Don Durito
Hero
These rules are based of the Ruins of Symbaroum quickstart. I won’t detail those rules here to save from confusion. The quickstart is free on Drivethrurpg. I’ve adapted them somewhat to work with core D&D. These are rules for making spellcasting a short rest feature. They do not totally remove long rests from the game (which would require a lot of change to a lot of different class features).
The basis of this variant is that casting any spell other than a cantrip costs drain. When a spell is cast the drain = 1d4+Spell level. Each spell adds to their total drain. Anything that uses a spell slot - such as a Paladin Smite, also costs drain.
PCs have a Drain threshold = to Spellcasting Level +Proficiency bonus + Ability threshold.
PCs cast spells with no issues as long as they remain below their drain threshold. When the drain threshold is exceeded, roll a D20. If the roll is equal to or lower than the amount by which the spellcaster has exceeded their drain threshold, then they take a level of exhaustion. (If you want to add a spell mishap table you could have that activate when they roll a 1).
Reducing Drain: During a short rest characters reduce their total drain by an amount equal to their drain threshold. (They do not necessarily reduce their drain to 0. A character with a Drain Threshold of 15, who has accumulated a total of 18 Drain, will be reduced to 3, not 0)
Spells with long duration:If a spell is still active then the drain used to cast it is “committed” and cannot be recovered until the spell ends.
Spells of level 6 or higher: Warlocks never get the ability to cast these on a short rest recharge and that is probably a good thing. Casters also never get more than 1 or 2 of each level. I would keep spells of this level at once per long rest, should a game ever reach this point.
Sorcerer: The biggest potential issue here is Sorcery Points. These will remain per long rest. Of course a Sorcerer going into a short rest with drain unspent may choose to spend some to regain sorcery points.
Warlock: Warlocks are now placed on the same spell continuum as everyone else. Eldritch Invocations are meant to balance out their lack of slots somewhat - so in this version every eldritch invocation requires the permanent commitment of one point of drain. So at level 2 a warlock gains 2 invocations and has 2 drain that can never be recovered.
Wizard: The only issue here is how Arcane Recovery should work now. So maybe this: Once per day when you may take 1 minute to focus your concentration. When you do you may reduce your drain by an amount equal to half your wizard level rounded down.
Druid: Natural Recovery - same as Arcane Recovery.
The basis of this variant is that casting any spell other than a cantrip costs drain. When a spell is cast the drain = 1d4+Spell level. Each spell adds to their total drain. Anything that uses a spell slot - such as a Paladin Smite, also costs drain.
PCs have a Drain threshold = to Spellcasting Level +Proficiency bonus + Ability threshold.
PCs cast spells with no issues as long as they remain below their drain threshold. When the drain threshold is exceeded, roll a D20. If the roll is equal to or lower than the amount by which the spellcaster has exceeded their drain threshold, then they take a level of exhaustion. (If you want to add a spell mishap table you could have that activate when they roll a 1).
Reducing Drain: During a short rest characters reduce their total drain by an amount equal to their drain threshold. (They do not necessarily reduce their drain to 0. A character with a Drain Threshold of 15, who has accumulated a total of 18 Drain, will be reduced to 3, not 0)
Spells with long duration:If a spell is still active then the drain used to cast it is “committed” and cannot be recovered until the spell ends.
Spells of level 6 or higher: Warlocks never get the ability to cast these on a short rest recharge and that is probably a good thing. Casters also never get more than 1 or 2 of each level. I would keep spells of this level at once per long rest, should a game ever reach this point.
Sorcerer: The biggest potential issue here is Sorcery Points. These will remain per long rest. Of course a Sorcerer going into a short rest with drain unspent may choose to spend some to regain sorcery points.
Warlock: Warlocks are now placed on the same spell continuum as everyone else. Eldritch Invocations are meant to balance out their lack of slots somewhat - so in this version every eldritch invocation requires the permanent commitment of one point of drain. So at level 2 a warlock gains 2 invocations and has 2 drain that can never be recovered.
Wizard: The only issue here is how Arcane Recovery should work now. So maybe this: Once per day when you may take 1 minute to focus your concentration. When you do you may reduce your drain by an amount equal to half your wizard level rounded down.
Druid: Natural Recovery - same as Arcane Recovery.
