Bonus Spell Slots?

[Eliana Solange]

Is there any way for a Wizard to gain bonus spell slots? I love the unlimited Cantrips, but "real" spellcasting seems to be *very* limited.

[Edge of Dreams]

At this point, nope. There's no bonus spell slots for high int/wis/cha like 3e had. The Wizard does have a class feature to regain a few slots after a short rest, but it's only 1/day and doesn't restore high level slots. Sorcerer can spend sorcery points for extra slots, or slots for extra sorcery points. That's all there is.

Odds are once we see more magic items in the DMG we will see things like Pearl of Power which allow you to recover a limited number of spent spell slots once per day.

On the other hand, do take a look at Ritual spells and the rules for those. If you choose to take the extra time to cast a spell as a ritual (which only some classes can do, and only if the spell has the Ritual tag), it doesn't cost a spell slot. That means Wizards can get a lot of use out of utility spells when not in combat and save precious spell slots for combat situations.

[Thrudd]

Is there any way for a Wizard to gain bonus spell slots? I love the unlimited Cantrips, but "real" spellcasting seems to be *very* limited.

I think that's on purpose. Just about everyone considered 3e style casters overpowered, so this is a way to limit them some (whether they're successfully limited, or just overpowered in a new way is debatable).
Of course, unlimited cantrips and ritual spells means you still have a lot of utility even when you're out of slots.

[rlc]

I'm sure there will at least be feats for this before too long (I already homebrewed one, myself).

[BW022]

Is there any way for a Wizard to gain bonus spell slots? I love the unlimited Cantrips, but "real" spellcasting seems to be *very* limited.

Spell casting is hardly limited. It is much more flexible, yet simpler than in 3E.

First, cantrips are at will and are generally more powerful. Various ones often do a d8 damage.

Second, all casting classes start with two spell slots at their highest casting level.

Third, you never have to fill spell casting slots. You memories a number of spells and can cast them in any slot. A 5th-level wizard would have 5+Int spells memorized and could cast them in any slot of high enough level. No more having to memorize individual slots. Many classes have spells always known - such as domain spells for clerics or paths for warlocks. In 3E, you could easily have spell slots wasted because they were filled with a 'useless' spell. A 3E enchanter wizard is pretty much assured to never use any of his spells when facing say undead. In 5E, he could just keep using magic missiles.

Forth, many spells increase in power if you use higher level slots. You can affect more people, do more damage, etc. Rather than cast two 2nd-level bear's endurance spells to affect two PCs, you could cast the spell using a 3rd-level spell slot. More flexible and saves spell slots.

Fifth, any ritual caster can cast ritual spells either from memory or a spell book (for wizards or those with the ritual casting feat) without expending a slot given an extra 10 minutes. Thus, alarm, detect magic, comprehend languages, identify, animal messenger, Leomund's tiny hut, water breathing, etc. could easily be cast in non-combat situations without using slots. Wizards or ritual casters would have no reason to memorize these in most cases. Other casters always have the option of casting the spell without using a slot in most non-combat situations. A druid could send animal messengers all day. Many non-combat spells will likely never use slots.

Sixth, many spell casting classes have ways of getting slots back after a short (one hour rest). Sorcerers have fonts of magic, wizards arcane recovery, and warlocks get all their slots back every time they rest for an hour. A 5th-level wizard can effectively get 3 spell levels back after a lunch break. This is highly flexible.

Seventh, many spell casters have special abilities based on the types. Many of these save slots. Sorcerers get meta-magic abilities to extend spell length, affect more targets, increase range, etc. without using higher or more spell slots. Warlocks have invocations and pact abilities which are at will. Wizard schools give certain powers. All these decrease the need to cast additional spells from slots.

