense, but isn't this a caster class? How much swinging of improvised weapons are they going to want to do? Also, for people to really be able to evaluate your ideas, you should probably tell us what game and edition you have in mind. Seems like this might be D&D 3.5e, maybe? I'm not an expert.

Jake E. said: I like the risk/reward balance you have worked out, although the ability that lets you actually heal through Chaotic Casting seems like it might be too powerful. Probably simpler to make 2-6 cast a random spell, and 1 deal damage to the caster. I'm not quite sure how the bonus to improvised weapons would fit with the class. The "unpredictability" makes some thematic sense, but isn't this a caster class? How much swinging of improvised weapons are they going to want to do? Also, for people to really be able to evaluate your ideas, you should probably tell us what game and edition you have in mind. Seems like this might be D&D 3.5e, maybe? I'm not an expert. neither am I but it is based on 3.5 the unpredictability is just something fun I made up for the class because it is only proficient with 4 weapons and would encourage the player to think unconventionally. This spellcaster class has no other way of healing itself other than through this ability, but I can see your point so I might add a healing spell in their inventory.