I understand the argument that people want to cast more spells as Warlocks, and that they think the Pact Magic slot system encourages resource hoarding, I really do. But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
So with the introduction of the 1 minute long slot refresher ritual Magical Cunning, I suggest that WotC lean even more heavily into the ritual casting aspect of Warlocks:
Eldritch Ritual (Invocation)
You can cast any spell(*) eligible for casting through this feature as a 1 minute long ritual without expending a spell slot.
To complete the ritual, you must concentrate on it as if you were concentrating on a spell.
The spell is always cast at its lowest level.
The spell will consume material components with value as if it was cast normally.
You can try to mask the casting of the spell as something else than a magical ritual (passionate speech, small talk, musical performance, you being very gesticulate speaker etc.). A creature observing you can discern the true nature of the ritual by succeeding on an Investigation(Int)/Perception(Wis)/Arcana(Int) skill check against your Performance(Cha)/Sleigh of Hand(Dex) check.
(*) Eligible spells:
The spell must normally have casting time of 1 Action.
You must have the spell as prepared.
Casting or releasing the spell can't directly cause damage to any creature or object within its range of effect.
Casting or releasing the spell can't cause any creature to regain hit points.
I understand the argument that people want to cast more spells as Warlocks, and that they think the Pact Magic slot system encourages resource hoarding, I really do. But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
Half-caster approach was great. It let you cast many spells, spells of different levels (which made non-scaling spells useful), and it created a reason to multiclass with warlock for more than one level, especially with flexible spellcasting stat. Magical Cunning is nothing but a crude crutch that doesn't fix the problem. Warlock is still a short rest class in a long rest game.
The rituals are good for warlock. They really need to bring the Book of Ancient Secrets back, it was the selling point of Pact of the Tome.
But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
How exactly did it do that?
By making sure you will not want to spend your actions casting anything but Eldritch Blast and utility spells.
Take a look at the Spell Lists for Half-Caster classes such as Ranger or Paladins. Nearly every single of the those spells is either restricted to that class or other half-caster class subclasses OR offers no increase in power (beyond additional targets) when cast using higher level slots.
With the half-caster framework that was suggested for warlocks in UA5, all the spells were in the Arcane spell list, which made them available for Wizards, who could cast them using higher level spell slots, and completely overshadow what Warlocks could do with iconic Warlock spells like: Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Hunger of Hadar, Evard’s Black Tentacles.
But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
How exactly did it do that?
More lower level spells sounds like an equalizer, but in practice it just means that you can't rely on your spells to have a significant impact on a given situation.
Take darkness for example. At 3rd and 4th pc level virtually all opponents will be susceptible to the magical darkness / devil's sight combo; enemies that do have blind-sight will be more likely to have that as a specific schtic, rather than something you could expect to turn up often.
Once you hit the stride of the game (5th-9th) that combo drifts into less and less utility as enemies become more exotic or resourceful as CR goes up. The use of Fiends and intelligent undead increases, enemies with counter-spell or potent movement based abilities increase; what was a trump card becomes much more dodgy. By the time you're hitting 3rd level spells (9th level) a fireball or lightning bolt doesn't strike fear into characters the way they can from 5th-7th. Real martial classes don't have to worry about this disparity because they're a constant damage and tactical threat. Relegating 4th and 5th level spells to 13th and 17th level makes them feel basically out of reach for a normal campaign, there's a reason the published campaigns all tend to drop off before that point.
Eldritch Blast, unfortunately, comes up as the one dedicated combat choice that feels consistently reliable. Given that most combats only last a few rounds character effectiveness ends up getting judged based on what impactful things you can do in a short amount of time rather than how often you can do things that simply don't mean as much in the few rounds you're given.
But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
How exactly did it do that?
Because the spell casting progression delayed getting more effective spells, they were coming online later.
Spirit Shroud for example gets delayed from level 5 to level 9, since it's a 3rd level spell which is vital spell for pact of the blade, basically it lowered warlock DPS from anything not eldritch blast by a fair bit. You could cast a 3rd spell once with Mystic Arcanum in that UA but if you had 3 encounters in the day with a short rest between each... yeah... Spirit Shroud for example suffered a lot.
