D&D (2024) Make SPELLS Balanced

[Yaarel]

Balancing spells involves spell description format. Because of different jargons, different names sometimes refer to the same distance. For example, Touch, Adjacent, and Reach are all part of Melee Range. It helps when all spells reduce to the following distances.

WITHIN: RANGE TYPE
10 feet: Melee Range (or "Engaged") (includes Touch, Adjacent, Reach)
30 feet: Close Range (or "Near") (sometimes called Close Quarters Combat, Very Short Range, Move, or Throw)
100 feet: Short Range (or "Far") (sometimes called Distant Range)
300 feet: Mid Range (or "Bowshot")
1000 feet: Long Range
1000+ feet: Remote (includes "Line of Sight" for very far sights and "anywhere in the same plane")

For theater of mind style, only Melee and Close (meaning within a Move) matter. Anything else is "Far". Spells that refers to any other distance tend to be unhelpful. Generally, the Short Range (100 feet) represents "Far" targets.



Note there are midway points, but spell descriptions should avoid them. For example, a Dash allows a "double move" of 60 feet. Generally, a double-range can sometimes be meaningful: 20 feet, 60 feet, 200 feet, 600 feet, 2000 feet. But there is no helpful reason for spell descriptions to refer to these extended distances. The double-ranges become micromeasurements that are unsuitable for mind style.

The reason mind style requires simplistic distances is because the DM and each player is visualizing the scene in ones own imagination. Each mind visualizes the scene somewhat differently. But any combat details must be understandable in ways that are compatible with each others visualization.

Moreover, using simpler English terms like "Close" or "Near", rather than math calculations, helps focus on the narrative of the scene and, especially along with active visualization, encourages a distinctive experience referred to as "immersion", where in an apperceptive way one experiences being there, sensorily. It is like reading a novel, and one is seeing the scene rather than the words on the page.

Grid style is for a different purpose, and for it, moving minis to count out spaces and using string to pull circles can make micromeasurements useful. But grids can implement the distances of 10, 30, and 100 feet, just as easily.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

1st SLOT

Obsolete Spells − 5e skills obsolete this spell − NEEDS RETHINK
Identify → Arcana skill → short rest automatically identifies any magic item
Comprehend Languages → History skill
Jump → Athletics skill
Animal Friendship → Animal Handling skill
Detect Poison and Disease → Medicine skill
Snare → Survival skill
Detect Planar/Good/Evil → Religion/Arcana skill
Detect Magic → Arcana skill (this spell is excellent but works better as skill)

Skills should be better than spells. You don't get to repick your skills each day. At best, the spell should match a trained skill. The swiss army knife should never be the top pick for any single use.

I'd prefer how PF2E does it, where the spell can let you make a check, or enhance the skill of another trained person, to encourage teamwork. Knock, for example, gives a +4 bonus to Thievery. It lets you make the check untrained, but is better cast in coordination with a skill monkey. This way everyone gets to feel good.[/spoiler]

 

[Yaarel]

Skills should be better than spells. You don't get to repick your skills each day. At best, the spell should match a trained skill. The swiss army knife should never be the top pick for any single use.

I'd prefer how PF2E does it, where the spell can let you make a check, or enhance the skill of another trained person, to encourage teamwork. Knock, for example, gives a +4 bonus to Thievery. It lets you make the check untrained, but is better cast in coordination with a skill monkey. This way everyone gets to feel good.[/spoiler]

The Invisibility spell can simply be make a Dexterity (Stealth) check to Hide − despite being in plain sight.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

That is my point of view too.

A 3rd-Slot damage spell should deal 6d6, but if it only does damage and no other effect, 7d6 is appropriate.

Then the Evoker Wizard subclass has a feature to spice up elemental damage spells, including Fireball.

That said, if the 3rd-Slots boosts instead to 7d6 or 8d6 depending on other effects, as long as that is the standard that the rest of the game needs to balance around, that is fine.

The evoker has a way better ability than beefing up the fireball damage right now...
Our evoker does so much damage just with burning hands, which would be impossible if not for sculpt spell.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The Invisibility spell can simply be make a Dexterity (Stealth) check to Hide − despite being in plain sight.

Which it is right now... more or less. Could a bit more explicitely stated.

 

[Yaarel]

Which it is right now... more or less. Could a bit more explicitely stated.

Making the Invisibility spell more explicitly a Dexterity Stealth check would also help simplify the Hiding rules.

Mechanically, the essential Condition is "Unseen", and it doesnt matter when a Dexterity Stealth check uses Hide while in obscure lighting or Hide while invisible.

