D&D 5E What spells are not Scalable and should be?

[Sadrik]

There are a lot of spells that could scale. Which ones? How much scaling is good? Are there any problems with it?

I think Restoration could scale and include the various versions.
Dispel Magic needs to scale.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Fireball, lightning bolt, magic missile, cone of cold, etc. Pretty much any spell that scaled in previous editions but doesn't in 5E. I guesss the designers looked at 3e and saw how overpowered blasting spells are.

 

[the Jester]

In general, one thing that I think would be brilliant would be to have scaling options other than "MOAR DAMAGE".

For example, for each spell slot above level x, add either 1d6 damage or 20' to the range. Or maybe "If you cast this spell with a level x slot, you can target two creatures instead of one." Or whatever.

A lot of old-skool metamagic could be incorporated into the spells themselves, and I think this would be an excellent thing.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

You mean like:

Range: 10" +1" per level?

 

[zoroaster100]

Yes but not +1" per character level as in 1e or 2e, but +1" per additional spell level slot used to cast the spell. That avoids the exponential increase in power for spell casters.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Fireball, lightning bolt, magic missile, cone of cold, etc. Pretty much any spell that scaled in previous editions but doesn't in 5E. I guesss the designers looked at 3e and saw how overpowered blasting spells are.

I believe the OP was talking about spells scaling with higher level spell slots, not caster level as in past editions.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Here are some other spells I think should scale with higher level slots:

Chain Lightning: could add additional secondary targets or more damage.

Find Familiar: could give you more familiar options with higher level slots, much like the old improved familiar feat. Things like imps and pseudo-dragons.

Fly, Haste, Freedom of Movement, Polymorph: I'd like to be able to cast these on more people at a time with higher slots, much like the air walk spell.

Gust of Wind: could let you create faster wind speeds with higher level slots.

Slow: could let you affect additional targets.

Summon Monster: I know it's not in the game yet, but this is one spell that would work well with slot-scaling, rather than having 9 different versions of the same spell.

 

[Squidmaster]

There was an old version of this thread a month or two ago that hit a lot of the spells mentioned plus several others. It might be worth digging that up and linking it in.

 

[Zardnaar]

Fireball, lightning bolt, magic missile, cone of cold, etc. Pretty much any spell that scaled in previous editions but doesn't in 5E. I guesss the designers looked at 3e and saw how overpowered blasting spells are.

This. Thankfully one can still buy various versions of D&D that are not made by WoTC.

 

[1of3]

Find Familiar: could give you more familiar options with higher level slots, much like the old improved familiar feat. Things like imps and pseudo-dragons.

Nice idea, although I think, spell slot is not really the limiting factor in this case. The slot is not blocked while the familiar serves you, as it is with Animate Dead. You just cast it once. The cost therefore is knowing the spell and spending the 100 gp. So in order to "find" a more powerful familiar the gp costs should be higher.