Argothair
2018-02-26, 06:55 PM
Should there be limits on what magic can do in D&D 5e? What kinds of limits?
Obviously part of the fun (and power) of magic is that it's versatile and flexible, and can be applied in ways that you and the GM might not have anticipated. But if magic can do literally *anything* then some of the martial classes (Monk, Fighter) and utility classes (Ranger, Rogue) lose their appeal because literally all of their abilities can be duplicated with spells.
For example, the Battle Master Fighter can get superiority dice that allow you to perform some moderately useful combat tricks...but wizards and sorcerers and druids all have access to combat tricks. The Monk gets a pool of qi that allows him to dash around the map and hide in shadows and make multiple attacks per turn...but any spellcaster can also hide in shadows and boost her mobility, and any spellcaster with one level in sorcerer can also make multiple magical attacks per turn.
This is different from the ancient complaint that casters are over-powered...I think 5e has done a good job of balancing the classes in terms of raw power. Within reason, each class can dish out roughly the same amount of damage over, say, 10 rounds. The problem is that there's nothing that *only* martial classes can do. If you squint a little, a Fighter or a Rogue or a Monk is just a spellcaster with an unusually narrow list of spells and some better-than-average cantrips.
So if you wanted to homebrew a system where there were things that magic simply couldn't do...where would you start? Is it fun to put a limit on the amount of physical work that magic can do? E.g., maybe it's not cost-effective (mana-effective?) to build a brick house with magic, because magic isn't good at lifting hundreds of heavy bricks, one after another? Maybe there's a limit on how well magic can manipulate small objects like lockpicks and jewelers' lenses? Maybe cantrips should be notably weaker, so that one of the limits of magic is that significant magic can only be used a few times a day? What limitations make sense in terms of the underlying fluff of a standard D&D 5e setting? What would be entertaining for players?
Obviously part of the fun (and power) of magic is that it's versatile and flexible, and can be applied in ways that you and the GM might not have anticipated. But if magic can do literally *anything* then some of the martial classes (Monk, Fighter) and utility classes (Ranger, Rogue) lose their appeal because literally all of their abilities can be duplicated with spells.
For example, the Battle Master Fighter can get superiority dice that allow you to perform some moderately useful combat tricks...but wizards and sorcerers and druids all have access to combat tricks. The Monk gets a pool of qi that allows him to dash around the map and hide in shadows and make multiple attacks per turn...but any spellcaster can also hide in shadows and boost her mobility, and any spellcaster with one level in sorcerer can also make multiple magical attacks per turn.
This is different from the ancient complaint that casters are over-powered...I think 5e has done a good job of balancing the classes in terms of raw power. Within reason, each class can dish out roughly the same amount of damage over, say, 10 rounds. The problem is that there's nothing that *only* martial classes can do. If you squint a little, a Fighter or a Rogue or a Monk is just a spellcaster with an unusually narrow list of spells and some better-than-average cantrips.
So if you wanted to homebrew a system where there were things that magic simply couldn't do...where would you start? Is it fun to put a limit on the amount of physical work that magic can do? E.g., maybe it's not cost-effective (mana-effective?) to build a brick house with magic, because magic isn't good at lifting hundreds of heavy bricks, one after another? Maybe there's a limit on how well magic can manipulate small objects like lockpicks and jewelers' lenses? Maybe cantrips should be notably weaker, so that one of the limits of magic is that significant magic can only be used a few times a day? What limitations make sense in terms of the underlying fluff of a standard D&D 5e setting? What would be entertaining for players?