Greetings! I'm a relatively new DM, a little over 2 years now.
I'm hoping someone can help me with my conundrum. Quick backstory, I have a player who's really into deep lore and has been asking a lot about stuff I've never considered or things that go far behind my knowledge of D&D. And recently he asked about spell slots, like why do they exist and why are they limited, apart from being a game mechanic of course.
He and I looked into it but everything he read left him disappointed. He really likes the idea that magic should be mysterious, but also makes sense. So that got me thinking about it a bit and how I would like to explore that for my homebrew world. Which in turn lead me to some ideas. Such as being able to still cast spells when you run out of spell slots, but at a price and risk. I would like to know if that is possible without breaking the game.
For now the basic idea I have is being able to sacrifice some of your HP to cast spells, but also risking the chance for a magical stall. Essentially creating a large antimagical field around the battle ground, where no one can cast spells. The idea is that the more magic you use the less there is in a given area, at least for some time. When someone reaches that limit this phenomenon occurs. This is is something I took from a novel I read long ago, but I really liked it a lot and would like to play with the concept. The player I mention before also seems to like the idea as well.
So is this mechanic possible, how should I go about it? I would like the effect to have a low chance at lower levels, but as the players get stronger the higher chance it has to happen.
My first thought is that allowing a player to create an antimagic bubble when they run out of spell slots is an advantage, not a disadvantage. Players will aim to dump all their good spells and then shut down enemy spell casters.
So, to your mechanics!
My first thought is that this should be related to the spell slot you're trying to use. the higher level a spell, the more likely this will happen. Thus it becomes more common as you level up!
One option I have seen (and am considering using) is to allow people to take a level of exhaustion to cast a spell without a slot. You could increase this based on the level of the spell and the level of the caster - for example, you could say "for each level higher than your proficiency bonus, you take one additional level of exhaustion". So casting a level 1 spell as a cantrip (effectively) costs 1 level of exhaustion. A level 5 player (+3 prof bonus) can cast a level 3 for 1 exhaustion, a level 4 for 2 exhaustion, a level 6 for 4 exhaustion, and so on.
Now, to make this more interesting than getting tired, and make it more in keeping with your original idea of corrupting or unleashing the raw magic by pushing too hard, you could introduce "Magical instability". Magical instability would be like exhaustion, but would only work around magic. If you have more magical instability than your spellcasting modifier, then you have a chance of bad things happening when you cast the spell - whether you're using a slot or not! Reducing instability can be a long rest thing, possibly even costing a spell slot, so you have to save a spell slot until you rest to reduce instability.
Taking this idea and running with it, I would do 6 levels of instability, but starting from your spellcasting modifier for the spell you're casting, so if you multiclass into a class ucing charisma and one using intelligence, then it depends on which set of spells you're using just how unstable you are (which is logical, as the higher your spellcasting the more control you have, the more instability you can overcome).
To fit with current mechanics (set a DC and roll, add modifiers), you would have the caster roll a d20 and add their spell modifier (this takes care of the bit above where the instability is over the modifier, it makes this a flat roll, effectively) and compare to the instability level they have (unless it's 0) plus the spell level they are trying to cast. If they fail (including rolling a 1), then you can roll on a "bad things happen" table, which might include things like losing magic until you recover hitpoints, casting the spell at max level and then taking 1 point of exhaustion for each spell slot higher than the one used that was, to a maximum of 5, the spell scattering in a random direction, the DM adjusting the spell to misfire, instantly dispelling all spells in range and disabling all rare or uncommon magical items for 1 minute, and so on. It needs to be bad, so they don't go fishing for it!
Instability is gained by casting spells you don't have slots for, and you gain 1 for each level of spell slot; so if you cast Wish, you gain 9 levels of instability before you cast - so you're rolling right away on the instability to see if you fail. With +5 spell modifier, you're still rolling against DC18 (9 instability and level 9 spell) to get that wish off without incident!
Then I'd have removing it cost spell slots at a long rest - if you keep 2 level 3 spell slots until a long rest, then you can remove 6 points of instability using them before you rest. This bit may need tweaking to after a rest if it proves too powerful, but I'd try before first so people don't just ignore your mechanics!
Now, to make this more interesting than getting tired, and make it more in keeping with your original idea of corrupting or unleashing the raw magic by pushing too hard, you could introduce "Magical instability". Magical instability would be like exhaustion, but would only work around magic. If you have more magical instability than your spellcasting modifier, then you have a chance of bad things happening when you cast the spell - whether you're using a slot or not! Reducing instability can be a long rest thing, possibly even costing a spell slot, so you have to save a spell slot until you rest to reduce instability.
