All Questions
14
questions
11
votes
2
answers
418
views
Is the moons' influence on spellcasting balanced for a Dragonlance campaign?
I am about to DM Shadow of the Dragon Queen and I have almost finished reading the manual, to get the general idea of the adventure. To be honest, I feel that the setting depicted here does not feel ...
- 31.6k
5
votes
3
answers
984
views
How would this extra spellcasting rule affect game balance?
I once heard of a D&D 5th edition group who played using various house rules. One such rule was as follows:
As a bonus action, a spellcaster may cast any cantrip, 1st level spell, or 2nd level ...
- 83.1k
10
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What are the balance implications of removing spell lists?
How would the game change if I removed spell lists? Essentially, every spell would be on every spell list.
I know this would lead to balance issues with wizard's Spell Mastery and spells such as ...
- 211
6
votes
4
answers
586
views
Will making changes to verbal component rules break game balance?
The goal of verbal components is to
prevent casters from rashly casting spells like Charm Person (as the NPCs would immediately notice it) and
let prison guards debilitate a caster by gagging them.
...
- 1,202
20
votes
6
answers
5k
views
How does class balance change when I remove spellcasting?
Let's say I want to DM a hypothetical, low-magic, homebrew D&D 5e game, that pits weapon-wielding heroes against supernatural foes and evil sorcerers. Think Conan the Barbarian or Game of Thrones ...
- 1,260
5
votes
2
answers
926
views
What are good principles for determining whether and at what level a homebrew class feature is balanced?
I'm working on a homebrew revision (and slight buff) of the Sorcerer class in D&D 5e that includes some additional class features. I've read the Unearthed Arcana article about modifying classes, ...
- 2,293
15
votes
5
answers
7k
views
What is the purpose of the wizard's spellbook, from a mechanical standpoint?
I'm still fairly new to DMing, and the wizard's spellbook is constantly breaking my mind. While I think I finally understand how it is working, I wonder why it is in the game to begin with. And I don'...
- 975
5
votes
1
answer
918
views
What are the balance implications of letting a wizard subclass have more prepared spells?
I'm working with a player who has a homebrew wizard subclass and we were discussing the possibility of giving it a list of spells that was automatically learned and prepared for this class. We ...
- 671
58
votes
3
answers
7k
views
Do 10 second turns/60 second rounds make spellcasters horrible?
My DM insists on the combat being 10 seconds per turn and the round time to be the sum of all turn times (so a minute for 6 participants, for example). I am aware that this is not how turn/round time ...
- 473
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What are the possible balance implications for houseruling INT as Paladin's spellcasting ability and class features?
Related (yet different): What is the source of a Paladin's spell-casting ability?
Related (strongly): What are the impacts of changing a Ranger's spellcasting ability?
(I don't know if everything ...
- 1,938
16
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What are the ramifications of this change to upcasting spells?
I was looking at the Evocation Wizard's Overchannel feature which states:
When you cast a wizard spell of 1st through 5th-level that deals damage, you can deal maximum damage with that spell.
This ...
- 76.6k
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Does the ki cost of Way of the Four Elements monk spells scale for higher level spells?
Background
As I mentioned in this question, I have recently started watching the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series and am inspired to improve the otherwise underwhelming Way of the Four ...
- 79.3k
38
votes
3
answers
58k
views
How does the Variant: Spell Points system from the DMG affect game balance?
On page 288-289 of the DMG, there is a "Variant: Spell Points" rule. Below are the best summary paragraphs of the system:
In this variant, each spell has a point cost based on its level. ...
- 31k
19
votes
5
answers
18k
views
Can I let a single PC use the Spell Points variant rule without unbalance?
One of my players (level 5 Druid) has been looking at the Spell Points variant rule in the 5th edition DMG (page 288) and wants to use it for his character. I've talked to the other players with ...
- 311