D&D 5E Let's Talk about Scaling 5th Edition Spells

[slobo777]

Example: A 5th level Wizard casts Fireball, and has 5 fire points. He can blow it all immediately on a single bolt for 6d6 total damage (if he hits), or a small explosion (9 squares, 4d6 damage), or large explosion (49 squares, 2d6 damage). He can also fire off one small bolt every round (2d6 damage each) for five rounds, or longer if he concentrates.

These kind of trade-offs are in Runequest's sorcery system, as well as others. They are cool in principle, but difficult to balance in practice. Even just 5 "fire points" with so many options is going to cause players to spend significant time planning/thinking/doing maths.

If we're going this route, we may as well have "Arcane Superiority" dice that get spent to augment sets of basic spells. That way, we can have less dice, and less options/maths to resolve. Instead of 5 dice at level 5, you would have just 2.

Going further - each spell could have a minimum number of dice required to cast it in combat. Any left over dice could be used to augment spells based on a "caster style".

Biggest problem with this, is it is just the (currently new and apparently popular) fighter mechanic recycled for magical skill instead of weapon skill.

I actually quite like the idea of a unified mechanic based on allocating dice from a pool. Or in fact a unifying mechanic in general for PCs. However, it might run afoul of similar problems that many have with a unified AEDU mechanic for classes - every class looks the same, nothing feels special or different enough.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

I actually quite like the idea of a unified mechanic based on allocating dice from a pool. Or in fact a unifying mechanic in general for PCs. However, it might run afoul of similar problems that many have with a unified AEDU mechanic for classes - every class looks the same, nothing feels special or different enough.

I much prefer the use of points (stamina points, power points, whatever) to a dice pool, even though I know it's just aesthetic to some extent. Dice seem clumsy to me. I'm in favour of unified mechanics wherever possible, but only for things that should be united. Physical combat stunts, maneuvers and such can be united. Magic can be united. Putting the two together is a step too far though.

 

[slobo777]

I much prefer the use of points (stamina points, power points, whatever) to a dice pool, even though I know it's just aesthetic to some extent. Dice seem clumsy to me. I'm in favour of unified mechanics wherever possible, but only for things that should be united. Physical combat stunts, maneuvers and such can be united. Magic can be united. Putting the two together is a step too far though.

The main advantage of using dice over simpler points here is that you have two scales - number of dice, and type of dice. Scaling up the type of dice could increase power of a spellcaster, whilst not adding yet more choices for the wizard player to consider.

 

[Ferghis]

Non-combat magic I relegate to rituals, which have their own design space. Casters get an allotment of "free" components every day, and these increase with level. Otherwise, everyone has access to rituals related to the skills they are trained in. That's easy, and doesn't really need scaling.

Getting back to scaling spells, I would keep combat magic is still in terms of daily options, encounter options, and at-will options. As characters increase in level, dailies can become encounters, and encounters at-wills. So Fireball would begin as a daily at what was once level 5 (in 1e and 2e), then perhaps be turned into an encounter at level 8, and an at-will at level 12.

In other words, spells can already easily be promoted among the three usage levels. Why not use those?

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Honestly the first HR I play with in 5e is going to be a port of the Elements of Magic: Revised.

I like the idea of mastering a spell, changing it from a daily to encounter and finally at at-will. Mainly as it shows the skill of practice rather than just getting more tools in the tool bag.

I think there is room for all of these options as magic casting systems, hopefully along side of each other.

It would be cool to have a Moorcock style binding where you don't cast effects but call upon supernatural spirits to do things for you.