Eighth, multi-class characters share spell slots. A cleric 1/wizard 4 has the same spell slots as a 6th-level character, but maintains two memorized spells (1+wis 1st-level for the cleric and 4+int 1st or 2nd-level spells for wizard). However, they can cast spells any slots. The caster could get 9 magic missile spells off or 9 cure wounds spells off. Spells cast using higher level slots are again more powerful.

[Person_Man]

The basic design philosophy behind full progression spellcasters in 5E:

1) Spellcasters should be able to do all the coolest/most popular things used to do in 1E/2E/3.X. Just look at their spell lists.

2) Without running out of magical stuff to do, which was a major complaint of low-level spellcasters in 1E/2E/3.X. Cantrips, Rituals, various class abilities which let you use magic more often.

3) But the most obvious and powerful game breaking stuff would be semi-limited. At 6th level or higher you only get 1 or 2 spell slots of each level with no way to refill them other then a Long Rest, spells don't automatically scale with levels but instead need to be cast out of higher level slots, plus Concentration rules to makes CoDzilla slightly harder.

[TheOOB]

Wizards are still godly powerful, but they're really glass cannons now, they are fragile and run out of juice quick.

[da_chicken]

Is there any way for a Wizard to gain bonus spell slots? I love the unlimited Cantrips, but "real" spellcasting seems to be *very* limited.

Ring of Wizardry almost certainly will exist in the DMG.

Beyond that? Almost certainly not.

[Giant2005]

I haven't really tried to math it out to see if there is any advantage in it but Warlock spell slots stack with other casters and can be used to cast any type of spell the caster knows.
So if you multiclass right, you might be able to use a couple of Warlock levels to extend your spell lists somewhat.

[khachaturian]

where does it say that spells cast as rituals don't consume spell slots. my impression was that they just didn't have to be memorized?

never mind, saw it on p201

[RabanoDOOM]

Wizards are still godly powerful, but they're really glass cannons now, they are fragile and run out of juice quick.

Personally, I'd disagree with the fragility bit. I'm currently running a 5th level Mountain Dwarf Abjurer in a campaign of mine. 47 HP, 16 AC, (armor doesn't impact spellcasting anymore) a 14 hp ward and I've freed up an extra 1st level slot thanks to not having to prepare mage armor. Not to mention, since shield can be cast as a reaction AFTER the enemy attacks, I can basically choose to void an attack roll that's between 17 and 22. So personally, I'd say I'm fairly beefy. :smallsmile:

[JohnDoe]

Edit: Just noticed the original date of this thread after seeing it bumped.
----------------------------------------

Yes.

Dungeon Master's Guide:
Page 288
Variant: Spell Points

Convert your Spell Slots into Spell Points.
Use those Spell Points to create Spell Slots.

You could convert higher level Spell Slots into Spell Points to create more lower level Spell Slots.

You could also convert lower level Spell Slots into higher level spell slots.

*****You can only create one spell slot of each slot level 6 or higher*****
________
Example:
Level 20: 133 Spell Points

Level 5 Spell Slot Cost: 7
--> 19 5th level slots.
________

You also have Spell Mastery & Signature Spells at end-game.
________


Hope this helps.

[Kane0]

Rod of Absorbtion.

[SharkForce]

the spell point variant caps you at one slot per day from spell levels 6-9. it is actually even more limiting in that regard than spell slots.

[JohnDoe]

the spell point variant caps you at one slot per day from spell levels 6-9. it is actually even more limiting in that regard than spell slots.

Thanks. Haven't read through that section in quite some time.

I was under the impression that you created your spell slots, and that applied to creating more as a result of regaining slots during the day.

You create the spell slot as you cast the spell, so really you don't have to limit yourself to any modification of spell slots. That can offer quite a lot of versatility.

I'll edit.

[MrStabby]

Yeah you can cast more spells per day. There is a feat for that. Granted it is just one level 1 spell...

[MaxWilson]

There are a couple of Epic Boons listed in the DMG (High Magic and one other) which together can boost your 9th level spell slots up to 3/day, if your DM wants to go down that road.