Hi! I'm a first-time DM who is preparing to run a campaign with relatively green players. However, I feel that magic, while really fun (I like playing wizards) can be a bit overpowered, and I want magic to be a bit more volatile in my world. Also, it bothered me that while the rules say that you should make an ability check every time something has a significant chance of error, but it does not say that you have to make a check whenever you cast a spell (please correct me if I am wrong on this).
So, I was thinking of having a rule where whenever you cast a spell, you must make a saving throw with your spell-casting ability. The DC would be 9 + the spell's level. If you succeed the saving throw, the spell takes effect as normal. If you fail, the spell doesn't work. You don't have to roll for cantrips.
I was just wondering about any feedback you might have on this rule: Does it underpower spell-casters? If you fail the saving throw, should you still expend a spell slot? If you fail the saving throw, should you roll on the wild magic surge or scroll mishap table? Should I make people still have to make this roll if the spell they are casting has an attack roll associated with it?
I know that this is probably not a new idea, but please help me out with this, and I appreciate any responses that I get. Thank you!
I was just wondering about any feedback you might have on this rule: Does it underpower spell-casters?
Yup. It's doubly bad for partial spellcasters like paladins, rangers, arcane tricksters and eldritch knights. They're not going to risk casting a spell when they can lean into the melee side of their class at no cost.
Also, if you're new to DMing, you're probably not ready to make such sweeping changes to the rules, and if your players are new, house rules like this are going to confuse them when they're still trying to learn the basics.
If you already think magic is fun, then you don't need to fix it. D&D is a co-op game so even if magic is "a bit overpowered", that's not a problem unless someone's not having fun.
Spellcasting already has enough checks and balances in my opinion:
Cantrips are usually weaker than weapon attacks, so spellcasters deal less damage when they're not using spell slots.
Spellcasters can only concentrate on 1 spell at a time.
Spells with longer casting times also require concentration.
Readying a spell requires concentration, using the slot up front and you lose the spell if the trigger doesn't happen.
Casting a bonus action spell limits your other spell options that turn to action cantrips.
Can't stack a spell with itself.
The most destructive spellcasters (wizards and sorcerers) have the worst hit dice and no armor proficiencies.
Druids can't cast while in Wild Shape until very high levels.
Can't cast through solid obstacles.
Most targeted spells require sight.
Most spells have a verbal component, so it's obvious when a spell is being cast.
Almost all spells require an attack roll or allow a saving throw.
Spells that disable enemies allow a save every turn.
Extra powerful spells usually cost money.
Spell slots of 6th level and higher are extremely restricted.
I have to agree with InquisitiveCoder. IF this is your first time in the DM's chair AND you have a bunch of new people at the table, then it's best to stick to the core rules a much as possible. You may even want to stick with running the adventure in the Starter's Set and use only the pregenerated characters for your first adventure with them. If you were an experienced DM with one or two veteran players to help out with the new players, then I would suggest a simple mission in whatever home brew world you have would be fine. (Probably have the new players play fighters and thieves for their first adventure, leaving the priests and mages to the more experienced players.)
As for the subject of magic, Spellcasters are (borrowing a term from computer RPG games) glass cannons. In combat, their job is to fire the high damage, large AoE spells to kill the baddies. But, it takes time to get mages (and to a lesser extent priests) up to those levels. It takes a magic caster a few levels to hit their stride. Until then, they'll fire magic missiles a few times, and then have to hide behind a rock until the battle is over because they exhausted all of their spell slots and can't get any more until after a long rest. And, as InquisitiveCoder pointed out, casters tend to have less hit points than everyone else, with wizards at the bottom (d6 per level, up from d4 back in the day). But, they should also bring skills that make them valuable outside of combat as well. (A huge knowledge of lore and a killer Roadside Rabbit Stew are plusses to any party.)
Now, with all of that said, and in addition to any attack rolls or saving throws required, spells take time to cast. Unless if the spell's cast time is instantaneous, you can state that a one turn cast time means the caster is casting for a full turn, and the spell fires at the beginning of the next turn. The reason this is important, is that casters have to concentrate while casting, and getting hit while casting breaks that concentration. (There's a roll for that somewhere.) Now, that doesn't mean that the opponents are always going to target the spellcaster. (And, as a DM, you shouldn't have a monster who wouldn't have noticed a caster always targeting the caster to harass them.) But, there is always a chance that someone in the fight does target the caster (maybe he was behind the lines and not being engaged by the fighters). In this case, a successful hit can break the spellcaster's concentration. If you're playing with experienced people, you can add a table for broken concentration spell effects, but I would leave it out for a group of new players.
