D&D 5E How would you make a campaign that focuses on PCs finding and using new spells?

[Grantypants]

I have a bunch of third-party supplements adding lots of new spells to 5e and I really want to get more use out of them. How can I add new spells to a campaign in a fun and satisfying way? I want to do something more interesting than just giving my players more sources to choose their PC's spells from. Really, I'd like to make discovering and using new spells the center of the campaign. Here are some ideas I had, what do you think? These concepts all require houserules or change some of the core assumptions of 5e, so I'd need to be clear in session zero on what the campaign was going to be about and make sure all the players were enthusiastic about playing under these conditions. For instance, RAW only wizards can learn new spells outside of gaining a new level, but I'd extend that to everyone.

• Some external threat is making it impossible to cast certain spells, forcing the party to seek out new replacement spells while investigating the cause of the spell outage.
• A campaign as a riff on Pokemon, where the party's goal is to "learn 'em all" by filling out a spellbook with every possible spell.
• A curse of some kind keeps PCs from being able to choose the spells they prepare each day. Instead, the PCs get a random set of spells that they may not have previously known. (This might also work as a subclass, and has probably already been written up as one. The trick would be determining what perks to give the subclass in exchange for losing the ability to select the spells they have available.)

Would these be fun to play, or would there be some downsides I haven't considered? What would you do instead?

 

[payn]

Hmm, maybe the PCs are part of a wizard's college. They have been tasked to find spells that are not in the current college library.

 

[iserith]

I would make discovering new spells the only way to earn XP in the game (or at least the best way to earn it). The premise could be something like uncovering the arcane knowledge of a previous civilization lost to time, recently rediscovered by the PCs' patron. This knowledge is coveted by a cabal of evil wizards and clerics dedicated to Vecna who have vowed to get these secrets for themselves or at least keep others from obtaining it. Other, less villainous organizations also oppose the recovery of this knowledge, believing it will lead to chaos and destruction. This sets up dynamic faction play and - who knows - maybe they're right!

 

[cowpie]

You could do the classic trope of the players having to find the parts of a magical artifact, assemble the artifact, and save the world.

Instead of an artifact, have the players rediscover ancient magic spells. As they acquire more of them, they can cast them in unison to create stronger spell effects. Eventually they can reconstruct the master spell, and invoke it to create world-changing effects.

 

[Voadam]

In AD&D where Magic-Users/Wizards only learned new spells from acquiring new ones it was always a part of the campaign. Capturing spell books and trading spells among PCs was part of the fun.

In 3e and 5e this has been reduced significantly with learning new spells of choice just by levelling and in 3e the use of buying spells/scrolls.

For most classes though it is simply a matter of are they on the spell list, and are they the ones the particular PC wants to know/prepare. This in turn is partly influenced by how much the players want to think beyond the PH for spells.

I think a Chaos curse on all spellcasters to randomly redo spells could be fun, but would be cumbersome and the party could easily end up without healing for example at some points. This could also be tuned down by altering how many spells known/prepared are affected.

 

[Stormonu]

Carrot instead of stick tends to get better results.

Perhaps learning a new spell grants XP, as does the first time it is cast (in a significant use, not just casting it during downtime)

Monsters might have weaknesses to new, rare spells - that party can do some investigating to discover

Players could interact with unusual and weird powers who bestow an extra, new spell as a reward for interacting with them (one per Long Rest or such). Perhaps the power wants to see the spell in action for some reason...

 

[Voadam]

Players could interact with unusual and weird powers who bestow an extra, new spell as a reward for interacting with them (one per Long Rest or such).

Fey/Chaos/Wild Magic magic items that give a random spell for the day, Chaos blessings/mutations. Interesting fun options there.

 

[Grantypants]

I think a Chaos curse on all spellcasters to randomly redo spells could be fun, but would be cumbersome and the party could easily end up without healing for example at some points. This could also be tuned down by altering how many spells known/prepared are affected.

Good point. It would probably be a good idea for the party to coincidentally find a reliable magic item that offered healing just to prevent that scenario.

 

[Shiroiken]

The core concept needs a reason for non-casters to be part of the team (assuming you allow them). The idea of granting xp/milestones for discovering new spells is probably the best way to do this. The party working for a wizard's guild or the church of magic is also good.

You need to figure out how to deal with known vs prepared spells. Known casters are going to be annoyed that they can only know what others could prepare, making them much less useful. I have no solution for this one

 

[Grantypants]

One thing I might try is essentially making everyone wizards, at least for purposes of gaining spells. No matter what class you took, you'd start out with a spellbook and 6 first-level spells, then you'd be able to prepare the same number of those spells as your class and level would ordinarily allow you to prepare or know. Copying a spell into your spellbook would only take an action and a check of your spellcasting ability against a DC of 10+the spell's level. Wizards would get advantage on checks to copy a spell of their chosen school. I'm back and forth on whether to also give everyone an extra free specialty school of magic (thus allowing wizards advantage on two schools).