D&D 5E Turn 2 full casters into pact casters

[Aldarc]

Just two? Why not all?

 

[TwoSix]

Just two? Why not all?

I'd be OK with that. I was more interested in seeing the different philosophies of how people grouped the caster classes together.

 

[Remathilis]

Per WotC, a pact caster is equivalent to a half caster with a taller but not wider style. So a good way of looking at it is " what classes could work as half-casters"?

Paladin is the half caster equivalent of the cleric (divine). Ranger the half caster druid (primal). So I would not touch either cleric or druid. Artificer is the half caster version of wizard (arcane) so I wouldn't touch them either.

That leaves the sorcerer, warlock, and bard.

I legit think bard could handle the change to a half/pact system with enough new class features to compensate. The sorcerer could too if you retooled it to be a gish martial class and gave its "alt type of caster" thing to wizards. You could also make all three pact casters and that's the theme of charisma casters.


My honest answer would honestly be "make warlock a real half caster and let pact magic die in a fire" but y'all weren't ready for that conversation.

 

[TwoSix]

My honest answer would honestly be "make warlock a real half caster and let pact magic die in a fire" but y'all weren't ready for that conversation.

I would lean towards killing off neo-Vancian before pact magic; if someone wants a larger spell volume with long rest charging, they can use their new invocations instead.

 

[Vaalingrade]

My honest answer would honestly be "make warlock a real half caster and let pact magic die in a fire" but y'all weren't ready for that conversation.

We were plenty ready.

Our answer was 'no'.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Per WotC, a pact caster is equivalent to a half caster with a taller but not wider style. So a good way of looking at it is " what classes could work as half-casters"?

Paladin is the half caster equivalent of the cleric (divine). Ranger the half caster druid (primal).

Or: move them to pact-style casting. This balances the smite spells better and gives rangers a couple big hits rather than a bunch of little bits. Ranger boons opens up a great way to make rangers able to do many things but not everything, and invocations for paladins could be a great way to make individuals feel more unique.

So I would not touch either cleric or druid. Artificer is the half caster version of wizard (arcane) so I wouldn't touch them either.

Fair, though I like the idea of cleric invocations I don't like the idea of them only getting a couple spells per short rest.

That leaves the sorcerer, warlock, and bard.

I legit think bard could handle the change to a half/pact system with enough new class features to compensate. The sorcerer could too if you retooled it to be a gish martial class and gave its "alt type of caster" thing to wizards. You could also make all three pact casters and that's the theme of charisma casters.

Bard could if you beefed up Bardic Inspiration a lot; sorcerer runs into a weird space where some origins really want to be full casters but others work just as well as half-casters. You might be able to make them work if the player can trade invocations and boon for extra spells.

My honest answer would honestly be "make warlock a real half caster and let pact magic die in a fire" but y'all weren't ready for that conversation.

That's another perfectly cromulent approach.

 

[CreamCloud0]

bard and druid,

to put bard back in that jack of all trades role, a few big surges of magic alongside some great versatility from their selection of invocations alongside their expertise and bardic inspiration.

druid i'd give pact magic but i think i'd also seep some of circle of the moon into base druid, letting them focus a little more on their wildshape schtic being a core of their identity and let them be this class that focuses on having this collection of big whammies to drop, the only problem i'd have with doing this is that it leaves us without a dedicated primal fullcaster, maybe we let nature cleric do the divine soul sorcerer thing and pick spells off the druid's list.