DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
I guess that I'm not sure the point of limiting to 5th level spells & below.
Well, the main issue is the power of these spells above 5th level. 5th level seems to me a more reasonable cut-off point for what I would want as the maximum ability of casters in this story line.
I will take two spells in particular that, to me, should represent the pinnacle of spellcasters:
Raise Dead and Teleportation Circle.
Consider Raise Dead. You can literally bring back someone who as died! DIED! for crying out loud. (Sure there is revivify, but many tables ban it or have heavily nerfed it as we did). That should be awe inspiring and someone practically unheard of.
Teleportation Circle allows a party to travel thousands of miles in an instant. This takes away a huge part of what I consider a classic element of fantasy: traveling to the destination. We don't see Gandalf, for example, teleporting everyone to Rivendell, etc.
Now, my original idea was to make is so the progression followed RAW and you could not cast 5th-level spells until 9th level, and simply gives a lot more slots so casters can use their spells more often.
By comparison, I think few features of the non-caster classes at higher levels really complete with the power of 6th and higher level spells.
FWIW, I don't want to waste my time with a banned-list of spells, either, when I think the vast majority of them would end up on the list anyway.
So, for the solutions to make high level spells rituals, etc. doesn't really solve the issue as I see it. But I appreciate the feedback and will have to give it all more thought.