This is one for the bookmarks. Be nice if there was a pdf for this to just hand out to my group but, 'oh darn, guess I'll have to share it to them and get your more views, likes and subs' 😘

Wierd tanget: In Forgotten Realms, there is an in-lore reason spells cap out at 9th level. In short, some goofball in ancient times tried to cast "Steal Godhood" at 11th level, instantly killing the goddess of magic and destroying ending magic until somebody came along and ascended to goddesshood the old fashioned way. She decided that mortals could clearly not be trusted, so capped the magic of non-dieties at 9th level.

@M4TCH3SM4L0N3

2 ай бұрын

That's the first thought that crossed my mind, as well, but in a game system, lore that interferes with the gameplay is not good lore. As blasphemous as I know it sounds, I think it's time to either retcon the lore so that mortals are prevented from learning spells over level 20 or create a new lore event to explain/justify redistributing the old 10 levels of spellcasting across a new set of 20 levels.

@jasonniebuhr8607

2 ай бұрын

Sounds like Mystra has to die and be reincarnated again

Drawing a sword is quick, but a shield has to be strapped on. This gives room for a buckler that *can* be readied quickly, but don't give as much AC bonus, but that's probably too much effort and consideration for Hasbro.

@zooker7938

2 ай бұрын

There's a great third party supplement called Warrior's Codex by Fungal Brews (free pdf online) that has rules for different types of shield with handles and straps. I recommend!

@iChryson

2 ай бұрын

There are a whole lot of center-grip shields besides the buckler and a strapped shield is *not* automatically more protective than a center-grip. The Scutum of ancient Rome is a center-grip. A properly adjusted backstrap allows the shield to be pretty easily flicked from the back position to the front, definitely quicker than 6 seconds. I think using your reaction for that is reasonable, after all you'd sacrifice opportunity attacks for it. If you want to add flavour to strap vs center-grip, consider making strapped shields immune to disarm or similar actions, but equipping them using a reaction gives a reduced AC bonus for the first round, while center-grip would give full bonus but is possible to be dropped.

@digeridrew

2 ай бұрын

Not too much effort for Paizo!

@BigusGeekus

2 ай бұрын

@@iChryson That's a fair point, and a good point of discussion if you're interested in more detailed and realistic shields, but Hasbro (and both Wizards and the only actual TSR to ever exist before them) seem to have decided that their shields were strapped, and I chose bucklers as an alternative because this is a game and I was thinking in terms of balance as well.

A simple way to deal with spell levels is to call them spell tiers - it’s not comprehensive, but it could help with the language issue

@TwinSteel

2 ай бұрын

Keep it on the DL, but I think counterspell as is should get junked

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

Counterspell does add a lot of complexity to combat, for sure

@TwinSteel

2 ай бұрын

And a lot of disappointed - when a player’s spell is countered, it’s such a buzz kill

@tuomasronnberg5244

2 ай бұрын

Same, the word spell level always annoyed me. Call them tiers or circles or whatever, as long as it's different from character level!

@colinrobertson7580

2 ай бұрын

Pathfinder 2e calls them spell ranks, and it's always half you level rounded up, so it's pretty clear. They even have e rank 10 spells for level 19 and 20 so the rule is fully consistent.

The spell level thing makes sense, except would need to be changed for half-casters. As for the points over slots..... that's mana. You just converted it to mana. Buckler: AC+1 Shield: AC+2 Tower Shield AC+3 And I think you should be able to dual-wield shields at +2 and +1 for a total of +3 sacrificing any attacks that aren't improvised or unarmed.

As far as the "holding a spell" thing, you cast the spell immediately, then use your reaction to direct it at the intended target. Pretty sure Crawford has talked about this before.

Passive perception (or any passive skills). In 5e a PC can have a crazy high passive perception, but then roll a 1-9 and feel disappointed on an active check. They then try to reason out why they can just walk into a room and see stuf, but when they try to see stuff they fail. It's pretty dumb. Instead of passive perception, when the PC has a high enough perception skill, stop making them make checks for basic searches.

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

yeah, that's a fair assessment. The DMG should do a better job of explaining how to adjudicate passive skills. I've definitely played at tables where it's been ruled very inconsistently

@zooker7938

2 ай бұрын

Active checks represent luck as much as skill. If the high-perception character failed an active check, there are plenty of reasons why that could be.

@adeptmage2293

2 ай бұрын

I forget which precious dnd edition this was but I remember something about "taking 10" on skill checks outside of combat. Basically the idea was you'd only ever roll for a check when you are under pressure and ha e a chance of messing up, but of you're just doing something rote but something that can still fail you'd just take 10 as the result instead of rolling

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

@@adeptmage2293 I do believe 4th edition had that take 10. Also Kids on Bikes and a few other systems use it, too

@seannemo8076

2 ай бұрын

The only time a roll is necessary is if you are actively trying to do something and your passive is too low, your check is being contested, or you're in combat. It doesn't matter if that lock has a DC of 3 when an arrow thunks next to your head and makes you flinch, after all...

