Apparently, 5th edition is going to have vancian spells scale in power based on the spell slot they're prepared in rather than the caster's level. Would it be possible to have most, if not all, of the spells available at first level? Let's take Fireball, for instance. It could start out as a single target damage spell when put into a level 1 spell slot, increase in damage in a level 2 spell slot and when put into a level 3 spell slot it would gain an area of effect.
Level 1: 2d6 damage
Level 2: 4d6 damage
Level 3: 5d6 damage, 20 ft radius
When put into higher level spell slots the radius and damage would increase, as well as potentially more powerful effects such as lighting the targets on fire and knocking them prone. Hell, at level 9 you could practically have a Meteor Swarm.
This could also work for non-damage spells such as the traditional silent image spell. When put into a first level spell slot you could make an illusory image without sounds, in a second level spell slot you could add sound and smell, and at higher level spell slots you could even have it encompass entire areas functioning as illusory terrain. Charm Person could evolve into Dominate Person when put into a high spell slot and eventually turn into Dominate Monster at the highest level. Summon Monster would summon gradually stronger monsters, removing the need for multiple spells. Bigby's Hand could start out as a minor utility spell and later turn into the grasping and crushing variants. Dispel magic isn't hard to envision growing from level 1 into its 9th level counterpart, Disjunction. Polymorph would allow more and more forms as the levels increased. It would even allow players that want to be teleporting wizards to be able to take Dimension Door straight up at first level. They just wouldn't be very good at it.
You get the idea. I guess there are some spells like Time Stop and Gate which would be hard to scale from level one (although technically Time Stop could be the 9th level slot of Haste...), so some of them might only be available later on. I don't know, I haven't thought this out completely. But to me, this would free up a lot of space and would probably be more accessible to newer players, while still allowing for pretty much all of the incarnations of spells we love from older editions.
Level 1: 2d6 damage
Level 2: 4d6 damage
Level 3: 5d6 damage, 20 ft radius
When put into higher level spell slots the radius and damage would increase, as well as potentially more powerful effects such as lighting the targets on fire and knocking them prone. Hell, at level 9 you could practically have a Meteor Swarm.
This could also work for non-damage spells such as the traditional silent image spell. When put into a first level spell slot you could make an illusory image without sounds, in a second level spell slot you could add sound and smell, and at higher level spell slots you could even have it encompass entire areas functioning as illusory terrain. Charm Person could evolve into Dominate Person when put into a high spell slot and eventually turn into Dominate Monster at the highest level. Summon Monster would summon gradually stronger monsters, removing the need for multiple spells. Bigby's Hand could start out as a minor utility spell and later turn into the grasping and crushing variants. Dispel magic isn't hard to envision growing from level 1 into its 9th level counterpart, Disjunction. Polymorph would allow more and more forms as the levels increased. It would even allow players that want to be teleporting wizards to be able to take Dimension Door straight up at first level. They just wouldn't be very good at it.
You get the idea. I guess there are some spells like Time Stop and Gate which would be hard to scale from level one (although technically Time Stop could be the 9th level slot of Haste...), so some of them might only be available later on. I don't know, I haven't thought this out completely. But to me, this would free up a lot of space and would probably be more accessible to newer players, while still allowing for pretty much all of the incarnations of spells we love from older editions.
