D&D 5E How would YOU nerf the wizard? +

[Gammadoodler]

Hmmm. Been thinking lately about a "casting" roll for spellcasters.

Right now, spells that require a save have after a fashion a casting roll built in - if the opponent makes the save, the spell fails. Those that require an attack roll fail if they don't hit the target.

However, spells that affect one's self or an ally traditionally don't require a roll of any sort, they automatically work. What if this wasn't so? What if casting spells such as bless or invisibility required a "casting check" - something along the lines of DC 8/10 + spell level? Certain circumstances could apply disadvantage (casting on the deck of a heaving ship) or advantage (a spell of your School specialty or Domain spells) to the roll.

Would it be significant? Would there be any knock-on effects (perhaps more slots, since spells can be failed)?

If this was used, should we change how saves are done? The opponent having static defenses like 4E and the caster has to roll to overcome them?

One way of potentially using the casting roll for save spells would be to set the spell DC.

 

[Reynard]

One way of potentially using the casting roll for save spells would be to set the spell DC.

I don't think you need both rolls.

 

[Gammadoodler]

I don't think you need both rolls.

Maybe, maybe not. Need isn't like a super relevant metric here.

Ultimately, the mechanic would work out very similarly to an opposed skill check, and the places where those arise seem, to me, to be very close parallels in terms of narrative (e.g. how different is it narratively to cast Hold Person on a target than it is to Grapple that target?)

Edit: one difficult thing would be what you do with effects that occur even on a save. Seems a bit strange that you could biff your casting roll and still get half damage.