Taking this idea and running with it, I would do 6 levels of instability, but starting from your spellcasting modifier for the spell you're casting, so if you multiclass into a class ucing charisma and one using intelligence, then it depends on which set of spells you're using just how unstable you are (which is logical, as the higher your spellcasting the more control you have, the more instability you can overcome).
To fit with current mechanics (set a DC and roll, add modifiers), you would have the caster roll a d20 and add their spell modifier (this takes care of the bit above where the instability is over the modifier, it makes this a flat roll, effectively) and compare to the instability level they have (unless it's 0) plus the spell level they are trying to cast...
I'm unsure how "magical instability" exactly works. If there's 6 level of it, then would you not always manage to go over it? And if magical instability is similar to exhaustion does that mean they would gain the same effects as exhaustion, such as disadvantage rolls, half speed, ect.?
Now, to make this more interesting than getting tired, and make it more in keeping with your original idea of corrupting or unleashing the raw magic by pushing too hard, you could introduce "Magical instability". Magical instability would be like exhaustion, but would only work around magic. If you have more magical instability than your spellcasting modifier, then you have a chance of bad things happening when you cast the spell - whether you're using a slot or not! Reducing instability can be a long rest thing, possibly even costing a spell slot, so you have to save a spell slot until you rest to reduce instability.
Taking this idea and running with it, I would do 6 levels of instability, but starting from your spellcasting modifier for the spell you're casting, so if you multiclass into a class ucing charisma and one using intelligence, then it depends on which set of spells you're using just how unstable you are (which is logical, as the higher your spellcasting the more control you have, the more instability you can overcome).
To fit with current mechanics (set a DC and roll, add modifiers), you would have the caster roll a d20 and add their spell modifier (this takes care of the bit above where the instability is over the modifier, it makes this a flat roll, effectively) and compare to the instability level they have (unless it's 0) plus the spell level they are trying to cast...
I'm unsure how "magical instability" exactly works. If there's 6 level of it, then would you not always manage to go over it? And if magical instability is similar to exhaustion does that mean they would gain the same effects as exhaustion, such as disadvantage rolls, half speed, ect.?
I will be honest that I was rambling a bit with ideas there!
My original concept was 6 levels of exhaustion which only affects magic usage, and so only affects you when casting a spell, and has its own set of effects which are different to exhaustion (and more interesting!)
My final concept (which formed during my ramble) was that you simply accrue instability by trying to cast spells with expended spell slots, with no limit, and as long as you have any instability, each time you cast a spell you have to add the spell slot you're using and the instability you have to make the DC, then roll a check using your spellcasting modifier against that. If you fail, bad things happen.
I am actually writing this up on homebrewery, as it's something which I've been working on for a while and this gave me that brainwave to make it better! The current steps are:
1: Declare you're Overcasting, which is to use a spell slot which you have access to, but have already expended all of them (note: you can't overcast using a level 3 slot if you have a level 3 slot available!)
2: Gain instability equal to that of the spell slot you're overcasting with; in this case, 3.
3: Add the spell slot you're using (3) to the instability you have (now 3), making a DC of 6. Roll a d20 and add your spellcasting modifier, against the DC of 6.
Then I am going to be creating a table to roll on for a failure, ranging from the spell failing, the spell doing as little as possible (min damage, min healing, overruling all other benefits, or making a feast for 6 people who don't eat much, or so on), or even the spell dealing damage to you and then increasing it's effect by that amount, or rolls on the wild magic table.
Removing Instability is done at a long rest - each spell slot you have lest can reduce instability by it's level, so if you have 2 lvl 2 spell slots and 1 level 5 spell slot, you can expend them whin you rest to reduce your instability by 9.
The benefits of this method:
1: It scales with power. using a level 9 spell slot that you've already used generates 9 instability and sets the DC to 18, and even higher if you already had some instability.
2: It's semi-permanent. If you have instability, you have to test for any spell you cast, whether you're overcasting or not. That might be anywhere from inconvenient to crippling, so make your decisions wisely!
3: It's relatively simple to work out. Gain instability before you cast, test after gaining instability, and then resolve the spell or the failure.
4: It gets worse the more you do it. If you overcast a level 3 spell, you might think "DC6? Easy!". Then you do it two more times, and you have DC12. one more, DC15. Sure, you cast more spells than you were allowed before, but now you find yourself with 12 instability and needing to cast that level 6 spell, so DC18 to cast it successfully!
Once I've written it up how I like it, I can post it here for you if you like!
