D&D 5E Creating new spells

[shadowoflameth]

What has your experience been with 5e in creating new spells?

The PHB allows the Wizard to record spells that he finds, but 3e and older editions allowed creating new spells. To align with the rules in the PHB for copying spells, my thought is to allow (with DM approval) a character that can record spells i.e. wizards to do it with a research facility that costs 500gp. to establish (as in prior editions) and 100gp. per level required to cast it. i.e. 1,700gp. for a 9th level spell plus another 450gp. to record it. So a total of 2,650gp. to do it and requiring 53 days to do it.

That isn't a lot of gold at that level and I thought of making it like item creation, but the rules in the 5e PHB for making items don't tie item cost to a particular level. It's a lot more gold at higher levels in any case. What have you DMs done in your games?

Anyone's experiences in campaign especially if you ran into problems would be appreciated.

 

[Redthistle]

There's a lot of latitude in 5e for DMs to use their own sense and imagination.

You're "sensing" that creating a high-level spell seems too easy.

One thing to build into it might be to add in the costs of the material components that were tried and found ineffective in making the wanted spell work. Drug companies spend a whole lot of time and money testing different chemical combinations for both safety and effectiveness. It's part of why they make the news for incredibly expensive dosages when the medication gets introduced to market - they need to recoup all the money they spent on the experiments that failed (another part might be greed and the desire to gouge a market backed into a corner - just saying).

Assembling the right mix of material components can be very time-consuming, maybe requiring whole adventures to acquire rare components.

The longer the wizard takes to find the right combination, the more lifestyle expenses mount, too.

Maybe some of those failed efforts failed spectacularly. Add in the cost and time of repair and healing. Maybe legal costs, too, if you injured any of your neighbors or damaged their property. That could even get you time in the local dungeon, delaying your research further.

Fun, fun, fun in the slow-you-down "dun". (Oops! Sorry. Beach Boys on in the background.)

I hope these ideas help kick-start your own imagination.

 

[Arnwolf666]

Magic is not and should never be looked at like a pharmaceutical company or any corporation. My opinion only.

 

[shadowoflameth]

I am sensing that it could be too easy at higher levels. I like the material components adding to the cost. I was thinking too that I might say invention only occurs so often and that if you create a new spell it must be one of your spells known which makes sense to me.

 

[the Jester]

I'm totally into creating new spells and totally love pcs doing the same. I'm not sure how I would adjudicate the time and money required, but I do require the character to construct a stronghold before researching new spells; it is one of the many things that ties a pc to the world very strongly, and so I like to encourage it with a number of mechanical benefits. (Another: If you have a stronghold and you finish a long rest in it, you gain inspiration. Another: If you have a stronghold, you gain followers. Etc.)

I am also a huge fan of the passage of time in the game, so I love that building a stronghold is a long undertaking, requiring months or years and tons of money, and I like the idea of spell research likewise taking weeks to years, depending on the spell.

I'd probably default to something like the 1e spell research system.

 

[Arnwolf666]

2E Wizards Handbook had great rules for spell research. Constructing a library, equipment, etc. I personally don't like to use gold pieces as much as telling the players specifically what they need to find. Yeah that is some gp for lab equipment. But I prefer searching for the components rather than just handing out gold for the rare and exotic material components. But that's just me.

 

[Arnwolf666]

One thing you can do is place a check to find the material component. Especially if it is something that can't be found in a store. And a time limit for each search, as well as in some cases a time limit that the material component is good. Think foraging check in the wilderness, or gather information in the cities.

 

[Ancalagon]

I let a computer do it for me. I will soon unleash Finger of Enftebtemang and Conjure Velemert upon my campaign!


see http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...of-ending-humanity-creates-new-D-amp-D-spells

 

[Marshall Eastin]

One thing that I would say is you can make a pretty fun adventure out of spell crafting. Much like the rules say about crafting magic items, the knowledge of spell crafting has been long lost and forgotten, the spells that exist today are just ones that have been passed down from master to student or found in archeological discoveries. So you can have a wizard hear a rumor about a ancient magic library that may contain lost knowledge. Now that can be knowledge of how to make new spells or a spell that the player would like to cast. Make a quest about it. Don't just say "yeah you can make spells or whatever". Give the player some obstacles to overcome. For example after finding the method to creating new spells he may discover that a key component to creating spells could be dragon's blood or something that can't be simply purchased.

 

[Mohammed Al-hashimi]

A spell of my character's creation. This took her 375 days to create, 1,395 gp to produce and perfect. The way it was calculated is as follows:

125 days per spell level
465gp per spell level

The GM gave me these rules since we were a gratuating class of Wizards who all had ideas of spells we wanted to invent xD

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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]School: Conjuration 3rd Level[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Cast Time: 15 Minutes[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Components: VSM (A potion of healing worth a minimum of 50gp)[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Duration: 8 Hours[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]You create a well of restoring abilities that is 15ft in radius, floating 2.5 feet above the ground. Depending on the healing potions used, a creature can restore its health by a certain amount as per the list below. Once a creature drinks from the well, it can only gain its benifits again after 24 hours.[/FONT][/FONT]
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• [FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText]Potion of Healing: 10 points of health[/FONT]
• [FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText]Potion of Greater Healing: 16 points of health[/FONT]
• [FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText]Potion of Superior Healing: 40 points of health[/FONT]
• [FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText]Potion of Supreme Healing: 60 points of Healing[/FONT]

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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]If this spell is cast once everyday in the same location, it will become permanent and even restore the visage of youth. However the creature drinking will need to drink again the next day to remain youthful. [/FONT][/FONT]
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