MrStabby
2016-03-30, 05:55 PM
So I was thinking of adding some items to my campaign, and I was trying to set their power-level.
Basically the items let you cast a spell you know that has a casting time of one action and does not restore hitpoints without expending a spell slot. There will be three tiers of items. 1 that lets you cast a level 1 spell at will, one up to a level 2 spell and the third up to a level 3 spell. The items require attunement and the spell is selected at attunement.
My thinking was to give level 1 spell item at about character level 8 to 10, level 2 at about 12 to 14 and level 3 at about 16-18.
Running some calculations on damage (although somewhat from memory), it didn't seem too bad. You can cast guiding bolt at will - nice but that is 4d6 damage so about 14. At level 8 the cleric would get a boost to sacred flame and would be doing about 2d8+5 damage. So the at will spell here is giving an ally advantage as its bonus - for an attuned magic item. Better or worse than a +1 sword to a fighter? Better or worse than a +2 sword?
Magic missile at will? By level 8 it is is nice trick and great to pull out vs some enemies but i couln't see this being game breaking.
Even at the most powerful iteration - casting a fireball at will you are still capped at 8d6 per creature. Sure its good vs crowds but 28 average damage just doesnt swing a lot of encounters at 16th level. Even a cantrip is doing about 22 damage without boosts at this level and really isn't scary.
My thinking is that for damage purposes the expenditure of an action is a bigger deal than the expenditure of such a low level spell slot.
Buffs on the other hand are harder to judge. Permanent bless? permanent spirit guardians? Permanent spider climb? It doesnt circumvent concentration so it is still using a resource there but as some of these can be cast outside of combat it may not be costing an action either.
On the other hand at the levels players are likely to be getting these they would have 4 of the required spell slots per day anyway so they could have whatever buff they want up for more than half the days encounters ( on a 6-8 encounter day basis).
Finally there are things like eldritch knight (or multiclass) that know spells but by the time of the levels they get this would still not have a huge number of daily spell slots. This is a bit more worrying for me - is it much better than just using all your attacks though?
Basically the items let you cast a spell you know that has a casting time of one action and does not restore hitpoints without expending a spell slot. There will be three tiers of items. 1 that lets you cast a level 1 spell at will, one up to a level 2 spell and the third up to a level 3 spell. The items require attunement and the spell is selected at attunement.
My thinking was to give level 1 spell item at about character level 8 to 10, level 2 at about 12 to 14 and level 3 at about 16-18.
Running some calculations on damage (although somewhat from memory), it didn't seem too bad. You can cast guiding bolt at will - nice but that is 4d6 damage so about 14. At level 8 the cleric would get a boost to sacred flame and would be doing about 2d8+5 damage. So the at will spell here is giving an ally advantage as its bonus - for an attuned magic item. Better or worse than a +1 sword to a fighter? Better or worse than a +2 sword?
Magic missile at will? By level 8 it is is nice trick and great to pull out vs some enemies but i couln't see this being game breaking.
Even at the most powerful iteration - casting a fireball at will you are still capped at 8d6 per creature. Sure its good vs crowds but 28 average damage just doesnt swing a lot of encounters at 16th level. Even a cantrip is doing about 22 damage without boosts at this level and really isn't scary.
My thinking is that for damage purposes the expenditure of an action is a bigger deal than the expenditure of such a low level spell slot.
Buffs on the other hand are harder to judge. Permanent bless? permanent spirit guardians? Permanent spider climb? It doesnt circumvent concentration so it is still using a resource there but as some of these can be cast outside of combat it may not be costing an action either.
On the other hand at the levels players are likely to be getting these they would have 4 of the required spell slots per day anyway so they could have whatever buff they want up for more than half the days encounters ( on a 6-8 encounter day basis).
Finally there are things like eldritch knight (or multiclass) that know spells but by the time of the levels they get this would still not have a huge number of daily spell slots. This is a bit more worrying for me - is it much better than just using all your attacks though?