D&D 5E Lets talk about getting rid of "recover all spell slots on a long rest"

[tetrasodium]

Back in ad&d Clerics had a blurb saying it works the same as wizards while wizards according to page 81 of the phb explains it like this

The wizard must have a clear head gained from a restful night's sleep and then has to spend time studying his spell books. The amount of study time needed is 10 minutes per level of the spell being memorized. Thus, a 9th-level spell (the most powerful) would require 90 minutes of careful study. Clearly, high-level spellcasters do not lightly change: their memorized spells.

In short you needed to get a full night's sleep (long rest) & then you had to memorize them at a rate of 10 minutes per spell level, which could be several hours on its own. But if memorizing is changed to recovering your magical energy or something given everyone is a spontaneous caster.

In 5e by default you rest for 8 hours & get all your spell slots back & that encourages the novanova>rest> repeat along with things that make the cost of ignoring slow natural healing/healing kit dependency into a meaningless thing to be ignored

Right now we've got long discussion threads on is 5e the least challenging edition of d&d, & among other things a not insignificant chunk of discussion. In that thread there was some discussion about how changing everyone to prepared spontaneous casters that get all slots back on a long rest shifted the cost of doing things like casting remove curse or ignoring & negating heal kit dependency & slow natural healing dmg options by simply having every caster with a heal spell (ie pally & divine soul sorcerer) list off their unused spell slots/lay on hands & dump them to heal any damage in the party just before getting those slots back along with any/all already used slots on a long rest rather than needing to do either of the things imposed by the GM to adjust the campaign.

This can be improved. If recovering spell slots took a long rest plus ten minutes per slot level it would work out to a more meaningful opportunity cost to burn a spell slot when a long rest seems likely to be available.

If spell slots recovered individually at a rate of 1 hour per slot level after a long rest but allowed them to go back to the ad&d ten minutes per while carousing it would force players to go out & carouse at 10gp/caster level rather than be antisocial murderhobos & give characters something to spend money on while making remote outposts & "lets camp in this closet" difficult in ways that encourage giving forethought in spell use. There would be the added benefit of shifting "the long rest was interrupted" grand central station type forest trying to squeeze in 6 encounters per long rest to what could be a couple days for things to stumble on the party & not get nova'd to dust because the whole point in sitting around is to recover those same resources. Of course a very active town like Sharn, Waterdeep, or whatever capable of supporting an urban campaign long term might be much more expensive, have a slower recovery rate while carousing, or require more involved things than going out & getting smashed with whomever is at a bar


Making wands valuable as daily driver type magic item tools on par with how martial types really value a magic weapon (especially a nice one) would be an added benefit. Wands can shift their recover x each day to recover x per long or short rest with waiting around not counting as a rest & shift to using the caster's DC even if they say they have a set dc.

Pact magic would continue to work as normal since it has minimal slots & the fast recovery fits how warlock is themed.


Anything I miss, ripple effects in need of cinsideration, thoughts, etc?

 

[DND_Reborn]

So, if I am reading you correctly, you want spell slots to take longer to recover if the caster is doing nothing (1 hour) and only 10 minutes while carousing?

Sorry, but I don't think I am following the gist of your post. You were making some sense at least in the beginning, but then it sort of spiraled out to a long sentence without much structure.

 

[tetrasodium]

So, if I am reading you correctly, you want spell slots to take longer to recover if the caster is doing nothing (1 hour) and only 10 minutes while carousing?

Sorry, but I don't think I am following the gist of your post. You were making some sense at least in the beginning, but then it sort of spiraled out to a long sentence without much structure.

close but not quite, that's per level of spell slot per spell slot so recovering 3 first 2 second and 2 third would be 13 hours or just over 2 hours (130 minutes)of carousing but a blurb about how you can only recover slots one at a time rather than just needing to wait for the highest slot.

 

[Prakriti]

The thing is, most groups don't even track time, so players go from "We take a long rest" to "We take a long rest, plus however much time it takes to recover our spell slots." And most DMs will just shrug and say, "Okay." In the end, nothing changes.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Ok, so you are saying that while you are "out and about" you can recover slots one at a time, but if you stay home you wait until you finish to get them all at once?

Either way, how does it make any sense you get slots back faster when you are doing something else and slower when you are studying/praying???

 

[DND_Reborn]

The thing is, most groups don't even track time, so players go from "We take a long rest" to "We take a long rest, plus however much time it takes to recover our spell slots." And most DMs will just shrug and say, "Okay." In the end, nothing really changes.

That is pretty much what I was thinking...

 

[Immoralkickass]

That's gonna be a no from me, bub.

 

[tetrasodium]

Ok, so you are saying that while you are "out and about" you can recover slots one at a time, but if you stay home you wait until you finish to get them all at once?

Either way, how does it make any sense you get slots back faster when you are doing something else and slower when you are studying/praying???

going out being socially involved at a tavern spa or whatever would help recover the caster's lost energy magical stamina or whatever but sitting in a library studying performing religious ceremonies or whatever is mentally taxing in ways that slow that process.

Yea most parties don't track time, but they certainly track things like needing to spend an amount of gold doing something

 

[DND_Reborn]

going out being socially involved at a tavern spa or whatever would help recover the caster's lost energy magical stamina or whatever but sitting in a library studying performing religious ceremonies or whatever is mentally taxing in ways that slow that process.

Ok, that is what I thought you were trying to say. I'll bow out then because that is pretty much the complete opposite of what I think it should be like and how I would play it.

I will say, which I was hoping the direction you were going, was to allow spell slots to be recovered individually, even if at a longer rate, without having to necessarily take a long rest. I'll give you an example: you need a 2nd level slot (for whatever reason), but you're out, and your party is active during the day running errands and such--nothing stressful really. Then maybe 2 hours later (1 hour per spell level), you are refreshed enough to warrant getting that 2nd level slot back, and can then go do whatever it was you needed it for. Later that night, you get in your long rest, etc.

Anyway, good luck with it. Not the way I thought you were going but if helps make the game more fun for you, good luck!

 

[tetrasodium]

Ok, that is what I thought you were trying to say. I'll bow out then because that is pretty much the complete opposite of what I think it should be like and how I would play it.

I will say, which I was hoping the direction you were going, was to allow spell slots to be recovered individually, even if at a longer rate, without having to necessarily take a long rest. I'll give you an example: you need a 2nd level slot (for whatever reason), but you're out, and your party is active during the day running errands and such--nothing stressful really. Then maybe 2 hours later (1 hour per spell level), you are refreshed enough to warrant getting that 2nd level slot back, and can then go do whatever it was you needed it for. Later that night, you get in your long rest, etc.

Anyway, good luck with it. Not the way I thought you were going but if helps make the game more fun for you, good luck!

That might work but was avoided for the same most parties don't track time reasons that came up earlier. It would allow for deliberately pausing somewhere safe for x hours that might not be a full out rest but pact magic complicates that badly