D&D 5E Spellcasters: Short-rest vs. Long-rest vs. Other

[Redwizard007]

The spell Drain and Success checks certainly evoke the feel of spellcasting on Krynn or Athas, and I love them both for that reason, but how much rolling do we want to add to combat? Spellcasters, in particular, already have familiars, summons, dominated foes, etc that stretch out their turn. Doesn't adding rolls just exacerbate that problem?

 

[DND_Reborn]

Doesn't adding rolls just exacerbate that problem?

It is a major issue which is why I haven't adopted such a system. I go back and forth on this part.

 

[Redwizard007]

It is a major issue which is why I haven't adopted such a system. I go back and forth on this part.

I keep thinking that one could combine the caster's roll with the attack/save roll, or maybe every spell is a success, but the caster has bad things happen when they fail their roll... I don't really like either of those, just spitballing. The first punishes you twice for failing a single roll, and the second might require rebalancing spells around the concept of everything sticking.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I don't care so I voted for the status quo.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I keep thinking that one could combine the caster's roll with the attack/save roll, or maybe every spell is a success, but the caster has bad things happen when they fail their roll... I don't really like either of those, just spitballing. The first punishes you twice for failing a single roll, and the second might require rebalancing spells around the concept of everything sticking.

I am more inclined to go with the drain check instead of the successful spellcasting check for this reason.

With a successful spellcasting check first, you could fail before even getting to make the spell attack or force the spell save (which becomes the second roll in either case...).

With drain, you resist every spell you cast, whether it affects another creature or not.

 

[Baron Opal II]

I've had poor results from success mechnaics. It's awful when your dice are cold and you end up doing nothing. At least as a warrior you can keep swinging your sword.

For the most part I prefer daily recharge / rest. I really enjoyed playing RuneQuest (II) back in the day, and I liked their spell mechanics. There was the Power attribute, rolled similarly as Strength, Intelligence, &c. If your character had a Power of 12, they could cast 12 points of spells "per day". Spells (Battle Magic) ranged from 1-4 points, although some were fixed at a certain value. Coming up on a tough fight, cast Bladesharp (3) on your axe for a bonus to hit and damage. Power goes from 12 to 9.

The interesting thing is that Power did not refresh completely after a night's rest, but rather 1/24th of the total after an hour. It didn't matter what you were doing as long as it wasn't some extended magical working or other exception. In the above case after 6 hours those three points of Power would be restored, regardless of whether they were sleeping, hiding, exploring, or boating down the Zola Fel.

For casters, it would be interesting to have them regain a level of spell power per hour, maybe.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I've had poor results from success mechnaics. It's awful when your dice are cold and you end up doing nothing. At least as a warrior you can keep swinging your sword.

In my vision you would rarely (if ever) end up doing nothing. Worst case scenario you'd probably use a cantrip--which is a kin to the warrior swinging their sword.

 

[Charlaquin]

All recharge abilities! Not only spell casters.
The only usage for short rest would be to spend hit dice, and that way it can be as short as needed.

It already can be as short as needed. It started out as 10 minutes in the playtests, and only got changed to 1 hour because people complained they didn’t want PCs to be able to count on being able to rest and spend hit dice whenever they wanted to. The actual length of time is arbitrary.

 

[Vaalingrade]

It already can be as short as needed. It started out as 10 minutes in the playtests, and only got changed to 1 hour because people complained they didn’t want PCs to be able to count on being able to rest and spend hit dice whenever they wanted to. The actual length of time is arbitrary.

If I wasn't getting actual useful data from my own playtests, I would be convinced by now that playtesting only serves to make things worse in every possible way.

 

[jmartkdr2]

For a radical change: No rests - all spells are at will. You can absolutely balance this if you want to, and it works for any pace of play.

It just means higher level spells don't hit harder. They simply add options.