D&D 5E Spell Rarities

[doctorbadwolf]

To paraphrase Brennan Lee Mulligan:

D&D's biggest narrative problem isn't that magic is rare. It's that magic comes from murder. It's a world where kids should go to Hogwarts not to study, but to get to class and then the teacher just says "Alright. Today we're going to be killing goblins. Everyone prepare yourselves and get out your wands!" and then they just -unleash- like 10-15 captive goblins into the classroom for the kids to Murder for XP.

Yeah leveling is absolutely the single most imporant aspect of dnd to treat as an abstraction. Which is pretty close to Brennan's point in that episode of Adventuring Academy, I think.

 

[aco175]

Is the point of limiting magic to wizards just going to push casters to choose sorcerers and warlocks, or hybrids to have something to back up the limited magic- like a Trickster or Eknight? Does this now need to limit those classes or get rid of some of them outright? What about diving magic? The ripples in the lake keep getting larger.

I'm getting a feel of the Darth Vader evil empire and putting their thumb down on certain magic unless you are in the know. This could be a cool idea to play on the fringes like the new republic and have underground locations and secret allies willing to help with some rare spells of their own.

 

[ph0rk]

Is the point of limiting magic to wizards just going to push casters to choose sorcerers and warlocks, or hybrids to have something to back up the limited magic- like a Trickster or Eknight? Does this now need to limit those classes or get rid of some of them outright? What about diving magic? The ripples in the lake keep getting larger.

I'm getting a feel of the Darth Vader evil empire and putting their thumb down on certain magic unless you are in the know. This could be a cool idea to play on the fringes like the new republic and have underground locations and secret allies willing to help with some rare spells of their own.

I'd imagine restricted lists would be restricted for everyone, regardless of class - at least, that's how I would do it.

 

[Reynard]

Is the point of limiting magic to wizards just going to push casters to choose sorcerers and warlocks, or hybrids to have something to back up the limited magic- like a Trickster or Eknight? Does this now need to limit those classes or get rid of some of them outright? What about diving magic? The ripples in the lake keep getting larger.

I'm getting a feel of the Darth Vader evil empire and putting their thumb down on certain magic unless you are in the know. This could be a cool idea to play on the fringes like the new republic and have underground locations and secret allies willing to help with some rare spells of their own.

I haven't decided what I am going to do with sorcerers yet (I am inclined to make very specific spell lists for specific bloodlines, but that is a lot of work) but since sorcerers don't "learn" magic, they can't teach it either. I am 90% sure I won't be allowing warlocks anyway -- those will be something of wonder beyond the wall.

Also, I'm not really imagining the culture at large some sort of Evil Empire that is suppressing magic. Rather, society has just sort of settled into a place where magic is sort of mundane. The whole point of the entire exercise is about wonder and about making the things the PCs discover while exploring the sandbox beyond the wall are not things they (the characters) have ever seen before. NO ONE uses Leomunds Tiny Hut, for example, it is a lost spell. So when they discover it in the ruins of an ancient library, it is special.

 

[Dausuul]

Assuming that there is no central regulating authority, then the main driver of spell rarity would be usefulness to the typical wizard of X level--not an adventuring wizard, but an ordinary scholarly spellcaster earning a living by spell and staff.

And that in turn requires considering the level of the spell, because the typical (wizard capable of casting 1st-level spells) and the typical (wizard capable of casting 7th-level spells) are two very different beasts. I would probably group spells into tiers:

Low-level tier (spell levels 1-2):

• At these levels, the typical wizard is a skilled artisan for hire, living in a good-sized town or city.
• Divination magic (alarm, detect magic, comprehend languages, identify) and labor-saving magic (Tenser's floating disk, unseen servant) are their bread and butter.
• Their combat spells are geared toward personal defense (shield, mage armor) and occasional gigs with law enforcement, which would favor nonlethal spells that are good against low-level humanoids (sleep, hold person).
• Wizards on the other side of the law will favor illusion and charm spells that facilitate crime (disguise self, charm person, suggestion, phantasmal force).

Mid-level tier (spell levels 3-5):

• At these levels, the typical wizard is attached to the court of a wealthy noble, the army of a mighty warlord, or a similar organization.
• To these groups, long-range communication (sending, dream), transportation (teleportation circle, phantom steed), and information-gathering (scrying) are extremely valuable.
• These groups almost always have fortresses and citadels that require area defense (Mordenkainen's private sanctum, glyph of warding).
• Wizards at this level are much more likely to be involved in war. Direct damage spells that can punish tight-packed formations are key (fireball, cloudkill). Even better are spells to shape the battlefield on a large scale (hallucinatory terrain, control winds, wall of stone/force/fire). Duration and AoE size are more important than amount of damage.
• Finally, mid-tier wizards are likely to be tapped to deal with magical threats, so they will have spells suited to that task. Countering and dispelling (dispel magic, counterspell, remove curse) are routinely expected. Dealing with extraplanar foes (banishment) doesn't come up as often, but when it does, you better have the spell on hand.

High-level tier (spell levels 6+):

• Wizards at this level are so rare it's hard to even talk about what's "typical," but such wizards will either be personal lieutenants of great rulers, or power players in their own right.
• At this level, if a task can be accomplished by masses of mundane soldiers, it is beneath a wizard's notice. Archmages do not waste their time on battlefields.
• Likewise, an archmage is unlikely to expend magic on luxuries that can be purchased with money.
• Thus, the focus shifts to things that only a high-level spellcaster can do. This includes travel over great distances and to other planes (plane shift, teleport, gate, astral projection); personal protective magics of immense power (foresight, invulnerability, mind blank); and making disposable copies of oneself (simulacrum).
• One spell in particular deserves special notice: Clone. This spell combines a safeguard against assassination with effective immortality. A wizard with access to clone can cheat death and enable others to do so... more or less forever. As such, it will be in massive demand, but those who hold the secret will guard it jealously. (Wish also falls in this category since it can duplicate clone at no cost.)

 

[Shiroiken]

I love the concept, and have used it in other RPGs. However, the sheer number of spells makes this a huge endeavor for a single campaign. Since each setting is going to have different parameters, rarity would vary greatly, making this a massive amount of work for very little payoff.