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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7415289" data-attributes="member: 996">I see the issue.  The way the casting sub-systems of 5e work, there will always be some spells that are better than others and 'crowd out' alternatives, making casters & the game 'samey,' to a degree.  It's not the fault of spells not being perfectly designed - it's impossible to so perfectly balance spells that in every situation, each spell is exactly as attractive, and very hard to balance them even well enough that a few obvious best spells don't bubble to the top across many situations - rather, it was giving everyone spontaneous casting and lots of slots that has made some spells ]de rigueur and others passé, when you're a spontaneous caster you cast the best spell you have for the situation, every time.  It doesn't matter if it's crowding out second-best spells because they both have concentration, or because you're casting the best spell every round.  It's the uber-flexibility of 5e neo-Vancian that makes it hard for a second-rate spell to get it's moment in the sun.No amount of fine-tuning of also-ran spells will ever quite fix that.  Neither will bringing back layered buffs by backing off on concentration, the one remaining non-trivial limitation on 5e casting.Bringing back Vancian casting might help, a little:  casters will have to choose between spamming the generally best spell, and having some situationally best spells on tap.  Still not great, certainly, but not as lame.  If you really want casters to take a tour of the spell list every day, limit each spell to being cast 1/day, no matter how many slots you have... so like Vancian, but no memorizing the same spell twice!</blockquote>

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