Benjamin Olson
Hero
Tying the spells to slots on a per level basis is an absurd constraint that adds nothing of value and boils down to saving them a column for "total spells prepared" on the character level grid. It isn't making anything simpler; it is making things needlessly more stressful and complicated. It's needlessly bringing back a bit of old Vancian accounting without any reason or justification. It is the dumbest aspect of 5.5 revealed thus far by a country mile, and the only remote saving grace (the only reason I might even still bother with an addition that insists on that and so far adds so little of value) is that it is at least easy to houserule around.
I also take it as indicative of WotC's misguided belief that top level simplicity invariably equals accessibility. Yes it is fewer columns in a grid, but that doesn't make anything easier, any more than having one Arcane list than making Bards dig out their spells from it by school makes anything easier.
Fortunately I have a solution. I will simply mention in a survey that they could, potentially, base spells prepared on Proficiency Bonus somehow instead, and while I doubt anything else I said would even really be given a second thought I'm confident that WotC's mad infatuation with the PB means that any stray mention of a new way to use it will be the only thing discussed at WotC headquarters that day. The PHB could already be in production and they'd stop the presses.
I kind of like divorcing the spells you can prepare from ability score. Playing a caster with a mediocre casting stat is punishment enough without also limiting their spells prepared. But there's no reason that such a change should have anything to do with spell slots.
I also take it as indicative of WotC's misguided belief that top level simplicity invariably equals accessibility. Yes it is fewer columns in a grid, but that doesn't make anything easier, any more than having one Arcane list than making Bards dig out their spells from it by school makes anything easier.
Fortunately I have a solution. I will simply mention in a survey that they could, potentially, base spells prepared on Proficiency Bonus somehow instead, and while I doubt anything else I said would even really be given a second thought I'm confident that WotC's mad infatuation with the PB means that any stray mention of a new way to use it will be the only thing discussed at WotC headquarters that day. The PHB could already be in production and they'd stop the presses.
I kind of like divorcing the spells you can prepare from ability score. Playing a caster with a mediocre casting stat is punishment enough without also limiting their spells prepared. But there's no reason that such a change should have anything to do with spell slots.
