D&D 5E How Should 5E Magic Work?

[kitsune9]

Yikes, you would want three different ways to cast fireball? That sounds like a bookkeeping nightmare. (Inevitably, someone is going to want to multiclass and play a Wizard/Sorcerer/Warlock. )

Sounds like that appeals to the powergamer in me!

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Why no multiple choice. I want Powers + Vancian.

Examples for Wizard Spells
The Lesser Form of a spell can be invoked as long as the spell is prepared.

The Greater Form is more limited, the caster usually has to take a short rest to cast either the lesser or the greater form again.

The True Form can be only cast once per day, as it releases the majority of the pattern, and it requires an extended rest of the caster to eradicate the last traces - and he must do so even if he wants to prepare the spell again. Still the remains of the pattern can be sorted and brought into form, but this requires a short rest. If done so, the caster can use the Lesser and Greater Forms again, even though the True Form will remain unavailable to him.

Notes:
The spells are basically "balanced" as they probably would or could be in 4E. The rule saying that you cannot use a greater or true form of the spell after you've used the greater form, and not use the Lesser and Greater Form after you#ve used makes the Wizard magic "more complicated" - you have to decide early on in any given engagement whether you want to use the Daily version of the spell or not - and you may find yourself entirely out of magical spells after you've cast all of your True Forms. To compensate, the True Forms of the spell are stronger, though, than "normal" 4E dailies would be.

Definitely a good bit more book keeping. I'd be more tempted to leave it at you have a choice of which forms of spells to memorize and you get a certain number of each type of form. You can 'downcast' a spell if you really want to for whatever reason, and you can pick which forms of each spell to memorize at the start of the day. That gets rid of the extra complexity and gives you a good deal of the type of flexibility wizards have typically had.

I would just extend this whole discussion to say that there would be no distinction between utility and combat magic in this system. You can always fall back on ritual forms of niche utility spells, or memorize them if you're not expecting to need a lot of combat power. Some spells might have lesser forms that are purely utility in nature (or greater forms for that matter, and possibly Pure forms). Mixed powers like that would be a bit more interestingly flexible too as downcasting might have some real benefits now and then.

 

[Bobbum Man]

Actually...I kind of like Legend of Anglerre's magic setup.

For those of you not familiar, you have spell groups that are divided into themes, like Weather Magic, Warding Magic, Elemental Magic, etc. These are essentially skills that characters can advance.

So with each type you have trappings (stuff that can be done at-will) and stunts (which cost resources).

For instance, with Elemental Magic you get the following trappings:

• Create a gust of wind that knocks someone down
• Create a burst of flame that causes fire damage and ignites flammable objects
• Freeze a small area and cause penalties to the targets movement
• Conjure a cloud of dust that obscures a small area

In addition, you would have the following stunts:

• Create a slashing vortex of wind that damages foes within a larger area
• Wreath a target in flames causing him/her/it to burn continuously
• Surround a target in a prison of solid ice
• Conjure a thick coat of stone that protects you from damage

I could see something like this being adapted to a more D&D-esque structure.