 

[Yaarel]

The evoker has a way better ability than beefing up the fireball damage right now...
Our evoker does so much damage just with burning hands, which would be impossible if not for sculpt spell.

I agree. The main motive for the damage boost is nostalgia for the 8d6 Fireball, or rather the gentle withdrawal from the addiction to it.

 

[Horwath]

Balancing spells involves spell description format. Because of different jargons, different names sometimes refer to the same distance. For example, Touch, Adjacent, and Reach are all part of Melee Range. It helps when all spells reduce to the following distances.

WITHIN: RANGE TYPE
10 feet: Melee Range (or "Engaged") (includes Touch, Adjacent, Reach)
30 feet: Close Range (or "Near") (sometimes called Close Quarters Combat, Very Short Range, Move, or Throw)
100 feet: Short Range (or "Far") (sometimes called Distant Range)
300 feet: Mid Range (or "Bowshot")
1000 feet: Long Range
1000+ feet: Remote (includes "Line of Sight" for very far sights and "anywhere in the same plane")

For theater of mind style, only Melee and Close (meaning within a Move) matter. Anything else is "Far". Spells that refers to any other distance tend to be unhelpful. Generally, the Short Range (100 feet) represents "Far" targets.



Note there are midway points, but spell descriptions should avoid them. For example, a Dash allows a "double move" of 60 feet. Generally, a double-range can sometimes be meaningful: 20 feet, 60 feet, 200 feet, 600 feet, 2000 feet. But there is no helpful reason for spell descriptions to refer to these extended distances. The double-ranges become micromeasurements that are unsuitable for mind style.

The reason mind style requires simplistic distances is because the DM and each player is visualizing the scene in ones own imagination. Each mind visualizes the scene somewhat differently. But any combat details must be understandable in ways that are compatible with each others visualization.

Moreover, using simpler English terms like "Close" or "Near", rather than math calculations, helps focus on the narrative of the scene and, especially along with active visualization, encourages a distinctive experience referred to as "immersion", where in an apperceptive way one experiences being there, sensorily. It is like reading a novel, and one is seeing the scene rather than the words on the page.

Grid style is for a different purpose, and for it, moving minis to count out spaces and using string to pull circles can make micromeasurements useful. But grids can implement the distances of 10, 30, and 100 feet, just as easily.

I would reduce the range categories a little. it's too much of them

melee: 5 or 10ft, cure/inflict wounds
close: 60ft, Dash move or general darkvision range: healing word, dispel magic, counterspell, silvery barbs, area denial(entangle, slow, grasp of hadar), various crowd controls(hold, charm, banishment)
mid range: 150ft, bow range: firebolt, magic missile, eldritch blast, scorching ray. summon spells
long: 600ft, bow range with SS: fireball, lighting bolt, dimension door,
special: line of sight, anywhere on the plane, different plance: teleport, meteor shower,

 

[Yaarel]

Part of the reason for these ranges in particular is, they are the curve of magnitudes.

10^0 = 1
10^1 = 10
10^2 = 100
...

The midpoints in between them are:
10^0.0 = 1
10^0.5 = 3.162
10^1.0 = 10
10^1.5 = 31.62
10^2.0 = 100
10^2.5 = 316.2
...

From this comes the round numbers:

10, 30, 100, 300, 1000, 3000, 10000, ...

Each magnitude maintains the precise same ratio across the curve as the other magnitudes. Meaning the ratio can accommodate any size from dust to planets, and beyond. The ratios are equally useful at any scale.

Note, on the curve there are further midpoints:
10^0.00 = 1
10^0.25 = 1.778
10^0.50 = 3.162
10^0.75 = 5.623
10^1.00 = 10
10^1.25 = 17.78
10^1.50 = 31.62
10^1.75 = 56.23
10^2.00 = 100
...

From this comes the "double-ranges":
1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 20, 30, 60, 100, 200, 300, 600, 1000, ...

And of course every point on the curve fills out infinitely.

Curiously, the curve of magnitudes resembles the Golden Ratio, but occurring across decimal magnitudes.

And because 10 feet approximates 3 meters, it is easy to convert these ranges back and forth between US and the rest of world.

 

[thundershot]

I miss the old 1E/2E over the top spells... Polymorph Other, Glasteel, Crystalbrittle, and Mordenkainen's Disjunction.. there were lots of spells that we lost over the years that were just fun and/or scary.

Edit: I thought of a few more that I miss! Sticks to snakes, Duo Dimension, the original Awaken spell that taxed the caster and creature, and of course the ever-annoying Babble!