Once you and your players get your footing, there are all sorts of fun things you can do to change up the rules for magic in your worlds. You could claim that your world is new, and magic is so raw and untamed, that ANYONE casting a spell runs the risk of some event, causing all spells to require a Wild Magic check. (This system came from the Time of Troubles under the Forgotten Realms AD&D 2nd Ed sets, where all of the deities were stripped of their roles, cast into the mortal realm, and required to fight for and find the "portfolio" of their past job. During this time, because no one was watching over magic, it, too went nuts. This gave birth to the Wild Mage that we see as part of the Sorcerer's ruleset.) Or, maybe your adventures take place in a broken world, similar to Dark Sun, where the mana or fuel that powers spells is so scare, that even the most powerful of spell casters hoard all they can and only use it when no other options exist. A third option would be to rule the use of magic illegal, and have spell casters heavily persecuted. Would your spell casters be so cavalier about flinging spells if it meant ending life tied to a pole in the center of a town square awaiting the fires that will consume them?
Thank you for all of your responses! I see your point that this might me an unnecessary complexity for my group and heaps more onto an already large list of checks on magic. I think I will take some of your suggestions for limiting magic in other ways.
However, it still feels wrong to me that you have to make an ability check to force open a locked door, but no check is required to, say, magically unlock the door or shoot bolts of pure magical energy out of your hand. I am not sure how to deal with this other than to just say, "eh, it'll never be perfect" or just saying that as long as you don't roll a 1, you're fine.
I have to agree with InquisitiveCoder. IF this is your first time in the DM's chair AND you have a bunch of new people at the table, then it's best to stick to the core rules a much as possible. You may even want to stick with running the adventure in the Starter's Set and use only the pregenerated characters for your first adventure with them. If you were an experienced DM with one or two veteran players to help out with the new players, then I would suggest a simple mission in whatever home brew world you have would be fine. (Probably have the new players play fighters and thieves for their first adventure, leaving the priests and mages to the more experienced players.)
I was planning on running a homebrew adventure that I've been working on. I don't think that it is too complex, but I am not sure. I was basically just going to have them as newcomers to a town when demon-worshipping cultists try to burn down the inn they stay at (complete with apocalyptic-sounding forecasts), leaving a to-do list of sorts that implicates both a person that they heard mentioned and a location where said cultists might be camping out. If they didn't take that route, there is also a lot of talk in the city about a raiding kobold tribe that has been sneaking in and stealing the cities resources. I have a simplistic dungeon mapped out for their cave.
I know this is a bit off topic, but do you think that this would be too complex for them or me?
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Hi! I'm a first-time DM who is preparing to run a campaign with relatively green players. However, I feel that magic, while really fun (I like playing wizards) can be a bit overpowered, and I want magic to be a bit more volatile in my world. Also, it bothered me that while the rules say that you should make an ability check every time something has a significant chance of error, but it does not say that you have to make a check whenever you cast a spell (please correct me if I am wrong on this).
So, I was thinking of having a rule where whenever you cast a spell, you must make a saving throw with your spell-casting ability. The DC would be 9 + the spell's level. If you succeed the saving throw, the spell takes effect as normal. If you fail, the spell doesn't work. You don't have to roll for cantrips.
I was just wondering about any feedback you might have on this rule: Does it underpower spell-casters? If you fail the saving throw, should you still expend a spell slot? If you fail the saving throw, should you roll on the wild magic surge or scroll mishap table? Should I make people still have to make this roll if the spell they are casting has an attack roll associated with it?
I know that this is probably not a new idea, but please help me out with this, and I appreciate any responses that I get. Thank you!
Yup. It's doubly bad for partial spellcasters like paladins, rangers, arcane tricksters and eldritch knights. They're not going to risk casting a spell when they can lean into the melee side of their class at no cost.
Also, if you're new to DMing, you're probably not ready to make such sweeping changes to the rules, and if your players are new, house rules like this are going to confuse them when they're still trying to learn the basics.
