I would like to see a different Web Spell.

One that starts at 2nd level and grows every few levels until its finally maxed out with an area of 30 feet square, non concentration. and an 8 hour duration.

I wish all spells level 1-8 escalated in power based upon the total level of the caster, just like cantrips do. It would make those low level spell slots useful for Wizards in campaigns where they only have a few rounds of combat between long rests. This would require a massive reworking of the entire magic sysem, so it would make more sense in One D&D or 6e.

Quote from Pheralanpathfinder >>

I wish all spells level 1-8 escalated in power based upon the total level of the caster, just like cantrips do. It would make those low level spell slots useful for Wizards in campaigns where they only have a few rounds of combat between long rests. This would require a massive reworking of the entire magic sysem, so it would make more sense in One D&D or 6e.

They do; your Spell Save DC and Attack Bonus increase based on your proficiency bonus. And it takes hitting 4th tier for a cantrip to have a good shot at consistently outstripping a 1st level damage spell, and 2nd level and above are generally just outright stronger than cantrips even at that point.

Quote from Pheralanpathfinder >>

I wish all spells level 1-8 escalated in power based upon the total level of the caster, just like cantrips do. It would make those low level spell slots useful for Wizards in campaigns where they only have a few rounds of combat between long rests. This would require a massive reworking of the entire magic sysem, so it would make more sense in One D&D or 6e.

Just play 3.5e if you want that. Scaling based on the level of the caster was removed for a reason, and spellcasters don't need more power in a short day.

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Pheralanpathfinder >>

I wish all spells level 1-8 escalated in power based upon the total level of the caster, just like cantrips do. It would make those low level spell slots useful for Wizards in campaigns where they only have a few rounds of combat between long rests. This would require a massive reworking of the entire magic sysem, so it would make more sense in One D&D or 6e.

Just play 3.5e if you want that. Scaling based on the level of the caster was removed for a reason, and spellcasters don't need more power in a short day.

 I wouldn't like to see spells scale just due to caster level, but it would be nice if all spells had provisions to use the upcast mechanic so you can use a higher level slot for better damage, longer duration, larger range/area etc., whatever might be appropriate.

In a campaign with 3-5 rounds of combat per long rest, why would I ever cast a spell below level 3?

As another person pointed out, it might be better to simply make spells scale more efficiently when using higher level spell slots. This was a major though I had the day the PH came out. It was obvious that fire magic was overwhelmingly favored. Trying to build a character around any other damage type not only resulted in the spells doing less damage, but it was hard to even find a spell that did a specific damage type at many levels.

The spell list could have been much more varied by offering most spells as a base level one that scales with spell slot level, while including the various damage types that can be chosen when the spell is prepared or added to a spell book. 

Quote from Pheralanpathfinder >>

In a campaign with 3-5 rounds of combat per long rest, why would I ever cast a spell below level 3?

As another person pointed out, it might be better to simply make spells scale more efficiently when using higher level spell slots. This was a major though I had the day the PH came out. It was obvious that fire magic was overwhelmingly favored. Trying to build a character around any other damage type not only resulted in the spells doing less damage, but it was hard to even find a spell that did a specific damage type at many levels.

The spell list could have been much more varied by offering most spells as a base level one that scales with spell slot level, while including the various damage types that can be chosen when the spell is prepared or added to a spell book. 

If that's all the combat you're seeing per long rest, especially at high levels of play, that's a table issue, not a game design issue.

Quote from Pheralanpathfinder >>

In a campaign with 3-5 rounds of combat per long rest, why would I ever cast a spell below level 3?

 Why are you only having 3-5 rounds of combat per day?

Granted, the adventuring day of 6-8 combats the game is built around is absurd and the writers don't even keep to that, but most of the time, when we do have combat, it's 3-5 combats per day, each with 3-5 rounds. That's around 15 rounds in a day. If you're only doing 3-5 rounds per day, then of course your level 10 caster, with his 15 spell slots, is going to be swimming in slots and having no need for L1 slots. You need to speak to your DM about adjusting the adventuring day so that the game doesn't break itself. Whether that's making more encounters or making each encounter last longer depends on the situation, but it's breaking your game.

Acquire 2 Wands of Web and a pair of Spider-Climb Slippers. Attach the Wands to each of your wrists with some (red and blue, perhaps?) gauntlets. Then run around the walls and ceiling and web creatures to your heart's content (no concentration required for the wands). Multiclass as a Paladin (to meet the wands' spellcaster requirement) into a Barbarian (to mix Divine Sense with Danger Sense and make.... Spider Sense?)

      But when you're taking a Long Rest, you might ponder: why does a spellcaster have to concentrate on a spell, but a wand user does not? Did all of the concentration get (ahem) concentrated into the wand upon creation? Meh- who knows? It's all magic and mystery. Why do hot dogs come in packs of 10, and hot dog buns in packs of 8? Sometimes things just work the way they work, and that's just how that goes. 

Quote from frobinj9276 >>

Acquire 2 Wands of Web and a pair of Spider-Climb Slippers. Attach the Wands to each of your wrists with some (red and blue, perhaps?) gauntlets. Then run around the walls and ceiling and web creatures to your heart's content (no concentration required for the wands).

 Incorrect. Casting a spell from an item works identically to casting the spell in another way, except as specified in the item.

I stand corrected.

I found the relevant rule in the DMG, but it'd be helpful if the item description also had that info. But oh well- what are forums for, if not for making a fool of myself?

