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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zappo" data-source="post: 1580934" data-attributes="member: 633">I figure that, in a magical world, spells are somewhat like computer programs in real life. They have similar properties: they can be copied rather easily but are relatively difficult to make from scratch. They can be more or less useful, more or less efficient, or obtain the same effect in different ways. People may make one just for themselves, or release it to the public. People may sell them, or they may offer them for free.  So, here's the way I do it. NPCs often have one or two unknown spells which they researched themselves. They may or may not have ever let anyone else copy them, and often they'll just be variants of well-known spells. But few people will make a new spell if an existing one already does what they want.  Spell research follows DMG rules, with the following interpretation. A character proposes a spell to the DM, and then spends the specified time doing research. If the DM decides that the spell is balanced, it happens and that's the end of it. Otherwise, the DM gives the spell enough drawbacks to make it fit the level which the PC assigned to it - basically, the spell tries to do what is required of it but it doesn't have enough energy, so it either partially fails or uses unforeseen tricks and shortcuts to achieve something vaguely similar to the desired result. The PC will probably notice this the first time he tries this, and he will have to research the spell again at an increased level, or decrease its power, or live with the drawbacks.  Picture a wizard, 5000 years ago, developing bull's strength. He thinks that level 1 is reasonable, the DM does not. After the research time, the character ends up with a spell which does increase strength, but it also makes you irritable and dumb as a bull... back to the drawing board.  Additionally, I rule that characters who have some experience in a specific field (fire mages researching new fire spells, for example) may get a reduced research time, just as scientists with experience in the topic can work much faster. This also means that a character doesn't really take as much time to "debug" the latest failed spell.  PCs haven't done much research IMC for now, but I think that has more to do with the fact that the 3.X PHB spells cover the vast majority of all problems that you may want to solve with magic. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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