The whole 'affecting the land around you' gave me an idea: Anytime someone wants to cast a spell with a slot they don't have anymore, you keep a running total of the spell levels used. Then, you roll a die to determine if a wild magic surge happens, say a d20, based on the current running total. So if someone tried to use a 3rd level slot they don't have, then you'd roll a d20 and if it came up under 3, roll wild magic. But if they had already tried a 5th level spell without a slot on a prior turn, then the total would become 8 and trigger wild magic with a greater chance. The kicker is it's not limited to one spellcaster, you keep a total for the area the players are in. So every spellcaster who wants to try this affects the chances of everybody else who wants to as well. And hey, it can even be a weird terrain effect, like the total already starts at 10 so casting beyond your limit is already risky. Of course, this will require some adjudication on your part: how big of an area this affects, how far will they have to go to not trigger the wild magic, how long does it take for the magic in an area to settle, those sorts of things.
Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting you to go full ham with it. It looks interesting enough though. I showed it to my players to see if they would like to play around with it and they dig it. So know that I'll be using this for my game, see how it is and adjust it from there. Might do a one-shot with it first.
Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting you to go full ham with it. It looks interesting enough though. I showed it to my players to see if they would like to play around with it and they dig it. So know that I'll be using this for my game, see how it is and adjust it from there. Might do a one-shot with it first.
Brilliant, please let me know how you find it and whether you think it needs any tweaking!
Greetings! I'm a relatively new DM, a little over 2 years now.
I'm hoping someone can help me with my conundrum. Quick backstory, I have a player who's really into deep lore and has been asking a lot about stuff I've never considered or things that go far behind my knowledge of D&D. And recently he asked about spell slots, like why do they exist and why are they limited, apart from being a game mechanic of course.
He and I looked into it but everything he read left him disappointed. He really likes the idea that magic should be mysterious, but also makes sense. So that got me thinking about it a bit and how I would like to explore that for my homebrew world. Which in turn lead me to some ideas. Such as being able to still cast spells when you run out of spell slots, but at a price and risk. I would like to know if that is possible without breaking the game.
For now the basic idea I have is being able to sacrifice some of your HP to cast spells, but also risking the chance for a magical stall. Essentially creating a large antimagical field around the battle ground, where no one can cast spells. The idea is that the more magic you use the less there is in a given area, at least for some time. When someone reaches that limit this phenomenon occurs. This is is something I took from a novel I read long ago, but I really liked it a lot and would like to play with the concept. The player I mention before also seems to like the idea as well.
So is this mechanic possible, how should I go about it? I would like the effect to have a low chance at lower levels, but as the players get stronger the higher chance it has to happen.
My first thought is that allowing a player to create an antimagic bubble when they run out of spell slots is an advantage, not a disadvantage. Players will aim to dump all their good spells and then shut down enemy spell casters.
So, to your mechanics!
My first thought is that this should be related to the spell slot you're trying to use. the higher level a spell, the more likely this will happen. Thus it becomes more common as you level up!
One option I have seen (and am considering using) is to allow people to take a level of exhaustion to cast a spell without a slot. You could increase this based on the level of the spell and the level of the caster - for example, you could say "for each level higher than your proficiency bonus, you take one additional level of exhaustion". So casting a level 1 spell as a cantrip (effectively) costs 1 level of exhaustion. A level 5 player (+3 prof bonus) can cast a level 3 for 1 exhaustion, a level 4 for 2 exhaustion, a level 6 for 4 exhaustion, and so on.
Now, to make this more interesting than getting tired, and make it more in keeping with your original idea of corrupting or unleashing the raw magic by pushing too hard, you could introduce "Magical instability". Magical instability would be like exhaustion, but would only work around magic. If you have more magical instability than your spellcasting modifier, then you have a chance of bad things happening when you cast the spell - whether you're using a slot or not! Reducing instability can be a long rest thing, possibly even costing a spell slot, so you have to save a spell slot until you rest to reduce instability.
Taking this idea and running with it, I would do 6 levels of instability, but starting from your spellcasting modifier for the spell you're casting, so if you multiclass into a class ucing charisma and one using intelligence, then it depends on which set of spells you're using just how unstable you are (which is logical, as the higher your spellcasting the more control you have, the more instability you can overcome).
To fit with current mechanics (set a DC and roll, add modifiers), you would have the caster roll a d20 and add their spell modifier (this takes care of the bit above where the instability is over the modifier, it makes this a flat roll, effectively) and compare to the instability level they have (unless it's 0) plus the spell level they are trying to cast. If they fail (including rolling a 1), then you can roll on a "bad things happen" table, which might include things like losing magic until you recover hitpoints, casting the spell at max level and then taking 1 point of exhaustion for each spell slot higher than the one used that was, to a maximum of 5, the spell scattering in a random direction, the DM adjusting the spell to misfire, instantly dispelling all spells in range and disabling all rare or uncommon magical items for 1 minute, and so on. It needs to be bad, so they don't go fishing for it!
