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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 6649905" data-attributes="member: 12731">Essentially, you're saying &quot;you can cast a level 1 (or 2) buff without concentrating [on it yourself] by using a level 4 slot&quot;.And that's not what I want &quot;Confer SLA&quot; to be.Consider the theoretical limitation &quot;the transferred spell does not function within 300 yards of you [the imbuer]&quot;. That is, the spells you transfer to others can't be used to help in your fights.Suddenly, all the balancing concerns go away. Indeed, the spell limitations starts looking very stingy indeed. (For what is such a ability used for in literature if not to imbue your very best spells?!)In other words, if you don't use this spell to circumvent concentration, not to mention action economy (since all your buffs can go online in a single round), it is perfectly fine. The old but wise NPC transferring a potent spell to the young hero. The evil BBEG handing a sacrifical lackey a fireball to assassinate the entire court. Etc.But you can't balance it for that scenario. You need to accept that the spellcaster will want to use it on his allies and henchmen simply to boost his own nova power. (For a high level caster, spending three level 4 slots is nothing, compared to the benefits of getting three important concentration-buffs online at the same time)And balancing it for that scenario means nerfing it so hard it becomes useless for the first, story-based, purpose. Hence you need two spells. Or rather, you really don't need the second spell - you really don't need to add the evil d20 pre-combat buffing race into 5e...! So you only need the story-based spell. The difficulty is finding a reasonable limitation that does the same job as &quot;not within 300 yards&quot; without sounding so unreasonable. A limitation that prevents self-party buffing without needlessly nerfing story based usage. Right now, I don't have any suggestions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 6649905, member: 12731"] Essentially, you're saying "you can cast a level 1 (or 2) buff without concentrating [on it yourself] by using a level 4 slot". And that's not what I want "Confer SLA" to be. Consider the theoretical limitation "the transferred spell does not function within 300 yards of you [the imbuer]". That is, the spells you transfer to others can't be used to help in [B]your[/B] fights. Suddenly, all the balancing concerns go away. Indeed, the spell limitations starts looking very stingy indeed. (For what is such a ability used for in literature if not to imbue your very best spells?!) In other words, if you don't use this spell to circumvent concentration, not to mention action economy (since all your buffs can go online in a single round), it is perfectly fine. The old but wise NPC transferring a potent spell to the young hero. The evil BBEG handing a sacrifical lackey a fireball to assassinate the entire court. Etc. But you can't balance it for that scenario. You need to accept that the spellcaster will want to use it on his allies and henchmen simply to boost his own nova power. (For a high level caster, spending three level 4 slots is nothing, compared to the benefits of getting three important concentration-buffs online at the same time) And balancing it for that scenario means nerfing it so hard it becomes useless for the first, story-based, purpose. Hence you need two spells. Or rather, you really don't need the second spell - you really don't need to add the evil d20 pre-combat buffing race into 5e...! So you only need the story-based spell. The difficulty is finding a reasonable limitation that does the same job as "not within 300 yards" without sounding so unreasonable. A limitation that prevents self-party buffing without needlessly nerfing story based usage. Right now, I don't have any suggestions. [/QUOTE]

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