You can cast any spell(*) eligible for casting through this feature as a 1 minute long ritual without expending a spell slot.
To complete the ritual, you must concentrate on it as if you were concentrating on a spell.
The spell is always cast at its lowest level.
The spell will consume material components with value as if it was cast normally.
You can try to mask the casting of the spell as something else than a magical ritual (passionate speech, small talk, musical performance, you being very gesticulate speaker etc.). A creature observing you can discern the true nature of the ritual by succeeding on an Investigation(Int)/Perception(Wis)/Arcana(Int) skill check against your Performance(Cha)/Sleigh of Hand(Dex) check
oh, i wish i'd seen this thread earlier. i came to a similar conclusion regarding magical cunning functioning like a ritual.
rather than a list of eligible spells, maybe just any warlock spell you know which does not require concentration. no 'free' flying, invisiblity, or creature summons. but yes creative application of damage spells: sink a ship, initiate a battle, clear an exit, etc...
also, i would very much scrap the subtle sleight-of-hand stuff. this is a short-cut to power and as such it's probably messy and obvious: scratched out in chalk with mouse blood diagrams hanging in the air, tuning fork that irritates animals nearby. etc. why can't wizards accomplish fast rituals? because they're playing it safe and, even more importantly, they're informed about the perils of improperly contained forces not played safe.
and go ahead and upcast it like a pact slot. why not? is it really that big an ask? part of the backlash for UA half-caster locks was that even though the people got the 'more casts' they asked for, those spells weren't as fun without upcasting.
You can cast any spell(*) eligible for casting through this feature as a 1 minute long ritual without expending a spell slot.
To complete the ritual, you must concentrate on it as if you were concentrating on a spell.
The spell is always cast at its lowest level.
The spell will consume material components with value as if it was cast normally.
You can try to mask the casting of the spell as something else than a magical ritual (passionate speech, small talk, musical performance, you being very gesticulate speaker etc.). A creature observing you can discern the true nature of the ritual by succeeding on an Investigation(Int)/Perception(Wis)/Arcana(Int) skill check against your Performance(Cha)/Sleigh of Hand(Dex) check
oh, i wish i'd seen this thread earlier. i came to a similar conclusion regarding magical cunning functioning like a ritual.
rather than a list of eligible spells, maybe just any warlock spell you know which does not require concentration. no 'free' flying, invisiblity, or creature summons. but yes creative application of damage spells: sink a ship, initiate a battle, clear an exit, etc...
also, i would very much scrap the subtle sleight-of-hand stuff. this is a short-cut to power and as such it's probably messy and obvious: scratched out in chalk with mouse blood diagrams hanging in the air, tuning fork that irritates animals nearby. etc. why can't wizards accomplish fast rituals? because they're playing it safe and, even more importantly, they're informed about the perils of improperly contained forces not played safe.
and go ahead and upcast it like a pact slot. why not? is it really that big an ask? part of the backlash for UA half-caster locks was that even though the people got the 'more casts' they asked for, those spells weren't as fun without upcasting.
The idea was not to make 10 minute rituals castable in 1 minute, but to allow casting normally 1 Action cast time spells as 1 minute long rituals without expending a spell slot. Hence the sleigh of hand to hide the fact you are spreading out 1 Action worth of Verbal and Somatic components over 1 minute ritual.
Isn't it easier to give him access to level 1 and lvl 2 spell slots?
Well that would require implementing a completely new Spell Slot system that is not Full-Caster/Half-Caster/Pact Magic.
Tho they did try giving more spell slots with the new Pact of the Tome, so maybe they could just expand on that.
Maybe just straight up make an Invocation that gives you Spell Slot of X level that refreshes on Long Rest.
Honestly, this is really needed at the level 7 + invocation levels. The invocations at those higher levels is a bit of a baron waste land you are likely taking your "6th pick" by that point rather than anything exciting. Arcane Eye at level 9 is probably the most exciting of the bunch (unless blade lock).
Isn't it easier to give him access to level 1 and lvl 2 spell slots?
Well that would require implementing a completely new Spell Slot system that is not Full-Caster/Half-Caster/Pact Magic.