There is a variant rule in the DMG for Spellcasting with Points. It basically boils down to using something like Sorcery Points for every caster type.

@mykediemart

2 ай бұрын

Very few people read the dmg

Hold action is easy enough to explain. Each round represents 6 seconds of combat. Every turn taken is happening simultaneously. So when you hold action you are just anticipating to counter. And if that trigger never occurs that can be the equivalent to getting juked in football or basketball.

Within the context of getting rid of spell slots. I think a mana point system where you can use points to increase range, aoe, damage etc. So you can cast fireball at level 1, but it would be weaker. It also covers up casting.

Counter spell, without changing how it functions, can be thought of as channeling more arcane power to your main spell to overpower the Counter Spell. This costs more slots and time, obviously. Like a beam struggle in DBZ: Kaio Ken X3 wasn't enough to ensure the hit; add the X4!

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

i like it!

Runehammer’s 5E hardcore mode just matches up the magic user’s level to the spell level. You get 3 per level. So level 1 magic user gets 3 level 1 spells , etc. this is balanced by a roll to cast mechanic . Five Torches Deep also does roll to cast , with DC to beat = 10 + spell level.

I really like your take on the Spell Points and I'm currently working on something similar to implement into my games. One major "design easter egg" I want to point out is something I learned from an Indestructoboy stream one time. To paraphrase: "No character resource in 5e exceeds 20." Personally, that simply incentivizes converting to a spell point system even more, because 1) it will be easier to track how many spells you can cast; 2) it greatly limits how many spells a caster can cast every long rest; and 3) it removes the mental hoop jumping when thinking about half-casters, and third-casters.

2:20 this only works for fullcasters. Making it even weirder for half or third casters

I don't get the cantrips known limitation. A 20th level wizard can study and learn any spell he wants, unless it's a cantrip, you know one of the easiest spells.

Appreciate the video! Definitely going to be reworking spells, excited for a new campaign I’m about to run!

I get the initiative thing, but also it's only the order we do things. The 1st move is only a big deal at the start of the fight. After that it's just a circle of who goes after who.

Most of the problems with the magic system is because Gary Gygax had a hard-on for the Dying Earth books. Unfortunately, that magic system doesn't translate well to games (who would want to play a wizard when casting 4 spells a day is considered god-tier?), and the adaptation loses the explanation of _why_ you lose the spell once you fire it off, making it even dumber. And then every new edition made changes, giving us the abomination we have today.

Gygax spent a lot of time explaining why D&D didn't have certain rules, like criticals, or hit locations, or armor damage reduction, or short combat rounds, or spell points. In the DMG he says it doesn't attempt to be realistic or a simulation; it's about action and adventure. And ever since then, there have been an endless stream of ideas from fans on how to add all these things and more to the game. And a whole other crowd saying "just play another game." Also, if you're looking for an alternate magic system, I came across one a while ago called "The Eight Elements: A Freeform Magic System" from like 2019. It's some guy's homebrew, and it's kind of crude, but it's got great ideas and might work really well with some tweaking. I'd be trying it myself if I had a group rn. There's nothing about it on yt, but I've been telling people in hopes they'll try it anyway. I got reported for spam twice tho.

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

great thing about D&D is that it can stand to be flexible enough to add in many of those optional rules, eh?

Your solution to spell levels matching player level is to basically turn every class into the mystic. They cast re flavoured "spells" using psy points in the exact way you've described.

On using points for magic. There is already a magic system like this. GURPS uses it. Is called the Mana magic system. You get Mana based on the game world. So many points to use per day. Each spell requires so many points to cast. Low magic universe far a low number of points. A high magic world gets lots of points. Very unbalanced as far as mage/martials divide.

One of the groups I'm in, all of us do medieval reenactment. We all have years of experience fighting with the kinds of weapons and armour used in the game, and we all agree that many mechanics are far from realistic, however we suspend our knowledge because we know if it was 100% realistic the game would no longer be fun

@TheAlbinoBoar

2 ай бұрын

That being said, there is a surprising amount that the game gets more-or-less right, such as 5ft spacing in a skirmish, reach weapons, and the dreaded Attack of Opportunity. Even the number of attacks in a 6 second period - yes you can swing more frequently, but you're often prodding defenses, maneuvering, looking for openings, all without opening yourself up. I consider the number of attacks as the actual attempts to strike the opponent with force

@thedarkbard

2 ай бұрын

The original point is the reason why I tend to avoid videos like these; most of the things that don’t make sense are from a realism perspective, not a gameplay one. If you want to play/ fight realistically, pick up a mock sword and go LARP. If you want to tell a story realistically, get information from expert sources and write a book. If you want to have casual fun-time with your friends, play a ttrpg.

