D&D 5E New L&L is up

[Thaumaturge]

Here's what i would LOVE to see some house rules for: what happens when you roll a double ONES or double 20s??? Super failure or super success and how to rule it....

I, generally, don't like fumbles or super-crits.

I hadn't thought of it before, but my heart could warm to those ideas for these situations.

Thaumaturge.

 

[caudor]

Here's what i would LOVE to see some house rules for: what happens when you roll a double ONES or double 20s??? Super failure or super success and how to rule it....

Since this is bound to happen rarely, it would be interesting if there was a table...sort of like the wild magic table without the magic.

 

[Nebulous]

Since this is bound to happen rarely, it would be interesting if there was a table...sort of like the wild magic table without the magic.

This is the perfect thing for the DMG to go wild with. Give us options and modules and ideas. The Unearthed Arcana approach.

 

[Tormyr]

If you want casters to have unlimited use of detect magic, you don't need to make it a cantrip. In the playtest at least, and hopefully in the final rules, detect magic can be cast as a ritual, so it doesn't need to be prepared. That means you don't need to spend a precious cantrip slot just to cast detect magic as much as you want (given time to perform the ritual).

As of the playtest, that was true for the wizard, but the cleric still had to have the spell prepared. Ritual casting was a good addition for these kind of spells, because it let the player reserve their spell slots for combat and urgent situations. And they can cast identify when they sit down for a short rest.

 

[occam]

As of the playtest, that was true for the wizard, but the cleric still had to have the spell prepared.

Huh, I didn't notice that restriction before. If it's still in the final rules, I believe I'll be house-ruling it out.

 

[Tormyr]

Huh, I didn't notice that restriction before. If it's still in the final rules, I believe I'll be house-ruling it out.

There was a balance reason for that, however. The restriction for a wizard to use a ritual spell is to have it in his spell book. Cleric's have access to all spells of any level that they can cast. Requiring the cleric to prepare a spell to use a ritual casting keeps them from being able to cast the ritual version of every spell in the list. Personally I think that is a fair exchange and helps balance the wizard and cleric. (Wizard can cast any ritual in the wizard's spell book, cleric can heal, etc., etc.). YMMV

 

[occam]

There was a balance reason for that, however. The restriction for a wizard to use a ritual spell is to have it in his spell book. Cleric's have access to all spells of any level that they can cast. Requiring the cleric to prepare a spell to use a ritual casting keeps them from being able to cast the ritual version of every spell in the list. Personally I think that is a fair exchange and helps balance the wizard and cleric. (Wizard can cast any ritual in the wizard's spell book, cleric can heal, etc., etc.). YMMV

Yeah, I get that, but it really robs a lot of value from ritual spells. If detect magic has to compete with other spells for prepared slots, a cleric is going to be hard-pressed to take it; although, with the greater number of prepared spells now (caster level + Wis mod), not as much as during the playtest. Still, I don't think it's an equivalent restriction to needing it in a spellbook; after a little while, a wizard should have plenty of spells in his spellbook, and that restriction won't matter much.

 

[Kobold Stew]

The same is true (with pressures form a slightly different direction) if it is made a cantrip. Cantrips are limited and (to infer form the character sheet in the starter set) they aren't part of a wizard's spell book -- they are all innate magic abilities, and if a wizard doesn't choose it, she doesn't have the ability to detect magic. As a first level spell, it can be prepared as needed, without using up a truly limited resource, cantrip slots.

(Now of course I realize there are other possibilities: detect magic could be an innate ability of wizards, etc.)

Just to say, I'm not sure making it a cantrip is an improvement for some wizards.

 

[Tormyr]

Yeah, I get that, but it really robs a lot of value from ritual spells. If detect magic has to compete with other spells for prepared slots, a cleric is going to be hard-pressed to take it; although, with the greater number of prepared spells now (caster level + Wis mod), not as much as during the playtest. Still, I don't think it's an equivalent restriction to needing it in a spellbook; after a little while, a wizard should have plenty of spells in his spellbook, and that restriction won't matter much.

While close, I would not say that restricting wizards to rituals in their spell books is equivalent to cleric's preparing ritual spells. While the wizard's spell book will be pretty hefty at later levels, the cleric will have access to every ritual spell of a level the cleric can cast. Although the number of accessible spells (prepared versus spell book) would probably be fairly close between a given cleric and wizard. What I was trying to say was that I feel that when you include this with the totality of everything else the cleric and wizard can do, they feel pretty balanced to me.

I imagine that as a cleric gained levels, a clever player might leave one or two spell preparations open so that the player would have access to any ritual spell. 1 minute to prepare the spell on top of a 10 minute ritual is not much.

 

[jadrax]

The same is true (with pressures form a slightly different direction) if it is made a cantrip. Cantrips are limited and (to infer form the character sheet in the starter set) they aren't part of a wizard's spell book -- they are all innate magic abilities, and if a wizard doesn't choose it, she doesn't have the ability to detect magic. As a first level spell, it can be prepared as needed, without using up a truly limited resource, cantrip slots.

Yes, making Detect Magic a Cantrip is pretty harsh all things considered.