Tho they did try giving more spell slots with the new Pact of the Tome, so maybe they could just expand on that.
Maybe just straight up make an Invocation that gives you Spell Slot of X level that refreshes on Long Rest.
Honestly, this is really needed at the level 7 + invocation levels. The invocations at those higher levels is a bit of a baron waste land you are likely taking your "6th pick" by that point rather than anything exciting. Arcane Eye at level 9 is probably the most exciting of the bunch (unless blade lock).
Seeing that Metamagic Adept feat already exists, WotC isn't fundamentally opposed to optional features that give spellcasting resources that refresh on Long Rest.
Hopefully they would also explore the idea of just expanding the Mystic Arcanum Invocation, and just let Warlocks pick spells to be at will for no cost "Lesser Mystic Arcanums". The list of available spells would need to be heavily curated of course.
Isn't it easier to give him access to level 1 and lvl 2 spell slots?
Well that would require implementing a completely new Spell Slot system that is not Full-Caster/Half-Caster/Pact Magic.
Tho they did try giving more spell slots with the new Pact of the Tome, so maybe they could just expand on that.
Maybe just straight up make an Invocation that gives you Spell Slot of X level that refreshes on Long Rest.
Honestly, this is really needed at the level 7 + invocation levels. The invocations at those higher levels is a bit of a baron waste land you are likely taking your "6th pick" by that point rather than anything exciting. Arcane Eye at level 9 is probably the most exciting of the bunch (unless blade lock).
Seeing that Metamagic Adept feat already exists, WotC isn't fundamentally opposed to optional features that give spellcasting resources that refresh on Long Rest.
Hopefully they would also explore the idea of just expanding the Mystic Arcanum Invocation, and just let Warlocks pick spells to be at will for no cost "Lesser Mystic Arcanums". The list of available spells would need to be heavily curated of course.
I have already noted that we are straight up missing several of the "learn this spell and cast it once per day using your warlock spell slots" I would not at ALL be opposed to them doing the common fix for many of those and providing them as spells that you can cast once per day WITHOUT using a spell slot. Add that in and it is going to be REALLY hard for people to say this Warlock doesn't cast enough spells.
I understand the argument that people want to cast more spells as Warlocks, and that they think the Pact Magic slot system encourages resource hoarding, I really do. But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
So with the introduction of the 1 minute long slot refresher ritual Magical Cunning, I suggest that WotC lean even more heavily into the ritual casting aspect of Warlocks:
Eldritch Ritual (Invocation)
You can cast any spell(*) eligible for casting through this feature as a 1 minute long ritual without expending a spell slot.
To complete the ritual, you must concentrate on it as if you were concentrating on a spell.
The spell is always cast at its lowest level.
The spell will consume material components with value as if it was cast normally.
You can try to mask the casting of the spell as something else than a magical ritual (passionate speech, small talk, musical performance, you being very gesticulate speaker etc.). A creature observing you can discern the true nature of the ritual by succeeding on an Investigation(Int)/Perception(Wis)/Arcana(Int) skill check against your Performance(Cha)/Sleigh of Hand(Dex) check.
(*) Eligible spells:
The spell must normally have casting time of 1 Action.
You must have the spell as prepared.
Casting or releasing the spell can't directly cause damage to any creature or object within its range of effect.
Casting or releasing the spell can't cause any creature to regain hit points.
Okay but how many 1 Action spells are actually going to be useful as rituals with a 1-minute casting time? I haven't looked, but I'm fairly confident the answer is going to be either "so few that this feature isn't worth it", or "so many that this feature is way overpowered". I don't think there's a middle ground.
Isn't it easier to give him access to level 1 and lvl 2 spell slots?
Well that would require implementing a completely new Spell Slot system that is not Full-Caster/Half-Caster/Pact Magic.
Tho they did try giving more spell slots with the new Pact of the Tome, so maybe they could just expand on that.
Maybe just straight up make an Invocation that gives you Spell Slot of X level that refreshes on Long Rest.
But they have really already done it with the Tome Pact. I mean, Tome Pact gives you a lvl 1 spell slot. Ok, that has a very small impact. But perhaps they could expand it, either through EI, or by simply leveling up. I don't know what it should be like to be balanced, but 2 lvl1 spell slots 1 at level 3, and 2 lvl 1 and 1 level 2 at level 5 don't seem outrageous to me either. Although we would have to try it.
