D&D 5E At Higher Levels (Upcasting)

[cbwjm]

This is something I wish they'd expanded on. We don't necessarily need linear benefits, but being able to boost things would be pretty cool. Just as an example, being able to upcast Mage Armor to work on someone else would be really cool, if not necessarily powerful. I'm a huge fan of Concentration rules, but I could see a few spells being cast at higher levels without concentration.

I actually created a spell which did that. A summon mephit spell which at 4th or 5th level removed the concentration requirement. You could end up with a small army of them for an hour or so, though there were better spells for getting a lot of them. I think removal of concentration would be a great way to bringing in some more interesting spell combos, and starting it at 5th level means that your still not likely to have many of them up so I don't think it should be overpowered, though I guess that would be figured out in playing.

 

[Lyxen]

This is something I wish they'd expanded on.

They already expanded on it compared to previous editions, by incorporating some metamagic into normal spellcasting. They have not done it for all spells, and in the end it's a question of balance, because expanding these capabilities would also give even more power and flexibility to spellcasters, something that they had to curb in parallel (number of spells, concentration) to reassess some sort of balance in particular at higher levels.

 

[Li Shenron]

I have thought for a long time that upcasting was an area with great untapped potential. By 'upcasting', of course, I mean the stuff some spells have listed under the "At Higher Levels" section.

I suspect that one concern the designers had about this was stepping on the toes of the sorcerers' metamagic feature. I don't want to do that, but I am very interested in expanding the upcasting options for everyone. What do y'all think are some good general options? I'd prefer things that apply reasonably to "all spells that meet requirements x, y, z" so you don't need to edit single spells in the book, just have a list of options.

I agree that I would like even more scalable spells.

I don't think the designers limited those spells because they were worried about penalising Sorcerers. They penalised Sorcerers in other ways and keep doings so (indirectly by favoring others).

If anything, scaling spells actually help Sorcerers not having to spend more of they few known spells.

 

[John R Davis]

Every spell should benefit at being cast with a higher spell slot.
Every cantrip should get a bump at level 5 etc

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

They could have saved some space in the spell list if they spent more time with the upcasting rules:

Cure wounds -> Mass cure wound if CW is casted at X level. (You could even make it reverse-able by smooshing Inflict Wound somewhere in there).

Divine Favor -> Crusader's mantle

Entangle ->Plant Growth

There's probably a simple way of making all Smite spells and Arrow Spells upcasted version of a basic spell.

 

[dave2008]

I have thought for a long time that upcasting was an area with great untapped potential. By 'upcasting', of course, I mean the stuff some spells have listed under the "At Higher Levels" section.

I suspect that one concern the designers had about this was stepping on the toes of the sorcerers' metamagic feature. I don't want to do that, but I am very interested in expanding the upcasting options for everyone. What do y'all think are some good general options? I'd prefer things that apply reasonably to "all spells that meet requirements x, y, z" so you don't need to edit single spells in the book, just have a list of options.

I don't work about toes, so I think duration and range should be on the table for upcasting increases.

 

[Quartz]

I have thought for a long time that upcasting was an area with great untapped potential. By 'upcasting', of course, I mean the stuff some spells have listed under the "At Higher Levels" section.

I think part of the problem is that there are already spells which are upcast versions of lower-level spells. Think Change Self / Alter Self / Polymorph / Shapechange or Flame Bolt / Fireball / Meteor Swarm or Fireball / Incendiary Cloud or Wind Wall / Wall of Ice / Wall of Stone / Wall of Force / Prismatic Wall.