Hawk Diesel
Adventurer
So I was thinking about how Wizards in 5e and how they use a spellbook and have to prepare spells from their spellbook. Except cantrips. For some reason, Wizards don't need to write down cantrips or place them in their spellbook. But Wizards are supposed to be the ultimate in flexibility of available spells. They have the most spells they can use, and with good planning and preparation should theoretically have the right spell for the job. Except for cantrips.
So, I was considering changing the way a Wizard uses cantrips, and thought I would post it here to see if people had any thoughts or potential for abuse.
So in my planned revision, I am removing the "Cantrips Known" column from Wizards. Instead, when a character gets their first level in Wizard, they start with a spellbook containing 4 cantrips and 6 1st-level spells.
Instead of having access to all their cantrips in their spellbook, they have to prepare their cantrips just like their spells. To compensate for having to use their memorization slots for cantrips, Wizards can memorize a number of spells from their spellbook equal to their Intelligence modifier + their Wizard level + their Proficiency bonus. In early levels a Wizard should have access to one less cantrip, but by level 20 will have access to one more cantrip (assuming they choose to memorize a number of cantrips equal to their proficiency bonus), so for me this seems to equal out.
But now where it gets interesting is that a Wizard can choose to memorize all their cantrips (meaning access to fewer spells) or memorize no cantrips (meaning access to more spells but once they are out, they have NO magic available).
In addition, whenever a wizard gains a new wizard level, they can choose to learn a spell they are capable of casting, or a cantrip.
Essentially, this would mechanically make cantrips be treated exactly the same as spells for Wizards, with a slight adjustment to the number of total cantrips and spells they can memorize to account for having to choose to memorize cantrips.
What do people think? Is there any issue or balance concern that I haven't considered with this mechanic? Any foreseeable problems to be prepared for? Has anyone ever tried this?
So, I was considering changing the way a Wizard uses cantrips, and thought I would post it here to see if people had any thoughts or potential for abuse.
So in my planned revision, I am removing the "Cantrips Known" column from Wizards. Instead, when a character gets their first level in Wizard, they start with a spellbook containing 4 cantrips and 6 1st-level spells.
Instead of having access to all their cantrips in their spellbook, they have to prepare their cantrips just like their spells. To compensate for having to use their memorization slots for cantrips, Wizards can memorize a number of spells from their spellbook equal to their Intelligence modifier + their Wizard level + their Proficiency bonus. In early levels a Wizard should have access to one less cantrip, but by level 20 will have access to one more cantrip (assuming they choose to memorize a number of cantrips equal to their proficiency bonus), so for me this seems to equal out.
But now where it gets interesting is that a Wizard can choose to memorize all their cantrips (meaning access to fewer spells) or memorize no cantrips (meaning access to more spells but once they are out, they have NO magic available).
In addition, whenever a wizard gains a new wizard level, they can choose to learn a spell they are capable of casting, or a cantrip.
Essentially, this would mechanically make cantrips be treated exactly the same as spells for Wizards, with a slight adjustment to the number of total cantrips and spells they can memorize to account for having to choose to memorize cantrips.
What do people think? Is there any issue or balance concern that I haven't considered with this mechanic? Any foreseeable problems to be prepared for? Has anyone ever tried this?