Instability is gained by casting spells you don't have slots for, and you gain 1 for each level of spell slot; so if you cast Wish, you gain 9 levels of instability before you cast - so you're rolling right away on the instability to see if you fail. With +5 spell modifier, you're still rolling against DC18 (9 instability and level 9 spell) to get that wish off without incident!
Then I'd have removing it cost spell slots at a long rest - if you keep 2 level 3 spell slots until a long rest, then you can remove 6 points of instability using them before you rest. This bit may need tweaking to after a rest if it proves too powerful, but I'd try before first so people don't just ignore your mechanics!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Ah, thanks for the comment. Interesting take, but can you explain this part a bit more. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
I'm unsure how "magical instability" exactly works. If there's 6 level of it, then would you not always manage to go over it? And if magical instability is similar to exhaustion does that mean they would gain the same effects as exhaustion, such as disadvantage rolls, half speed, ect.?
I will be honest that I was rambling a bit with ideas there!
My original concept was 6 levels of exhaustion which only affects magic usage, and so only affects you when casting a spell, and has its own set of effects which are different to exhaustion (and more interesting!)
My final concept (which formed during my ramble) was that you simply accrue instability by trying to cast spells with expended spell slots, with no limit, and as long as you have any instability, each time you cast a spell you have to add the spell slot you're using and the instability you have to make the DC, then roll a check using your spellcasting modifier against that. If you fail, bad things happen.
I am actually writing this up on homebrewery, as it's something which I've been working on for a while and this gave me that brainwave to make it better! The current steps are:
1: Declare you're Overcasting, which is to use a spell slot which you have access to, but have already expended all of them (note: you can't overcast using a level 3 slot if you have a level 3 slot available!)
2: Gain instability equal to that of the spell slot you're overcasting with; in this case, 3.
3: Add the spell slot you're using (3) to the instability you have (now 3), making a DC of 6. Roll a d20 and add your spellcasting modifier, against the DC of 6.
Then I am going to be creating a table to roll on for a failure, ranging from the spell failing, the spell doing as little as possible (min damage, min healing, overruling all other benefits, or making a feast for 6 people who don't eat much, or so on), or even the spell dealing damage to you and then increasing it's effect by that amount, or rolls on the wild magic table.
Removing Instability is done at a long rest - each spell slot you have lest can reduce instability by it's level, so if you have 2 lvl 2 spell slots and 1 level 5 spell slot, you can expend them whin you rest to reduce your instability by 9.
The benefits of this method:
1: It scales with power. using a level 9 spell slot that you've already used generates 9 instability and sets the DC to 18, and even higher if you already had some instability.
2: It's semi-permanent. If you have instability, you have to test for any spell you cast, whether you're overcasting or not. That might be anywhere from inconvenient to crippling, so make your decisions wisely!
3: It's relatively simple to work out. Gain instability before you cast, test after gaining instability, and then resolve the spell or the failure.
4: It gets worse the more you do it. If you overcast a level 3 spell, you might think "DC6? Easy!". Then you do it two more times, and you have DC12. one more, DC15. Sure, you cast more spells than you were allowed before, but now you find yourself with 12 instability and needing to cast that level 6 spell, so DC18 to cast it successfully!
Once I've written it up how I like it, I can post it here for you if you like!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
The whole 'affecting the land around you' gave me an idea: Anytime someone wants to cast a spell with a slot they don't have anymore, you keep a running total of the spell levels used. Then, you roll a die to determine if a wild magic surge happens, say a d20, based on the current running total. So if someone tried to use a 3rd level slot they don't have, then you'd roll a d20 and if it came up under 3, roll wild magic. But if they had already tried a 5th level spell without a slot on a prior turn, then the total would become 8 and trigger wild magic with a greater chance. The kicker is it's not limited to one spellcaster, you keep a total for the area the players are in. So every spellcaster who wants to try this affects the chances of everybody else who wants to as well. And hey, it can even be a weird terrain effect, like the total already starts at 10 so casting beyond your limit is already risky. Of course, this will require some adjudication on your part: how big of an area this affects, how far will they have to go to not trigger the wild magic, how long does it take for the magic in an area to settle, those sorts of things.
I've written up my ideas for this into what I hope is an easily understandable document for what I was going for!
The homebrewery link is here:
Overcasting
Let me know what you think, and feel free to use, abuse and adapt this for your game if you like!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting you to go full ham with it. It looks interesting enough though. I showed it to my players to see if they would like to play around with it and they dig it. So know that I'll be using this for my game, see how it is and adjust it from there. Might do a one-shot with it first.
Brilliant, please let me know how you find it and whether you think it needs any tweaking!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!