Quote from frobinj9276 >>

I stand corrected.

I found the relevant rule in the DMG, but it'd be helpful if the item description also had that info. But oh well- what are forums for, if not for making a fool of myself?

 
I have found them useful for explaining how I made a fool of myself. At great length. In many words. 

Quote from Kotath >>

So, make a wand that uses the Giant Spider's web ability instead of the spell? 

 A custom magic item can do whatever, though I'd point out that a giant spider doesn't actually have the ability to create webbed terrain on its stat block (the DMG rules for web hazards say they come from giant spiders, but presumably the process is too slow to use in combat).

I just thing about how the caster has to hold the webs down. 

I read too many books.

Quote from Okashido >>

I don't intend to discredit the design choice by posting this, It's just a weird thing in my brain that I can see a spell like entangle and think "Okay yeah, that makes sense" but then I see web and think "Wait, that doesn't make sense."

I didn't mean to make people fight or argue. I was curious why a spell had concentration when I thought it was odd that it did. Just including a small sentence like in entangle about how it goes away after concentration is broken or the spell ends might've helped. Hard to tell.

     I look at it like you summon ectoplasm from wherever it is that magic summons things from.  You transform the ectoplasm into webbing.  You have to concentrate on keeping it as webbing - keeping it in solid form and sticky and all.  You lose concentration and boom - the ectoplasm reverts and is sucked back into it's magical storing place...

     Will this explanation work for your brain?  I dunno but *shrug*  Not everything is always going to make sense.  Immersion or not, sometimes you just need to accept that it is a game and sometime you just have to go with that.

Think of them less as physical webs like Spider-Man creates and more like Spider-Woman’s Psi-Webs and it makes more sense.

Casts web. Doesn't concentrate. Gets away with it.

Quote from Kotath >>

In any classic fantasy literature, it is rare that wards, protection or buff or debuff spells need that level of concentration. A classic example of debuffs would be curses. Witch or wizard tosses a curse on someone and that is it. It does not go away when the caster goes to bed at night.

 In classic fantasy literature, casting a spell was often a process that took hours or even days to complete and required enough material components to stock a grocery store's spice aisle.

Quote from Kaemgen >>

Quote from Okashido >>

I don't intend to discredit the design choice by posting this, It's just a weird thing in my brain that I can see a spell like entangle and think "Okay yeah, that makes sense" but then I see web and think "Wait, that doesn't make sense."

I didn't mean to make people fight or argue. I was curious why a spell had concentration when I thought it was odd that it did. Just including a small sentence like in entangle about how it goes away after concentration is broken or the spell ends might've helped. Hard to tell.

 

     I look at it like you summon ectoplasm from wherever it is that magic summons things from.  You transform the ectoplasm into webbing.  You have to concentrate on keeping it as webbing - keeping it in solid form and sticky and all.  You lose concentration and boom - the ectoplasm reverts and is sucked back into it's magical storing place...

     Will this explanation work for your brain?  I dunno but *shrug*  Not everything is always going to make sense.  Immersion or not, sometimes you just need to accept that it is a game and sometime you just have to go with that.

Oh, do we have another Dresden File fan here?

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

Quote from Kotath >>

In any classic fantasy literature, it is rare that wards, protection or buff or debuff spells need that level of concentration. A classic example of debuffs would be curses. Witch or wizard tosses a curse on someone and that is it. It does not go away when the caster goes to bed at night.

 In classic fantasy literature, casting a spell was often a process that took hours or even days to complete and required enough material components to stock a grocery store's spice aisle.

in contemporary fantasy literature, relatively few spells require material components, can be done almost on the fly, and do not require concentration to maintain.

in contemporary fantasy anime, it is about a 50/50 split on "concentration (they continue chanting the spell and need to be protected or it fails) and no concentration. 

in folklore it depends on the nature of the caster, the origin of the tale, and the underlying structure of the fable or legend. Overall, however, spells are either complex rituals that require strange ingredients and days to prepare, or are instantly cast things, depending on the goal and purpose of the spell, leaning more heavily towards the instantly cast aspect.

in truth, about the only place you see the particular "spell as a discrete effect sitting beside material components" is RPGs influenced by three authors (19th and 20th century) and a few scant lines from a couple Shakespeare plays. And that always follows the format of the complex and difficult ritual with unimaginable consequences. but not the "light that candle".

So, overall, the idea of spells requiring lots of time and concentration is a relatively limited one in vogue for a relatively short period of time, and always operated in service to the story. That narrow window of limited authors (look, for example, to the work of Andre Norton, a contemporary of the most oft cited basis for magic, and LeGuin -- hell, one could even go to certain Moorcock stories as long as you step out of the Eternal Champion cycle) has had an inordinate influence on the perception of "how magic is supposed to operate" and Bob Aspirin really hated it.

I say all of this and I went and set up an entire ritual system completely separate form regular spell casting that achieves the same ends, but with slightly different effects. It does meet those qualities (because you are right to an extent, and those are important things) you mention, and then regular spell casting has no material components, and you can always see who is casting a spell because of a manifestation. Which allows me to split the difference and comment on how the frosting matches the glaze.

Now, potions and balms, salves and compresses, the art and craft of the cunningfolk is a different matter, lol. and not one D&D has to worry about since it has no official witch class.

Point of all of this: Depends on your sources, and "Classic Fantasy Literature" is not often the best go to when they haven't been part of the zeitgeist since the 80's.