Limitless Casting
Added 2025-02-01 14:14:29 +0000 UTCHey all! In doing some tinkering with the math behind 5e and Odyssey last night, I came to a funny discovery.
Odyssey takes the math behind levels 1 to 6 in D&D and stretches it out across 12 levels. The first two levels are the apprentice levels you've seen in the classes, then the remaining levels run from 1st to 10th.
Here's a funny thing I noticed:
A 3rd level fighter in 5e does this much damage per turn: 6.5 damage for a 1d12 weapon on average, roughly +1 damage for the great weapon fighting technique, +0.5 for the champion extra crits (roughly), +3 for Strength, adding up to roughly 11 damage each attack.
The math comes out equivalent for a 1d8 weapon, assuming that the character takes the +2 damage fighting technique.
A 1st level spell is worth roughly 2d10 damage, or 11 damage.
For magic-users at least, that means they can cast 1st level spells at-will assuming that the spells are properly balanced. At least, that's what the monster math assumes.
However, I believe that if we look at the actual spells they do a lot more damage. Burning hands does 3d6 damage, where the spell guidelines suggest it should do 2d6. Thunderwave does 2d8 damage and pushes targets 10 feet. Of course, fireball infamously does too much damage, too.
All of that makes me consider swapping to a Shadowdark/Dungeon Crawl Classics casting mechanic for magic-users. It would work something like this:
A magic-user makes a casting check to use a spell, a trained Int check
15+, cast the spell without paying any cost
Otherwise, you have to pay for the spell out of your power pool
If you cannot, the spell fizzles and you can't try to cast it again until you rest
Concentration applies to almost all spells with a duration, to prevent stacking up effects endlessly
Spell damage would be toned down a bit, but I'm already rewriting the 5e spells to make them easier to use.
Other magic-user spells, like invisibility, remain the same and at the same level.
I haven't playtested this yet, but in running a lot of Shadowdark I liked the casting roll quite a bit.
I haven't tested this in Odyssey yet, but I'm curious to see what people think of this approach. Vote in the poll and sound off in the comments.
Comments
Here's my thing. The only difference between a cantrip and a crossbow is how you describe it looking. If you give a wizard a cantrip that lets them zap an adjacent foe with electricity for 1d8 damage and they feel giddy about it--well neat you just gave them basically a sword. Glad they're so happy. They have a lot of zombies they raise from a charnal pit and can now unleash them on their enemies and feel really powerful? Well cool, but mechanically that's no different from getting some tough locals riled up at the bar you were just at to come with you to bust some monster heads. Most of what magic is doesn't actually give you anything you probably couldn't get some other way through cleverness and good roleplay. No reason it needs to be feared by GMs or locked away. For D&D style magic I like what it says about spell preparation in 3rd edition: spell prep is the caster doing a ritual, spreading out the bones and candles and spellcircles and casting most of each minutes long spell, just leaving off the last few words, gestures and spell components--and the spell sits there hanging unfinished in the air until those last things are done and then the ritual completes and the magic roars to life. That's what people call "spells". According to this, any magic user should be able to prepare as many spells as they can understand how they work as many times as they have the time and components to do the preparation for. And if they cast a spell, all they need to reload it is a quiet place to crack open their spellbook and materials and a few minutes to do most of the ritual again until it's ready to cast. It makes magic a real practical part of the world that's entirely diagetic, rather than requiring nondiagetic nonsense like spell points or slots or what have you that doesn't really exist in the game world.
Robert Erik Blank
2025-05-20 23:43:51 +0000 UTCI don't use spell points or pools but if a roll is failed, spell fizzles out if a 1 is rolled then a point of Exhaustion is gained and spell fizzels. If a 20 is rolled then player gains extra benifit (max damage, extened range, DC increase on save, increased damage penintration etc).
Dwayne Butcher
2025-02-25 20:00:38 +0000 UTC
