D&D 5E (2014) banning Create Food & Water spell in Thule?

Sure, the gods in that realm aren't supplying those spells. Just make sure that the same penalties apply to NPCs and you're good.
So... desperate people will come and try to scavenge food from the PCs too :p
 

log in or register to remove this ad


Yeah I think if you want a harder survival aspect sounds like a good idea to me, either to ban it or at least remove it from the PC spell lists (as I have done with raise dead, revivify and resurrection).

Alternatively yeah maybe reduce effectiveness to food/water enough for a single person only?

I was also thinking about this sort of thing myself on the train today, using Thule and the rarity of magic and how spammable rituals are. I was thinking maybe there could be a once/day limit on rituals in Thule. Makes it much harder to spam detect magic, for instance. So you could use each ritual once per day. Hmm or possibly increase the time required to cast it, instead of 10 mins, could be 1 hour, perhaps?

What do folks think ?
 


I don't think I'd worry about spamming detect magic. There's so little to detect that it's not a big deal. Other ritual spells might be more effective though. I could see animal friendship and speak with animals being a very big deal.
 

I was also thinking about this sort of thing myself on the train today, using Thule and the rarity of magic and how spammable rituals are. I was thinking maybe there could be a once/day limit on rituals in Thule. So you could use each ritual once per day. Hmm or possibly increase the time required to cast it, instead of 10 mins, could be 1 hour, perhaps?

What do folks think ?
D&D has always been a very high-magic game, so it has trouble with many traditional themes and particularly with 'man vs nature' conflict. 5e, in spite of dialing back magic items a bit, has high-magic issues as much as ever, because casting is so common among 5e pcs, and the caster mechanics can lead to very efficient use of spell slots.

That said, the DM has the tools he needs to fix it. Banning spells that get in the way of the campaigns theme is an obvious first step. For rituals, tying the ability to use rituals to success in survival efforts in the first place could be a way to go. A ritual requires a controlled environment and time un-disturbed. A character exposed to the elements or suffering from exhaustion or privation may not be able to perform rituals at all, or may have to attempt even a simple one repeatedly to have a chance of success - think 'To Build a Fire.'
 

You might want to change the Outlander background feature if you do this for the same reasons.

The proviso in the Wanderer description is self-limiting to an extent. You can easily just rule that the majority of areas simply don't provide enough berries, small game, water etc. for this class feature to kick in.

Alternatively, just house-rule it to granting Outlanders advantage on foraging checks. That way they're still doing better than other characters, but they're subject to the difficulties that would affect anyone else trying to find sustenance in the same area.
 

For rituals, tying the ability to use rituals to success in survival efforts in the first place could be a way to go. A ritual requires a controlled environment and time un-disturbed. A character exposed to the elements or suffering from exhaustion or privation may not be able to perform rituals at all, or may have to attempt even a simple one repeatedly to have a chance of success - think 'To Build a Fire.'
You could also have rituals only be possible to perform in certain locations, either man-made or natural. A shaman's hut would be a good example of the first where the shaman has spent a lot of effort to attract magic to his hut. You can also have sacred groves, magical hot springs etc where the spirits are strong and magic is naturally potent. Discovering such places on their adventures is fun for the players, while as a DM it lets you limit ritual spam.
 

Rather than ban, I think it's always good to adapt spell effects to the environment. Create Food & Water in the arctic, I'd likely have the water be frozen - ice. If it's a tundra region I'd let it create edible lichen & berries at least, but maybe the effective calorie supply is lower while PC needs are higher, making it less effective. In a really extreme case - Para-Elemental Plane of Ice - the 'food' might be crystalline, edible to planar natives but not to travellers from other planes.
 

Any thoughts on just outright removing these spells from the setting?

Any thoughts? Yes. Remove it.

Often what makes a campaign setting unique is not simply what's allowed by what isn't allowed. Saying no means there are boundaries that simply are not crossed, making certain choices more difficult and forcing everyone (and not just the players) to make the arduous journey rather than the easy one. This creates scarcity which increases value. Whenever you decide to cut out spells, classes, and abilities, you need to realize that it will increase the value of other powers. For example, in such a world Purify Food and Drink will increase in value and may need to increase in spell level.

By the same token, you may want to remove magic items that mimic these spells or limit those abilities to artifacts and legendary items.
 

Pets & Sidekicks

Remove ads

Top