That's 3 spell slots per day (2 from level 1 and 1 from level 2). Not that it's anything to go by, but it allows you a little more play with low-level spells.
But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
How exactly did it do that?
By making sure you will not want to spend your actions casting anything but Eldritch Blast and utility spells.
Take a look at the Spell Lists for Half-Caster classes such as Ranger or Paladins. Nearly every single of the those spells is either restricted to that class or other half-caster class subclasses OR offers no increase in power (beyond additional targets) when cast using higher level slots.
With the half-caster framework that was suggested for warlocks in UA5, all the spells were in the Arcane spell list, which made them available for Wizards, who could cast them using higher level spell slots, and completely overshadow what Warlocks could do with iconic Warlock spells like: Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Hunger of Hadar, Evard’s Black Tentacles.
Most of these spells, however, didn't scale, and therefore were only ever used for two levels of warlock life, if used at all. Anyway, if you are using pact magic slots for damage, you're doing it wrong. You get the best cantrip in the game already, pact magic slots are for control and buffs/debuffs. If you're a bladelock, you're going to spend them on Armor of Agathys + Shadow of Moil 99% of the time.
Isn't it easier to give him access to level 1 and lvl 2 spell slots?
Well that would require implementing a completely new Spell Slot system that is not Full-Caster/Half-Caster/Pact Magic.
Tho they did try giving more spell slots with the new Pact of the Tome, so maybe they could just expand on that.
Maybe just straight up make an Invocation that gives you Spell Slot of X level that refreshes on Long Rest.
invocation that gives you two 1st-level spell slots and one 2nd-level spell slot. spell slots refresh on a long rest, same as tome. invocation can be taken more than once.
require level 4 to match wizard's three 2nd-level slots or level 5 for half-caster sensibilities. boring, but effective.
But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
How exactly did it do that?
By making sure you will not want to spend your actions casting anything but Eldritch Blast and utility spells.
Take a look at the Spell Lists for Half-Caster classes such as Ranger or Paladins. Nearly every single of the those spells is either restricted to that class or other half-caster class subclasses OR offers no increase in power (beyond additional targets) when cast using higher level slots.
With the half-caster framework that was suggested for warlocks in UA5, all the spells were in the Arcane spell list, which made them available for Wizards, who could cast them using higher level spell slots, and completely overshadow what Warlocks could do with iconic Warlock spells like: Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Hunger of Hadar, Evard’s Black Tentacles.
Most of these spells, however, didn't scale, and therefore were only ever used for two levels of warlock life, if used at all. Anyway, if you are using pact magic slots for damage, you're doing it wrong. You get the best cantrip in the game already, pact magic slots are for control and buffs/debuffs. If you're a bladelock, you're going to spend them on Armor of Agathys + Shadow of Moil 99% of the time.
And switching to half-caster slot level progression is a direct nerf to the effectiveness Armor of Agathys, and delays getting Shadow of Moil from level 7 to level 13.
The idea was not to make 10 minute rituals castable in 1 minute, but to allow casting normally 1 Action cast time spells as 1 minute long rituals without expending a spell slot. Hence the sleigh of hand to hide the fact you are spreading out 1 Action worth of Verbal and Somatic components over 1 minute ritual.
casting a spell without spending a pact slot even with the disadvantage of being interruptibly stretched over a minute (and excluding concentration spells, i insist) is powerful enough that baking in subtlety is over the line. vulnerability goes hand in hand with power in a good story. because this is a mechanism for telling stories, not just being better than some other class.
a separate invocation for subtle rituals with a level requirement (9th?) might cover it. the world needs more interesting invocation options.
The idea was not to make 10 minute rituals castable in 1 minute, but to allow casting normally 1 Action cast time spells as 1 minute long rituals without expending a spell slot. Hence the sleigh of hand to hide the fact you are spreading out 1 Action worth of Verbal and Somatic components over 1 minute ritual.
casting a spell without spending a pact slot even with the disadvantage of being interruptibly stretched over a minute (and excluding concentration spells, i insist) is powerful enough that baking in subtlety is over the line. vulnerability goes hand in hand with power in a good story. because this is a mechanism for telling stories, not just being better than some other class.
a separate invocation for subtle rituals with a level requirement (9th?) might cover it. the world needs more interesting invocation options.