So for holding a spell, I always kinda view it in terms of "World of warcraft" Say a wizard/mage is going to cast fireball. In Wow fireball has, say a 2 second cast time. IF you move during the like, 1.99 seconds before the bar ends the spell doesn't cast and you don't spend the mana. For Wizards holding a leveled spell I imagine them going through like, 90% of the incantations and movements but, not finishing it to draw on the arcane power. All the prep is done but since they didn't 'flip the switch' so to speak the power doesn't get used, so they repeat this until the trigger activates. Chanting the same incantations and rituals again and again until they need to do that last 10% and send it.

I don't like how absolute the advantage/disadvantage mechanic is *or* I don't like how frequently it comes up. Rolling 2 d20s all the time, like we do in 5e, seems wrong. If we're gonna have that mechanic, it shouldn't be very often, or it should be gated behind class features. I get that it's less complicated than the DM fiat bonuses and penalties from 3.5 (I don't actually remember how 4e handled that), but I'd rather still be doing that

i am of the opinion that you could not be allowed to counterspell a counter spell that is tageting you. it feels like breaking concentration and the verbal/somatic stuff makes no sense. if another person in your party wants to counter it by all means.

A third level fireball actually costs three mana points to cast. You essentially convert each spell slots into an appropriate number of points. If you can cast 3 level one spells, 2 level two spells and 1 level three spell, it would be (3*1 points) +(2*2 points)+(1*3 points) for a total of 10 mana points. You can cast 3 third level spells and a 1 first level or cast 10 first level spells. This just should be the default rule. Spell slots are dumb

Another great video. Levels are always weird. Character level becomes a different level from class level for multiclass, and you can have two different spell levels if you throw in a warlock character in that multiclass. DC 20 has a very smooth initiative system, each encounter has a DC, and if the majority of players roll higher than the DC, the party goes first, in rolled order, otherwise the Monsters go first, in their rolled order.

Magic spell levels match character levels on Palladium RPG from its first edition for Clerics, Warlocks and the like. For Wizards regarding their level, they can cast any spell they found, no matter the spell level for the latter is just a way to measure how hard they are to find.

You could just rename all the levels. 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, and only have the game go to 10th level but have 20 levels of progression. Then none of the spells have to change level or be altered. Half levels just giving you more of the same same level spells also makes sense.

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

sure, but then they still don't match up, so how would it be an improvement on the current system?

@argentumtaibhsear621

2 ай бұрын

@@wizardsling level one just has two parts, it's still level one. Level two has two parts but it's still level two. It seems like it lines up perfectly. You could also collapse the levels and all the perks of level three at the new second level. MCDM did this with their new system. It only has ten levels and it sounds awesome.

2:20 This is what Dungeon Coach's game DC20 does. You have mana enhancements for every spell that can essentially make one spell into many or enhance damage, range or effect. IE finally having the light cantrip that costs no mana blind a creature if you pump mana into it. Also No need for Dominate beast and dominate person. Just have dominate and add more mana points to be able to dominate a person. The way they the game limits players from casting higher mana cost items is by having a mana spend limit which is equal to half your level rounded up. Sometimes, you just gotta play another game if you just fundementally change something too much. Instead of making it work, Play something that has the feature in mind and is built around it.

The counter spell point reminded me of playing Magic: The Gathering with a couple of friends during high school, with two of them showing up with a blue deck. You could say the session was all talk, no action.

You forgot Potions take a whole Action! And the limit of Spells to 9th has in lore reasons in Faerun.

@zooker7938

2 ай бұрын

Have you ever tried to take a bottle out of your bag and drink the whole thing in six seconds? Also accounting for time spent moving around. I think it's perfectly reasonable that potions take an action. If you're constantly needing to chug potions during combat, the DM has made the combat too hard or you need another source of healing.

@dragonmaster613

2 ай бұрын

@@zooker7938 there are just some things that shouldn't be "realistic". That is one such thing.

you can already change to spell points they are in one of the books

Dmg has spell point optional rules pretty much as you stated. Feel like if i watched your other video i might hear you mention it.

Advantage and disadvantage not stacking. If 3 things give me a cookie and one thing takes a way a cookie, I will have two cookies at the end.

@seannemo8076

2 ай бұрын

That's mainly there for simplification. That being said, that's a bad analogy. If your blind but your buddy has the enemy flanked, then the enemy isn't paying as much attention to your wild swings... But if you're cleric buddy hit the enemy with a Guiding Bolt, well then, _you're still blind._ In most cases I've seen, the strait roll makes more sense than trying to do copious math to determine if you have advantage, disadvantage, or a strait roll.

4e had Spell Level match PC level.

