D&D 5E All Spells *At Will*??? (+)

[jmartkdr2]

It's more formative dough not even in the oven yet. But do I think it could work? Yes, if you work on it.

A good example comes from Beyond the Wall RPG; when you fail a spellcasting check with a cantrip you can no longer cast that cantrip for the rest of the day. The cantrips are at-will...until they're not.

You've got options, but each carries a bundle of design challenges:

• Rework spells to avoid alphas/peaks - massive undertaking, and may sacrifice fun
• Longer casting times - doesn't play nice with keeping the player involved though
• Risky side effect casting - works against current 5e play style that I see predominating
• Charging up - requiring triggers be met in order to use powerful spells, anti-alpha striking
• Spell burn - taking damage or other harmful effects to cast, potential loopholes

In general I like these, but I think the best option might be to have different classes use different methods:

• Rework spells to avoid alphas/peaks - I'd probably do this for clerics and paladins - most of their abilities would be just as iconic even if they weren't as powerful. Healing might need to use a resource like Hit Dice, but I think bringing back 4e-style HD is a good idea anyways.
• Longer casting times - feels like a wizard thing, they still get their big toolbox but it takes time to dig through it. They'd still get a couple of always-ready options (which can and should be a lot more than current cantrips)
• Risky side effect casting - this feels more like a way to handle sorcerers - they can use magic but they can't always control it (though the side effects need not be quite as random as wild magic)
• Charging up - I would give this to druids, let them build up as they draw more energy form the environment
• Spell burn - this is bringing back resource management in a way, but fungible with some other resource like hit points. Ironically, this feels like a warlock concept.
• For bards I'd just make them roll a performance check to see if anything happens in the first place, although at higher levels low-level effects might become a gimme.
• Not sure what to do with monks, though. Maybe use stances so that the current ki powers are at-will while 'equipped' but you can only access one at a time?
• Artificers would basically lose spells and gain a few more infusions. Perhaps they need to roll to keep the items from breaking after a failed use?

Of course no class needs to use only one method exclusively - clerics might need to make medicine checks to heal beyond healing word, sorcerers might get some charge-based effects, etc.

 

[Minigiant]

Warhammer, Marvel, DC, and Harry Potter has casters who have at-will spell casting.They seem to manage to make it interesting. And the first 3 manage to make it balanced.

The first 3 by making magic unreliable or disruptible or specialized. The first and last make "playable" casters squishier than D&D standards..

 

[CleverNickName]

Wasn't there a thread not too long ago, called "Everything Is A Cantrip" or something like that? The premise was that spellcasters got one cantrip per level, and all spells in the game were adjusted in power level to be cantrips.

(I might be getting this forum confused with Reddit. I read a lot of D&D forums...)

 

[ezo]

Great stuff, everyone! I probably won't have much chance to contribute until this weekend, so I'll do my best to offer feedback and join discussions then.

I will say quickly that, for myself, I imagine:

1. a good number of spells going away (or getting engulfed by other spells maybe)
2. "powerful" spells taking multiple rounds or even minutes or longer to cast
3. some spells made weaker with a time, component, etc. option to be stronger
4. and finally as many spells as possible kept "in the theme" of their original form, but revised at a "cantrip" power-level.

For example, magic missile would remain as is with the following adjustment: instead of three missiles for 1d4+1 damage, you get three missiles for 1 damage each. Perhaps a number of missiles equal to your proficiency bonus? Yes, it is automatic damage, but extremely minor. The biggest issue would be for the "killing creatures due to auto-fail death saves" garbage.

 

[Minigiant]

Just looked.

Looking at the warlock, 5e says 1st level spells at-will is okay at level 9 and level 2 spells at-will is okay at level 15.

 

[Redwizard007]

I keep getting stuck on healing. Any heal spell becomes infinite healing between fights. I've thought of 2 possible fixes.

The first was mentioned early in the thread, 4e style healing surges that are triggered by the spell, but only if you have uses left.

The second, I find more elegant. Healing spells limited not by a dice roll, but by thresholds. A low T1 heal might bring you up to 25% HP, a T2 to 50%, T3 to 75%, and T4 to 100%. Other spells might bring multiple targets to a lower threshold, or have riders that buff the target in some way. Honestly, it could even be a single spell with different options based on caster level. One would still need to rest and use HD to top off, but the magic would give you a head start.

 

[James Gasik]

Does entering a fight at less than full health really affect balance? If anything, given that stat blocks are static and don't assume any resources on the part of the players, I'd think entering a fight with less than full hit points just makes it a harder fight for no particular reason.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

If every spell has genuinely expensive material components, such that constantly using them is a serious expense, then presumptively there's nothing wrong with this approach. The limitation would be resources, rather than resting.

Of course, this just shifts the burden over to the purse. Now the Wizard will want to get every penny, and not let anyone else ever use gold for anything.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Does entering a fight at less than full health really affect balance? If anything, given that stat blocks are static and don't assume any resources on the part of the players, I'd think entering a fight with less than full hit points just makes it a harder fight for no particular reason.

Your last sentence answers the question posed in the first.

"Makes it harder for no particular reason" is a balance question when it comes to combat design.

 

[Horwath]

3e Warlocks. And Dragonfire adepts.

They were great except for being way underpowered compared to wizards, druids, and clerics.

Also with reserve feats in 3.5e