D&D General Gaining spell slots (and other resources) during the fight

[FrogReaver]

IMO there’s almost no way a human is going to balance such a system appropriately.

So far you’ve mentioned 1 aspect, abilities get stronger the longer you wait, but there’s still the side of the coin where abilities used earlier in the encounter are more effective.

Balancing this tightrope for every ability is going to be a nightmare and without huge escalating buffs it’s going to be hard to overcome the effectiveness that comes with using an ability earlier in the encounter.

Or the fail state where casters waste some spell slots early in the day so their spells the rest of the day are just more effective.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Every evil wizard should have a wild magic barbarian as a living spell slot battery.

Would be cool if like a darklord or red wizard goes into the battlefield tossing fireballs every round and getting their spell slots from their pet barbarian, then the players break or pick the lock and suddenly you've got a muscular angry dude fighting on your side, or even just fighting both of you.

 

[SkidAce]

An easy thing could be having spells with a cast time of 1 rounds, during which concentration can be broken.

Maybe also spells that need to be powered up by casting cantrip like attacks.

Maybe you cast it with concentration, after which you can either just attack with cantrips or have a weak attack first, but damage escalates exponentially.

1d10 in the first round, 2d10 in the next. 4d10 then. 8d10 then and so on.

Or starting with 2d10 and each time you hit, you gain a charge.
Or for martial characters this could be called momentum. Some characters could get momentum by being hit.

Bolded makes a great monster ability.

 

[loverdrive]

IMO there’s almost no way a human is going to balance such a system appropriately.

So far you’ve mentioned 1 aspect, abilities get stronger the longer you wait, but there’s still the side of the coin where abilities used earlier in the encounter are more effective.

Balancing this tightrope for every ability is going to be a nightmare and without huge escalating buffs it’s going to be hard to overcome the effectiveness that comes with using an ability earlier in the encounter.

Or the fail state where casters waste some spell slots early in the day so their spells the rest of the day are just more effective.

Balance would certainly shift, but I doubt it would be broken beyond repair. I would expect to have to buff healing and other protection effects a lot to enable surviving into late game as a viable strategy.

...and find a way to speed up combat significantly in IRL time.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The philosophy of combat in 5e is this has to be simple and fast. I don't advice it if the combat becomes slower.

The bushi (samurai) and duelist from "Legend of Rokugan" use points of concetration, they earn one in the end of each his combat turn. After the encounter all concentration points are lost.

Some martial maneuvers from 3.5 Tome of Battle: Book of the nine Swords could give some bonus or adventange after a succesful attack.

 

[jmartkdr2]

WFRP 4e has something called Advantage that builds up through successful actions. It might come from successfully attacking but they might also include trying to get a read on your opponent, surveying the battlefield or trying to bluff or intimidate your foe.

There are two optional ways of running it, one has individuals track and they get progressively better at their actions. An alternative (and better way) is by group which grants bonuses to rolls, combat tricks and even extra actions. The nature of WFRPs opposed rolls and armour/toughness soak means some enemies will be hard to hurt and you really need to think about tactics and how you can gain an advantage to break through.

There is a broader question though… why do encounters so often end in death? Why is it always a fight to destruction and not surrender. Why do players or foes not see that the risk of their death is not worth the advantage gained by killing therefore encouraging negotiation and discussion (and be for the point the PCs have overwhelming superiority and are in a clearly dominant negotiating position). It’s possible to extend an encounter without simply engaging in more combat rounds.

My best guess is: players have no ay to guess how likely negotiations are to work. There’s no DC, no procedures, just dms making stuff up in the spot.

I know how the Attack Action works, I know how combat works. If I try to switch to negotiations, I just have to hope the dm lets it work somehow - but I can’t assess the risk because I have no information.

Obviously the solution here is comprehensive house rules for parleys/post-combat negotiations.

 

[NotAYakk]

This is something I'm playing with to discourage alpha striking:

Extended Casting: Starting at level 5, when a Wizard casts a spell that requires a bonus action or an action to cast on their turn, they can choose to extend the casting. The spell does not go off until their next turn when they spend the casting time again to cast it. If they fail to do so, the spell is lost. If they take damage while extending the casting of a spell, they must make a concentration saving throw as if they where concentrating on a spell.

Saving throws against a spell that is extended cast are at disadvantage. Damage dice from a spell that is extended cast are doubled.

You can alpha strike with this, but only if nobody notices you starting to cast fireball the turn before combat starts.

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For Sorcerers,

1. Rework sorcery points to be a short-rest resource. (No more forging new spell slots)

2. As you spend sorcery points you get some bonus to your spellcasting for the next minute.

So as the combat progresses, you'll accumulate bonuses from your use of sorcery points. Big guns used after this are going to be stronger.

You can alpha strike this by burning sorcery points before the fight but that is pretty wasteful (as both their initial and lasting effects are useful; you are wasting the initial effect).

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For Bards,

1. Add more ways to spend bardic inspiration

2. Regain bardic inspiration when you cast bard spells using slots

Not as solid an idea.

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For Clerics, we can have spellcasting boost channel divinity, then channel divinity boost later spellcasting?

A kind of divine pump up and spend?