Takin' a Stab at Spells...

[WarlockLord]

I hope that 5e can/will rely on the DM and players to be smart enough to piece something like that together.

So long as it's somewhere in the book, yes. Otherwise you get dumb rules loopholes.

 

[Ratskinner]

So long as it's somewhere in the book, yes. Otherwise you get dumb rules loopholes.

I'm not sure that I'd qualify the idea that your Wednesday night game has a "glowing colorful" magic missile and your Friday night game has a "shimmering colorless" magic missile and your Saturday game doesn't even care as a "rules loophole."

 

[Libramarian]

Ratskinner's Dream - You cause all sentient targets in a Diameter: 10 ft/level area up to Range: 30 ft/level to be overwhelmed and distracted by delusions of pleasurable and relaxing daydreams and fantasies until the end of the encounter. This causes 1d6/level Psychic Damage, but targets may make a Save: Wisdom to negate the damage. Additionally, the targets suffer a -1/level penalty on all attacks and saves.

This is kind of a worst of both worlds situation I think: doesn't make it much easier to quick-reference and makes it quite a bit more annoying to actually read.

If spell descriptions are actually less than 100 words, you don't need to bold or keyword-ize anything imo. Just have it all be normal text.

 

[ren1999]

Really nice comments and nice ideas.

How about all the spells that will appear in the next 5E Player's Handbook?

I'd like to take all the useful and unique spells from 3.5 edition and put them in as subcategories of about 30 spells and 30 prayers. Here is some detail.

We'll order spells and prayers by what they do and then change one word traditional D&D spells to 2 words to make them more descriptive.

Abjuration Spells
Force Shield
Endure Element
Element Wall
Dispel Magic
Deflect Magic
Protective Ward
____________
Anti-Gravity Spells
Feather Fall
Spider Climb
Force Jump
Force Levitate
Force Fly
____________
Phase Spells
Blink Shift (Blur)
Pass Wall
Teleport Portal
Stop Time
Force Invisibility
______________
Utility Spells
Mage Hand (Bigby's, Chaos Hammer)
Clean Mend
Lock Unlock
Secret Chest
Tiny Hut
_____________
Alteration Spells
Enlarge Shrink
Object to Object
Disguise Ally (Evard's Black Tentacles)
Encourage Ally attack+3
Bark Skin ac+2
Stone Skin ac+3
Iron Body DR-
Bull's Strength str+3
Bear's Endurance con+3
Cat's Grace dex+3
Fox's Cunning int+3
Owl's Wisdom wis+3
Eagle's Splendor cha+3
Ray Enfeeblement str-3
Feeble Mind int-3
Hasten Ally speed+3
Slow Foe speed-3
Dark Vision 12 squares
Water Breathing
Foe to Object (Baleful Polymorph)
_________
Force Assault Spells
Force Web
Enchant Weapon
Magic Missile
Force Orb
Pressure Blood

Fire Assault (Spells and Prayers)
Fire Wall(Elemental Wall)
Cast Light (Faerie Fire)
Burning Hand
Fire Ball
Explosive Rune
Combust Foe
__________
Lightning Assault (Spells and Prayers)
Electrified Wall
Dark Rain
Shocking Grasp
Chain Lightning
Plasma Ball
Disintegrate Foe
_____________
Cold Assault
Ice Wall
Icy Floor
Chilly Touch (Chill Metal)
Icicle Volley
Ice Storm
Frost Bite
__________
Healing Prayers
Heal Ally
Hurt Foe
Cure Ally (Calm Being, Break Enchantment)
Afflict Foe (Blindness, Deafness)
Restore Ally
Regenerate Life
Vampire Touch
Raise Dead
Utter Kill
Animate Object (Awaken)
Control Undead
Create Food & Water
Create Golem
________
Telepathic Prayers
Detect Magic
Detect Alignment
Analyze Dweomer
Know Skill
Arcane Eye (Clairvoyance, Astral Projection, Ethereal Jaunt)
Whispering Wind (Animal Messenger)
Know Thought
Obscure Memory
________
Illusory Prayers
Ghost Alarm
Dancing Light
Mirror Image
________
Hypnotic Prayers
Turn Alignment (Banish Foe, Binding)
Cause Sleep
Hold Foe
Charm Foe
Summon Being (Insect Swarm)
_________
Atonement
Hallow Ground
Ask Augury
Aid Ally
Bless Ally
Bane Foe
________________
At 30th Level Cleric
Become Immortal
Possess Minion
Resurrect Self
Charm Masses
Summon Immortal

 

[Stormonu]

I think you missed a good bunch in that list.

