D&D 5E Is this Homebrew Spell Balanceable? - Binding of Infinite Power

[Stalker0]

Binding of Infinite Power (Wizard, Sorceror)
Spell Level 5

Target: Self
Duration: 1 hour (Concentration)

Choose one 1st level spell that you can cast. For the duration, you may cast the spell without consuming spell slots.

If cast as a 7th level spell, you may select 2nd level spells. If cast as a 9th level spell, you may cast 3rd level spells.


So a few questions:

1) My first thought would be 5th level. Consuming your concentration to throw around 1st level spells at will (and your cantrips already scale so its more for utility than damage) seems completely fine, even maybe underpowered. Is there any spell where this would just be utterly broken to use it on? Do you think the duration is fine, or too little/too long?

2) The upscale. That's 7th level for an infinite 2nd level spell, and 9th level for an infinite 3rd level spell. Again seems completely reasonable if not even underpowered, but tell what you think.

 

[jgsugden]

I would change it to create a temporary wand with 10 charges. Each casting costs 1 charge. That will prevent the inevitable abuses of 600 castings of a spell.

 

[NotAYakk]

Celestial sorcerer cure wounds form 6000 HP healed.

I looked infinite spamming L1-3 spells and healing was the biggest exploit.

 

[Umbran]

I would change it to create a temporary wand with 10 charges. Each casting costs 1 charge. That will prevent the inevitable abuses of 600 castings of a spell.

An 11th level Artificer can create a Spell Storing item, after a long rest. It effectively takes a spell of 1st or 2nd level, and allows the item holder to cast the spell 2*Int modifier times.

So, a 6th level spell (castable at 11th level for a wizard) that allows Int mod * 2 castings of a 1st level spell would be in the right ballpark.

Or, don't steal the artificer's stuff - if you want to do this, play an artificer.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Even after hitting level 9 spell levels of power, an hour of at-will fireballs is a major power boost.

Animate Dead and Tiny Servant are also potentially problematic. - I would definitely limit it to 2nd level spells or below.

 

[dave2008]

It depends. For an "official" spell it is probably OP. However, it is highly dependent on concentration and adventuring day. If you (DM) have a tough time breaking concentration on your Wizard and you have more than one encounter in an hour it is probably OP. If you break concentrations easily, then it is not an issue.

 

[Stalker0]

An 11th level Artificer can create a Spell Storing item, after a long rest. It effectively takes a spell of 1st or 2nd level, and allows the item holder to cast the spell 2*Int modifier times.

So, a 6th level spell (castable at 11th level for a wizard) that allows Int mod * 2 castings of a 1st level spell would be in the right ballpark.

Or, don't steal the artificer's stuff - if you want to do this, play an artificer.

So my goal with this was not to create an "imbue with spell" like power, so I probably wouldn't do a wand. A "charge" notion I could do if people really feel its OP.

So far with have.

1) Take an hour and get the party back up to full hp (assuming the wizard finds some way to get cure on their list, which is possible I'm sure). Is that OP? My group tends to do fewer encounters in a day so I'm biased against end of combat recovery being that strong, so I could definitely use opinions here.

2) At will fireball for an hour at 17th level.... is that OP compared to a once per day Meteor Swarm or Wish?

3) With Animate Dead at 17th, I could make 60 zombies in one hour for my 9th level slot. Is that OP?

4) With tiny servant, I could command 60 servants with my 9th level slot, again requiring an hour of prep. Here we might be talking, a real army that is weak but at least has some HP and good condition resistances. 60 of anything in 5e can in theory pack a punch. But for a 17th level wizard, is this going to give him any advantages over summoning big nasty creatures (like elementals), or more damage than Blade of Destruction or a Meteor Swarm? This is at least one I think could have some abuses.

It depends. For an "official" spell it is probably OP. However, it is highly dependent on concentration and adventuring day. If you (DM) have a tough time breaking concentration on your Wizard and you have more than one encounter in an hour it is probably OP. If you break concentrations easily, then it is not an issue.

that's what I'm trying to suss out. I mean at first glance, anything that gives you at-will stuff is an immediate red flag. I mean, how could it not be OP?

But...I thought it about it for a little bit, and I didn't find anything myself that I immediately considered OP for the 5th level equivalent, so now I'm asking the greater group. If we just go beyond the stigma, and ask "with current spells what can a Wizard actually do with this that would be considered "abusive".

 

[dave2008]

2) At will fireball for an hour at 17th level.... is that OP compared to a once per day Meteor Swarm or Wish?

Well Meteor Swarm is already OP, so there is that. Regardless, though I realize it is not exactly the same thing, after 5 rounds of fireballs (assuming 3rd lvl fireballs) you are doing more damage to one area, which you can't do with Meteor Swarm. Now it would take 20 rounds to do the same damage total, but that is only 2 minutes. So it has the potential to be very OP. Though the latter situation is unlikely to come up, the former is definitely plausible.

 

[Dausuul]

I went through the list of non-concentration 1st-level spells, and found nothing much concerning except goodberry, which lets you feed 6,000 people a day - but I feel like that's a problem with goodberry, not your spell. It's also not relevant in a typical adventure scenario.

Unseen servant might pose a problem somehow, but I can't offhand see how.

I didn't go through the upcast options, but by 13th level, game balance is starting to break down anyway. By 17th, it's totally out the window.

Overall, I think this is actually pretty decently balanced.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I'd say Counterspell jumps out to me. A 20th level caster counter spelling every round would be an issue.