If you already think magic is fun, then you don't need to fix it. D&D is a co-op game so even if magic is "a bit overpowered", that's not a problem unless someone's not having fun.
Spellcasting already has enough checks and balances in my opinion:
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I have to agree with InquisitiveCoder. IF this is your first time in the DM's chair AND you have a bunch of new people at the table, then it's best to stick to the core rules a much as possible. You may even want to stick with running the adventure in the Starter's Set and use only the pregenerated characters for your first adventure with them. If you were an experienced DM with one or two veteran players to help out with the new players, then I would suggest a simple mission in whatever home brew world you have would be fine. (Probably have the new players play fighters and thieves for their first adventure, leaving the priests and mages to the more experienced players.)
As for the subject of magic, Spellcasters are (borrowing a term from computer RPG games) glass cannons. In combat, their job is to fire the high damage, large AoE spells to kill the baddies. But, it takes time to get mages (and to a lesser extent priests) up to those levels. It takes a magic caster a few levels to hit their stride. Until then, they'll fire magic missiles a few times, and then have to hide behind a rock until the battle is over because they exhausted all of their spell slots and can't get any more until after a long rest. And, as InquisitiveCoder pointed out, casters tend to have less hit points than everyone else, with wizards at the bottom (d6 per level, up from d4 back in the day). But, they should also bring skills that make them valuable outside of combat as well. (A huge knowledge of lore and a killer Roadside Rabbit Stew are plusses to any party.)
Now, with all of that said, and in addition to any attack rolls or saving throws required, spells take time to cast. Unless if the spell's cast time is instantaneous, you can state that a one turn cast time means the caster is casting for a full turn, and the spell fires at the beginning of the next turn. The reason this is important, is that casters have to concentrate while casting, and getting hit while casting breaks that concentration. (There's a roll for that somewhere.) Now, that doesn't mean that the opponents are always going to target the spellcaster. (And, as a DM, you shouldn't have a monster who wouldn't have noticed a caster always targeting the caster to harass them.) But, there is always a chance that someone in the fight does target the caster (maybe he was behind the lines and not being engaged by the fighters). In this case, a successful hit can break the spellcaster's concentration. If you're playing with experienced people, you can add a table for broken concentration spell effects, but I would leave it out for a group of new players.
Once you and your players get your footing, there are all sorts of fun things you can do to change up the rules for magic in your worlds. You could claim that your world is new, and magic is so raw and untamed, that ANYONE casting a spell runs the risk of some event, causing all spells to require a Wild Magic check. (This system came from the Time of Troubles under the Forgotten Realms AD&D 2nd Ed sets, where all of the deities were stripped of their roles, cast into the mortal realm, and required to fight for and find the "portfolio" of their past job. During this time, because no one was watching over magic, it, too went nuts. This gave birth to the Wild Mage that we see as part of the Sorcerer's ruleset.) Or, maybe your adventures take place in a broken world, similar to Dark Sun, where the mana or fuel that powers spells is so scare, that even the most powerful of spell casters hoard all they can and only use it when no other options exist. A third option would be to rule the use of magic illegal, and have spell casters heavily persecuted. Would your spell casters be so cavalier about flinging spells if it meant ending life tied to a pole in the center of a town square awaiting the fires that will consume them?
Thank you for all of your responses! I see your point that this might me an unnecessary complexity for my group and heaps more onto an already large list of checks on magic. I think I will take some of your suggestions for limiting magic in other ways.
However, it still feels wrong to me that you have to make an ability check to force open a locked door, but no check is required to, say, magically unlock the door or shoot bolts of pure magical energy out of your hand. I am not sure how to deal with this other than to just say, "eh, it'll never be perfect" or just saying that as long as you don't roll a 1, you're fine.
I was planning on running a homebrew adventure that I've been working on. I don't think that it is too complex, but I am not sure. I was basically just going to have them as newcomers to a town when demon-worshipping cultists try to burn down the inn they stay at (complete with apocalyptic-sounding forecasts), leaving a to-do list of sorts that implicates both a person that they heard mentioned and a location where said cultists might be camping out. If they didn't take that route, there is also a lot of talk in the city about a raiding kobold tribe that has been sneaking in and stealing the cities resources. I have a simplistic dungeon mapped out for their cave.
I know this is a bit off topic, but do you think that this would be too complex for them or me?