This Spells Trouble

Magic and spells form one of the largest rules subsets in the entire D&D rules system. Together they take up almost half the Player's Handbook just by themselves. 7 of the game's 11 core classes are capable of spellcasting, and it would be suicide for any adventuring party to not include at least one dedicated caster amongst their ranks. Magic and spells are clearly an important part of the D&D experience. This week, I take a look at the rules regarding spellcasting, with an eye towards streamlining those rules to make perhaps the most unwieldy part of the game a bit simpler to handle.

Spell saving throw DCs is one area of the rules that causes particular trouble for late-game, high-level spellcasters. Whereas a spell like magic missile retains much of its usefulness for a 10th-level wizard, a charm person spell, with its relatively low save DC, often lacks the punch required to deal with the threats a 10th-level wizard must deal with. One could also look at the difference between charm monster and its inferior cousin and realize that the higher-level spell already has the more advantageous benefit of being applicable to any creature type. And why should all spell ranges stay the same when the DCs do not? Nestled elsewhere within the game there is a solution to be borrowed to address this unique phenomenon. A number of special abilities have DCs equal to 10 + 1/2 the level of the creature + some key ability modifier. I say spells should follow the same model. All spell saving throw DCs, regardless of level, should be equal to 10 + 1/2 the character's spellcaster level + the key ability modifier for casting. This also makes book-keeping a bit easier for casters, who have a difficult enough time as it is.

There is another aspect of spells that does not always seem to make sense: touch attacks. Melee touch attacks put the spellcaster dangerously close to enemies in the first place, but to make matters worse, they must then rely upon their Strength modifiers to help them hit. For some characters, such as clerics, this is not always horrible news, but one must wonder what a character with a high Strength score is doing casting spells instead of swinging a two-handed weapon. Many casters try to get a good Dexterity score, but not all are always so lucky. It makes sense to me that a spellcaster's key ability modifier should help in all aspects of spellcasting, including the application of touch spells. When calculating a spellcaster's attack bonus for a melee touch spell or ranged touch spell, a spellcaster may use his or her base attack bonus plus the key ability modifier for the spell being cast instead of the spellcaster's Strength or Dexterity modifier respectively.

These changes are not very difficult to make. They also fit neatly on top of existing stat blocks without really causing a fuss. For spell DCs, a simple way to effect the chance is to simply use the highest save DC listed (due to rounding, this may sometimes be off by 1, but it is close enough). Spellcasters rarely have their attack bonus for touch spells listed anyway so the DM is often forced to calculate it himself, and for players the correction is simple.

Next week, I'll address some specific spells that have caused problems for me and my gaming group in the past, as well as our solutions for those problems.