Changing your spells known as a Bard/Ranger/Sorcerer/Warlock

[cbwjm]

I'd say run with the one spell per long rest. I don't think that would be really all that unbalanced. If you are worried about them completely changing their spell list around when they have a couple of weeks of downtime, then you could grant these class a bonus spell known (or even just designate one of their starting spells known) which is the only spell known that can be changed during a long rest. This means that most of their spell list is set (apart from the level up change) while still giving them a little bit of flexibility.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Add a downtime option. That is what I would do. On the other hand, downtime correlates with levelling at your table, so that seems not to help.
Maybe a short downtime option of meditation which could be only a single day or a day per spell level.

 

[MoonSong]

How about just giving a few extra known spells? Give your players a list of situational spells to choose from and two or three extra spells known that have to come from these?.

 

[Afrodactyl]

How about changing it to changing one spell known over a 24 hour period of downtime (so, whilst the party are knocking about in a town not doing anything more strenuous than drinking and shopping), and changing your whole spell list on levelling up?

 

[Sunseeker]

I'd provide them some kind of resource. Either a "trainer" sort of person who can help them unlearn one spell in place of another, or some kind of magic stone they can meditate on, or has a fixed number of charges for certain spell levels.

 

[TwoSix]

There's no fixed number. It's more like "this is the level 5 adventure", and everyone is level 5 on that adventure for however long it takes. Then there's a period of downtime and a couple months later or next spring some new danger arises and the heroes need to band together again, but now they're all level 6 or 7.

It's supposed to model that reaching level 20 is something that happens over a lifetime of adventure.

Give it a more mystical or fairy tale feel and have it happen once every equinox, or once every full moon.

 

[5ekyu]

I am looking for feedback on a potential house rule. I want to give the classes with fixed lists of spells known (Bard, Ranger, Sorcerer, Warlock) a bit more flexibility in terms of changing the spells they know. The default rule is changing one spell when you level up, but I prefer to run campaigns with lower power levels and slower advancement, so they're effectively stuck with a fixed spell list.

The easiest solution just seems to be allow them to change 1 spell when they complete an LR. So they have access to their full class spell list but (unlike a Cleric, Druid, or Paladin) can't retool their entire spell list overnight.

That feels a little generous to me though, but the headache of tracking 1 spell per week doesn't seem worth it.

Any thoughts on whether 1 spell per LR would be a problem? Or suggested alternatives?

Access to the whole list anf changing one at long rest allows a lot more utility. Its not so much a combat shift as it is a significant boost away from their sort of "specialist role" especially for say warlocks who get cleric spells woth right patron.

Makes the invocations that grant you a spell that burns slot mostly useless too.

To me, its a major change.

In my game advancement takes a while too. They gain a new level every couple months real time (8-10 sessions)

At that rate, i would not consider it.

If i were going to consider it there would be a cost, like exhaustion or maybe an invocation that allows a daily switch of one with exhaustion.

 

[Li Shenron]

I am looking for feedback on a potential house rule. I want to give the classes with fixed lists of spells known (Bard, Ranger, Sorcerer, Warlock) a bit more flexibility in terms of changing the spells they know. The default rule is changing one spell when you level up, but I prefer to run campaigns with lower power levels and slower advancement, so they're effectively stuck with a fixed spell list.

The easiest solution just seems to be allow them to change 1 spell when they complete an LR. So they have access to their full class spell list but (unlike a Cleric, Druid, or Paladin) can't retool their entire spell list overnight.

That feels a little generous to me though, but the headache of tracking 1 spell per week doesn't seem worth it.

Any thoughts on whether 1 spell per LR would be a problem? Or suggested alternatives?

I don't think it would be a problem at all.

In theory it would give those characters an edge, should the need of a specific spell on a specific day arise, but in practice this is seldom the case and since you're playing at low levels those PCs don't actually know many spells at all. So if they needed that Locate Object spell, they will give up one of their few precious spells for a day.

IMHO the game is already slanted in favor of Wizards compared to other fixed-known-spells classes. The Wizard knows almost 3 times the spells a Sorcerer does, without even counting the option of copying spells into the spellbook at a cost. And yet WotC designers, when asked if the Sorcerer isn't a bit too weak with so few spells, they've always said that what matters is that on a given day the effectiveness of the Sorcerer is the same as the Wizard's. So go with their rationale, and let the Sorcerer swap one spell each day, and on a given day she'll be of the same power. You could even let her swap all her known spells each day, and she still wouldn't be as flexible as the Wizard who can always prepare more spells than the Sorcerer knows.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Give it a more mystical or fairy tale feel and have it happen once every equinox, or once every full moon.

Now that's an idea. I should have thought of that. Or maybe make it some kind of vision quest thing. Depends on the class I guess.

You could even let her swap all her known spells each day, and she still wouldn't be as flexible as the Wizard who can always prepare more spells than the Sorcerer knows.

This has bothered me about 5E's class design too. The Wizard knows more spells, can prepare more spells, can cast rituals out of their book without preparing them, and has the same number of spell slots (Arcane Recovery is about the same as spending all your Sorcery Points on slots). Metamagic is nice, but it's not that nice.