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

4e had a lot going for it...

Fall damage! Past a certain point, I don't care how tough and high level you are, a long fall is going to kill you. That said, I know it's possible to survive long falls as it has happened in the past, but this is mostly luck based. I first rule that you take 1d6 of fall damage for every 5ft you fall, not 10ft. This seems harsh but 5ft is already a decent distance to fall and easily results in injury. Then, past 100ft, you must make a DC 15 CON save to go stable at 0HP, and if you fail, you die instantly. At 200ft or more, you have to roll a natural 20 to go stable at 0HP, or die instantly. You can gain a bonus or advantage to long fall saves if you do something to break your fall, like landing in water or grabbing onto a branch. This means long falls can be more narrative, and the tension is resolved by a d20 roll rather than rolling and counting an obscene number of d6s.

1) There are only so many words for "you have a chance to do better than what you might have done before" Just called it a "favored" point, as it is literlaly being favored by the true god of D&D (theDM) 2) No, we do not need 20 spell levels, I'm not going to mince words on this, it's dumb. There wouldn't be enough spells in any given level for any of it to matter, and allowing points to be shoved into the highest level spell just leads to novaing even more than what spellcasters already do. As soon as you get a 2nd spell point, you'd never again see a 1st level spell cast, and you'll say goodbye to 2nd level spells as soon as access to 3rd level is available. This again amounts to confusion over naming convention. If it helps, change it to spell "Tiers" and understand that every odd level generally gets a caster access to the next tier of magic options until level 9. 3) Don't think of it as casting a separate spell, think of it as writing in the margins. whatever the reaction spell is, the somatic component acts as a loop that reconverges into the original spell being cast so that the original spell can continue being cast. It's only when you get into Action surge that you're legitimately moving physically faster in order to cast an additional spell. 4) Shield has to be strapped into it and have it positioned properly, not just be carrying it. I think I'd allow a reaction if a free action and/or bonus action is also used. Would need to do some balancing to see how this affect combat. 5) Magic pulls ahead real fast if you allow stuff like that to be done. Physical attacks being done on a reaction is part of what keeps that balance between martial and caster. 6) that commenter completely missed the point of initiative. Running from a fight is part of fighting. If the rogue has been constantly on guard to run away once a fight starts, that means they are ready for a fight at all times and it is absolutely reasonable that they would be ready to run before anyone can actually attack them. The rogue wouldn't be very good at surviving if he had to take a hit before he could ever run away. That said, I do have a homebrew option for allowing people to use their entire turn in order to drop lower in the initiative by a set amount, but this cannot be used to go between two characters with the same initiative, or to interrupt someone's turn. It also cannot be used to avoid taking damaging or harmful effects from taking effect both on the initial turn as well as the later turn. This allows a party to readjust their timing to coordinate with each other, provided their initial initiative was high enough. 7) "you spin in place so fast that the air currents redirect the flames around you" It's evasion, the effect missed, the flavor text is up to you. Go wild.

Ya spell level and character level is confusing Ya we don’t use the donning shield rule. I like initiative the way it is. Evasion is a little broken.

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

I don't mind initiative either...

Palladium has a better alignment and magic system!

The crafting rules in 5e make zero sense, especially for crafting magic items or researching to create your own custom spells. These things were very important in AD&D 2e, 3e and 3.5, but 5e seems very much against the concept. The economy for magical consumables also makes no sense in 5e. Why should it cost the same amount to make holy water as it does to buy it from a shop? Even with the expanded rules from Xanathar's, why should a healing potion take so frickin long to make, when they are a staple product? We're talking about a game for medieval fantasy superheroes, so pretending to hide behind a balance that doesn't really exist seems silly.

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

totally fair points. Seems like they should've made crafting-focused feats, or subclasses with crafting skills. Missed opportunity for sure.

@MaledictusPod

2 ай бұрын

@@wizardsling In 3 and 3.5 they had crafting feats with level requirements, and magic items had a sale price, crafting price, and spell(s) required to craft the item, assuming you had the feats necessary. You also had to sacrifice a bit of xp to craft it.

After playing D&D for 20 years I ditched it for a far simpler system. I haven't looked back since. I enjoy playing the game, not checking the rules.

Friendly advice, you used the shrug woman transition one too many times. Got kind of annoying. Great video!

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

oh man, I'm so sorry about. Please accept my sincere apologies. It won't happen again I promise.

@zooker7938

2 ай бұрын

I agree, there could have been more variety in the visuals, and I'm glad the comments section allows the viewers to voice their criticisms and suggestions at the video creator.

@GrabnarMyers

2 ай бұрын

@@wizardsling Hey you're good, better video than I've ever made! Cheers

English is far from the most confusing language 😂

write your own game then. irritating. no sub.

@wizardsling

2 ай бұрын

I have, bruh.