My intent wasn't on baking in subtlety as an added bonus, but rather adding some role play possibilities.
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I understand the argument that people want to cast more spells as Warlocks, and that they think the Pact Magic slot system encourages resource hoarding, I really do. But I think the half-caster system was a tremendous mistake because gutting the spell slot level progression put even more emphasis on the EB being the only allowed source of damage for Warlocks.
So with the introduction of the 1 minute long slot refresher ritual Magical Cunning, I suggest that WotC lean even more heavily into the ritual casting aspect of Warlocks:
Half-caster approach was great. It let you cast many spells, spells of different levels (which made non-scaling spells useful), and it created a reason to multiclass with warlock for more than one level, especially with flexible spellcasting stat. Magical Cunning is nothing but a crude crutch that doesn't fix the problem. Warlock is still a short rest class in a long rest game.
The rituals are good for warlock. They really need to bring the Book of Ancient Secrets back, it was the selling point of Pact of the Tome.
By making sure you will not want to spend your actions casting anything but Eldritch Blast and utility spells.
Take a look at the Spell Lists for Half-Caster classes such as Ranger or Paladins. Nearly every single of the those spells is either restricted to that class or other half-caster class subclasses OR offers no increase in power (beyond additional targets) when cast using higher level slots.
With the half-caster framework that was suggested for warlocks in UA5, all the spells were in the Arcane spell list, which made them available for Wizards, who could cast them using higher level spell slots, and completely overshadow what Warlocks could do with iconic Warlock spells like: Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Hunger of Hadar, Evard’s Black Tentacles.
More lower level spells sounds like an equalizer, but in practice it just means that you can't rely on your spells to have a significant impact on a given situation.
Take darkness for example. At 3rd and 4th pc level virtually all opponents will be susceptible to the magical darkness / devil's sight combo; enemies that do have blind-sight will be more likely to have that as a specific schtic, rather than something you could expect to turn up often.
Once you hit the stride of the game (5th-9th) that combo drifts into less and less utility as enemies become more exotic or resourceful as CR goes up. The use of Fiends and intelligent undead increases, enemies with counter-spell or potent movement based abilities increase; what was a trump card becomes much more dodgy. By the time you're hitting 3rd level spells (9th level) a fireball or lightning bolt doesn't strike fear into characters the way they can from 5th-7th. Real martial classes don't have to worry about this disparity because they're a constant damage and tactical threat. Relegating 4th and 5th level spells to 13th and 17th level makes them feel basically out of reach for a normal campaign, there's a reason the published campaigns all tend to drop off before that point.
Eldritch Blast, unfortunately, comes up as the one dedicated combat choice that feels consistently reliable. Given that most combats only last a few rounds character effectiveness ends up getting judged based on what impactful things you can do in a short amount of time rather than how often you can do things that simply don't mean as much in the few rounds you're given.
Warlock got ritual spells in the latest UA already, so they've got more utility now than before.
Because the spell casting progression delayed getting more effective spells, they were coming online later.
Spirit Shroud for example gets delayed from level 5 to level 9, since it's a 3rd level spell which is vital spell for pact of the blade, basically it lowered warlock DPS from anything not eldritch blast by a fair bit. You could cast a 3rd spell once with Mystic Arcanum in that UA but if you had 3 encounters in the day with a short rest between each... yeah... Spirit Shroud for example suffered a lot.