Getting away from specific spell names, I'd like to see these areas covered:

Abjuration
-----------
Improve AC/Defense (Mage Armor, Stoneskin, etc.)
Remove Conditions (Remove Curse, etc.)
Prevent Damage (Resist Energy, etc.)
Protect against named foe (Protection from Evil, etc.)
Obscure information (Unknowable Alignment, etc.)
Damage: Deny foe access to vital necessities (such as causing a foe to suffocate by denying them air)

Alteration
-----------
Assume form of X
Grow/Shrink
Enhance Ability Score
Transmute X to Y
Transform Foe into Harmless/Helpless Creature
Animate Object
Alter Gravity
Move from Point A to B (Levitate, Flight, Dimension Door, Teleport, etc.)
Damage: Twist/Contort a foe's shape

Conjuration
------------
Create/Summon Creature (Summon Monster, etc.)
Create Object (Wall of Iron, etc.)
Call Creature/Object to Location (Succor, etc.)
Damage: Remove bits of the target (such as calling a foe's heart to your hand)

Divination
-------------
Grant Insight Into Forthcoming Actions (Augury, Guidance, etc.)
Get Information (Mind Reading, Speak with Outsiders, etc.)
Augment Perception
Create New Perception (Wizard eye, etc.)
Damage: Reveal Harmful Secrets About Foe

Enchantment
------------
Charm Target
Inflict Condition (Blindness, Sleep, Stun, etc.)
Dominate Target
Augment Skills
Bind spells into individuals or items (Enchant an Item/Imbue With Spell Ability)
Curses/Blessings
Damage: Turn Allies Against Each Other

Evocation
-------------
Truename spells
Pact spells
Power word spells
Power over the elements (Control Weather and the like)
Telekinesis
Damage: Blow stuff up with Acid/Earth/Electricity/Fire/Force/Ice/Radiant/etc.

Illusion
-----------
False images or effects that only work if someone believes in them (like spanning a bridge with an illusionary bridge that only works for those who believe in it)
Disguise/Hide Appearance (including invisibility)
Alter Perceptions (Hallucinatory Terrain, etc.)
Distractions/Diversions (Shadow Door, etc.)
Damage: Phantom/Quasi-Real Damage (Shadow magic)

Necromancy
------------
Animate/Create Undead
Toughen/Weaken bodily systems (Cause Disease, Wither, etc.)
Add/Remove appendages (grafting extra arms/legs, ghost eye, etc.)
Damage: cause necrosis in foe

 

[ren1999]

Stormonu, good summary. I'm reading it carefully. Your classifications are different than mine but interesting. I'd like to see spells organized like this.

 

[RHGreen]

The standard for spell damage is d6. d4 is a tradeoff for hitting more often

I'm okay with d4 damage if it's an at-will, but as a single shot spell I just don't think it's a viable choice. And if you look at Fireball, depending on edition, you are looking at a definite hit (half for save) and AOE and it is still D6 (though of course it is 3rd level - but still, that is pretty much covered by the level*D6). And don't forget if you have a fighter with a dagger with 50% hit chance he only has to attack twice to be as good as a magic missile. But he doesn't use a dagger. He uses bigger weapons and adds strength and gets to do it all day rather than your once. Like I said - a really bad spell - which is a shame considering it is so iconic.


If you look at pretty much any other 1st level spell, they are better than Magic Missile.

Just look at the unimpressive Detect Magic spell.

It could help you detect a magical object that otherwise you might miss and walk on by. A person is charmed or a door is magically locked.

Read Languages could give you a clue that could be the making of a successful adventure.

Even these are better than an absolutely definite hit with a dagger, once.

If it was D12+Int Mod I might actually consider it more than a waste of a spell slot and you may only be doing 5-6 points of damage on a bad roll. At least top damage would be a mildly impressive 17.

 

[variant]

I think it is appropriate for spell descriptors to tell what is visible and audible because both of those can determine how balanced the spell is. Like, does a Magical Missile glow or make a sound? Can I cast it in the dark without anyone knowing?

 

[ren1999]

Interesting ideas on Magic Missile but I prefer to let the players decide how the spell looks and sounds. A silent and invisible magic missile is a deadlier one, is it not? I also excluded the material, verbal, somatic and other components. That is part of the fun of role playing. If the player is bored, he or she can go into great detail on how the spell is prepared and executed. I don't want to lay down those rules and spoil his or her imagination. This description just deals with the basic mechanics of the spell. Notice how some spells in the current editions assume that we know the basic rules of how a DC for the spell should be calculated, however, there are multiple ways to calculate a DC. I'm having a bit of trouble with that now.

Magic Missile
type: force evocation
requirement: caster level 1
action: at-will
roll: intelligence versus reflex
effect: The caster directs telekinetic force controlled daggers, darts, beads at the foe doing 1[w]+1d4 force damage
level-up: +1d4 force damage at 11th and 21st level

 

[Ichneumon]

OK, I'll take a stab.

MAGIC MISSILE, Level 1, For Neophytes, Found Everywhere
Evocation (Force)
Target: One or more bad guys
Range: Whites of their eyes
Creates: 1 projectile (3 at level 6)
Damage: 1d6 + 1/level (max bonus 6)
Verbal Component: "Pew pew!".

A vaguely arrow-shaped projectile, made entirely of magical force shoots from the caster's pointed finger. Provided the bad guy is visible to the caster, the projectile will strike for damage - no form of mundane defense, be it armor, shields or frantic dodging, can save their sorry butt. At 6th level, the caster creates 3 projectiles, which can be distributed between up to 3 targets. The projectiles are visible, with as many mad styles added to their appearance as the caster wishes.

Followups: Fusillade (11th level), Magic Sniper Shot(18th level)
Quote: "Magic Missile never misses. But for a first level spell, you can't expect perfection, and the truth is that Magic Missile does leave marks on its target. What's more, to the hound with the right nose, the wounds absolutely stink of arcane residue. Slay someone in town with it, and you could find yourself pincered as the only possible culprit. Be warned." - Tagosh the Gunslinger.