D&D 5E Casting a spell in a lower-level slot?

[Dausuul]

My primary question about houserules is:

What problem are you solving, and how does your proposed solution go about resolving that problem?

Here, I'm really not sure what the problem is.

Same here. Wizards have a bunch of limits on their spellcasting. That's a feature, not a bug. What makes this particular limit into a bug that justifies going well out of your way to fix it?

 

[Satyrn]

I've actually been thinking about something very much like this, but not with existing spells. I've been thinking of crafting some spells with an "At Lower Levels" entry to allow this. But I wouldn't let someone use a 1st level slot to cast fireball (even ignoring that it would do 6d6 if you reverse the '+1d6 per slot level' paradigm).

I think it might work better if downcasting was -2d6 per slot level.


(I also think fireball's damage is too much as written, and if it was in line with others, the -2 dice would fit it and other spells better)

 

[Henry]

I think it might work better if downcasting was -2d6 per slot level.


(I also think fireball's damage is too much as written, and if it was in line with others, the -2 dice would fit it and other spells better)

Even then, do you know any other 1st level spells that deal 4d6 damage in a 20 ft radius blast? It makes burning hands look like crap.

If you were to do a system like this, just like in the default rules, you would have to write up an "at lower levels" as a case by case for each spell.

Hold person? At -1 level, target is slowed, 1 round per level, save to end, doesn't take their action to break.

What happens to a lower-level time stop? It's already possibly 2 turns at normal level.

 

[Satyrn]

Even then, do you know any other 1st level spells that deal 4d6 damage in a 20 ft radius blast? It makes burning hands look like crap.

If you were to do a system like this, just like in the default rules, you would have to write up an "at lower levels" as a case by case for each spell.

Hold person? At -1 level, target is slowed, 1 round per level, save to end, doesn't take their action to break.

What happens to a lower-level time stop? It's already possibly 2 turns at normal level.

Aye.

I do keep saying this would take some effort to get working well.

 

[Henry]

Aye.

I do keep saying this would take some effort to get working well.

One of the best efforts for soemthing like this was done for MonteCook's Arcana Unearthed game system, for 3e rules, where each spell had a lesser, normal and greater effect, depending on if you cast it from a slot one level less, same level, or one level higher. There are some effects that just don't scale well to low levels.

 

[Caliban]

This might work better as a new Metamagic option for sorcerers, but it would still end up being one of the more complicated metamagics unless the type of spells it affected were severely restricted.