Ritual casting Buff on the warlock would be interesting
sacrifice x HP = u gain x AC or THP
get a buff on hit or dmg
oh, i wish i'd seen this thread earlier. i came to a similar conclusion regarding magical cunning functioning like a ritual.
rather than a list of eligible spells, maybe just any warlock spell you know which does not require concentration. no 'free' flying, invisiblity, or creature summons. but yes creative application of damage spells: sink a ship, initiate a battle, clear an exit, etc...
also, i would very much scrap the subtle sleight-of-hand stuff. this is a short-cut to power and as such it's probably messy and obvious: scratched out in chalk with mouse blood diagrams hanging in the air, tuning fork that irritates animals nearby. etc. why can't wizards accomplish fast rituals? because they're playing it safe and, even more importantly, they're informed about the perils of improperly contained forces not played safe.
and go ahead and upcast it like a pact slot. why not? is it really that big an ask? part of the backlash for UA half-caster locks was that even though the people got the 'more casts' they asked for, those spells weren't as fun without upcasting.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
The idea was not to make 10 minute rituals castable in 1 minute, but to allow casting normally 1 Action cast time spells as 1 minute long rituals without expending a spell slot. Hence the sleigh of hand to hide the fact you are spreading out 1 Action worth of Verbal and Somatic components over 1 minute ritual.
Isn't it easier to give him access to level 1 and lvl 2 spell slots?
Well that would require implementing a completely new Spell Slot system that is not Full-Caster/Half-Caster/Pact Magic.
Tho they did try giving more spell slots with the new Pact of the Tome, so maybe they could just expand on that.
Maybe just straight up make an Invocation that gives you Spell Slot of X level that refreshes on Long Rest.
Honestly, this is really needed at the level 7 + invocation levels. The invocations at those higher levels is a bit of a baron waste land you are likely taking your "6th pick" by that point rather than anything exciting. Arcane Eye at level 9 is probably the most exciting of the bunch (unless blade lock).
Seeing that Metamagic Adept feat already exists, WotC isn't fundamentally opposed to optional features that give spellcasting resources that refresh on Long Rest.
Hopefully they would also explore the idea of just expanding the Mystic Arcanum Invocation, and just let Warlocks pick spells to be at will for no cost "Lesser Mystic Arcanums". The list of available spells would need to be heavily curated of course.
I have already noted that we are straight up missing several of the "learn this spell and cast it once per day using your warlock spell slots" I would not at ALL be opposed to them doing the common fix for many of those and providing them as spells that you can cast once per day WITHOUT using a spell slot. Add that in and it is going to be REALLY hard for people to say this Warlock doesn't cast enough spells.
Okay but how many 1 Action spells are actually going to be useful as rituals with a 1-minute casting time? I haven't looked, but I'm fairly confident the answer is going to be either "so few that this feature isn't worth it", or "so many that this feature is way overpowered". I don't think there's a middle ground.
But they have really already done it with the Tome Pact. I mean, Tome Pact gives you a lvl 1 spell slot. Ok, that has a very small impact. But perhaps they could expand it, either through EI, or by simply leveling up. I don't know what it should be like to be balanced, but 2 lvl1 spell slots 1 at level 3, and 2 lvl 1 and 1 level 2 at level 5 don't seem outrageous to me either. Although we would have to try it.
That's 3 spell slots per day (2 from level 1 and 1 from level 2). Not that it's anything to go by, but it allows you a little more play with low-level spells.
Most of these spells, however, didn't scale, and therefore were only ever used for two levels of warlock life, if used at all. Anyway, if you are using pact magic slots for damage, you're doing it wrong. You get the best cantrip in the game already, pact magic slots are for control and buffs/debuffs. If you're a bladelock, you're going to spend them on Armor of Agathys + Shadow of Moil 99% of the time.
invocation that gives you two 1st-level spell slots and one 2nd-level spell slot. spell slots refresh on a long rest, same as tome. invocation can be taken more than once.
require level 4 to match wizard's three 2nd-level slots or level 5 for half-caster sensibilities. boring, but effective.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
And switching to half-caster slot level progression is a direct nerf to the effectiveness Armor of Agathys, and delays getting Shadow of Moil from level 7 to level 13.
casting a spell without spending a pact slot even with the disadvantage of being interruptibly stretched over a minute (and excluding concentration spells, i insist) is powerful enough that baking in subtlety is over the line. vulnerability goes hand in hand with power in a good story. because this is a mechanism for telling stories, not just being better than some other class.
a separate invocation for subtle rituals with a level requirement (9th?) might cover it. the world needs more interesting invocation options.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
My intent wasn't on baking in subtlety as an added bonus, but rather adding some role play possibilities.