D&D (2024) Should One D&D Give Spontaneous Spellcasters Reversible Spells?

[Alzrius]

Prior to D&D Third Edition, there were certain spells that were "reversible." That is, you could prepare the spell backwards, and when cast it had the opposite effect. So flesh to stone became stone to flesh, haste became slow, etc. This essentially allowed wizards to double-up on spellbook space for those spells, and gave clerics some flavor in that a lot of deities either had certain categories of spells for which they allowed their clerics to either cast only the reversed form, or only the standard form.

Now, that all went away with the last few editions of the game, but would it be worth bringing back for spontaneous spellcasters such as sorcerers? Given how sharp their Spells Known limits are, this might be a way to allow for some greater thematic diversity in what they can do, particularly as spells tend to be one of the greatest points of proliferation over the life of an edition. In terms of layout in the rules, it would essentially merge two different spell descriptions under a single heading, with the standard listing and then a subsequent "Reversed" section.

Wizards, clerics, and other preparatory spellcasters, under this paradigm, would still have access to the "reversed" versions of those spells, but would treat them as separate, discrete spells (i.e. the way they do now).

Thoughts on this?

 

[Dausuul]

The problem with reversible spells is that very few spells can actually be reversed in a meaningful way. As I recall, the list mostly consisted of cure [x] wounds reversing to inflict; remove curse reversing to bestow curse; and a smattering of transmute [x] to [y] spells.

But one could turn it into a broader concept of "modal" spells, where some casters have to pick a mode on preparation and others get to pick at casting time.

 

[Gadget]

Given how sharp their Spells Known limits are, this might be a way to allow for some greater thematic diversity in what they can do,

Do we know this is true in 1D&D? I mean, sure, in 5e that is a limitation, but the new design seems to be a bit more radical than many were expecting, especially given what they showed with Bards. It could be that they are planning on retaining the 'known' vs 'prepared' spell caster distinction, but if so the Bard would have been a good place to showcase it.

As for reversible spells, I'm not sure how much that buys us in the new 3 list paradigm (unless they keep the 'known' vs 'prepared' distinction). Space in spellbooks has never really been an issue since 1e, that I have seen. I'm trying to think of what spells were reversible. I think the 'cure' spells were, which I'm not sure would be a good idea in modern D&D. There was Enlarge/Reduce, Haste/Slow, Flesh To Stone/Stone to Flesh, Sticks to Snakes/Snakes to Sticks and Transmute Rock To Mud/Transmute Mud to Rock. Maybe Bestow Curse/Remove Curse? IIRC, you had to prepare a 'reversible' spell in the correct form as well; so if you needed Slow but prepared it as Haste, you were out of luck. That could be a limitation that is no longer needed.

 

[MoonSong]

Do we know this is true in 1D&D? I mean, sure, in 5e that is a limitation, but the new design seems to be a bit more radical than many were expecting, especially given what they showed with Bards. It could be that they are planning on retaining the 'known' vs 'prepared' spell caster distinction, but if so the Bard would have been a good place to showcase it.

As for reversible spells, I'm not sure how much that buys us in the new 3 list paradigm (unless they keep the 'known' vs 'prepared' distinction). Space in spellbooks has never really been an issue since 1e, that I have seen. I'm trying to think of what spells were reversible. I think the 'cure' spells were, which I'm not sure would be a good idea in modern D&D. There was Enlarge/Reduce, Haste/Slow, Flesh To Stone/Stone to Flesh, Sticks to Snakes/Snakes to Sticks and Transmute Rock To Mud/Transmute Mud to Rock. Maybe Bestow Curse/Remove Curse? IIRC, you had to prepare a 'reversible' spell in the correct form as well; so if you needed Slow but prepared it as Haste, you were out of luck. That could be a limitation that is no longer needed.

It would really help to differentiate casters and to balance them out. A wizard would still be able to prep more spells than a sorcerer knows, but the sorcerer would be able to make the smaller amount of spells known count by having them be inherently more flexible. In fact this kind of already exists for spells like enhance ability.