The Naked Wizard: Spell Components, Part 2

[AureusFulgens]

So, continuing my long-running interest in spell components, here's Part 2 of my previous thread, which I link for reference, where we discussed the intentions behind spell components in D&D 5e.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?571689-Trying-to-Understand-Spell-Components

In the present thread, I'm interested in posing a more design/theoretical question. Namely: I am thinking about a rule variant that would require casters to use a focus for a much larger number of spells (with the exception of sorcerers, who would not need one at all). The intent is that a caster can be "disarmed" in a similar manner to a martial character, leaving him with a specifically-chosen fraction of his abilities intact. My target number is around 10-20% of a given caster's spells being available without a focus, though I'm open to that being modified.

So, what spells would you think that a "naked wizard" (or druid, or cleric, or whatever) should still be able to cast? My current thoughts on the matter include:

All cantrips remain available.
No other damaging spells are available.
Teleportation is generally unavailable - perhaps with a few exceptions, but I like this as a serious limitation that makes it possible to keep a caster from escaping.
Minionmancy is unavailable.
Most standard enchantments probably remain on the table - the caster can still use magic to charm or suggest their way out of a situation when disarmed.
Ritual casting is generally unavailable.


This is going to be highly subjective, and I'm fine with that. What sorts of spells would you think should be a caster's "core toolkit" that they can rely on even if they're stripped of their equipment and trapped behind enemy lines? Use whatever criteria you like.

[Segev]

You're not just talking about lifting some restrictions, but applying some. In particular, I note teleport by existing rules is Verbal only. No somatic or material components needed. He could be tied up and stripped of all magical implements, and still utter the spell to teleport away. This is directly altered by one of your bullet points.

Incidentally, though, gagging him would prevent it, unless he could cast Silently (in this edition, this requires being a Sorcerer).

[AureusFulgens]

You're not just talking about lifting some restrictions, but applying some. In particular, I note teleport by existing rules is Verbal only. No somatic or material components needed. He could be tied up and stripped of all magical implements, and still utter the spell to teleport away. This is directly altered by one of your bullet points.

Incidentally, though, gagging him would prevent it, unless he could cast Silently (in this edition, this requires being a Sorcerer).

That's my intention, yes. I'd like to create a set of rules that are more restrictive than the standard - and more carefully thought-through. The existing allocation of components seems to be mostly random, with a few exceptions (e.g. the fact that every teleportation spell is verbal-only, except for Teleportation Circle).

The change to Teleport, specifically, was intentional. I think it shouldn't be so easy for a caster to teleport away when they're in trouble - having easy ways to lock them down seems like the sort of restriction that fits with my goals in this revision. (A good example of my intended goal is the Doctor Strange movie, where a magician can be pretty seriously trapped if they lose their sling ring.) Mind you, that's simply the way I would approach it, and I'm curious where other people might differ.

[NaughtyTiger]

A disarmed martial is severely hampered.
Why should a disarmed caster be largely unaffected?

edit:
in response to
"all cantrips remain available"
there are a small number of cantrips that are affected. i read this as the OP doesn't want to affect ANY cantrips.

[UnintensifiedFa]

I absolutely love this idea, in addition to what you’ve said.

Where do you think healing would go? I would think quick healing spells like healing word and power word heal would be in the not required but what about others.m?

Same for buffs.

Personally I’d just say anything with somatic and material requires a focus (besides cantrips) and everything else is free.

[Mellack]

A disarmed martial is severely hampered.
Why should a disarmed caster be largely unaffected?

I don't see a disarmed martial as severely hampered. They can grab a chair leg as an improvised club and be probably nearly as good (except for a few specialists. They can grapple as well as they could before. They can still smite. They can use their back-up weapon. If disarming is common in battle, casters will just carry spares the same as martials do.

[NaughtyTiger]

I don't see a disarmed martial as severely hampered. They can grab a chair leg as an improvised club and be probably nearly as good (except for a few specialists. They can grapple as well as they could before. They can still smite. They can use their back-up weapon. If disarming is common in battle, casters will just carry spares the same as martials do.

"They can grab a chair leg as an improvised club"
Improvised weapons are 1d4+str, and no proficiency on attacks. (so a -3 toHit relative to caster)

"They can grapple as well as they could before."
Str martials can grapple (sorry dex), and there are already many things a caster can do without focus/material.

"They can use their back-up weapon. If disarming is common in battle, casters will just carry spares the same as martials do."
I agree, casters can use a backup focus. this thread is making it so a caster wouldn't need a backup.

"They can still smite."
If a fighter/pally can hit with a lower toHit, yes they can use their specials

martials already lag behind casters, now the OP wants to strengthen casters more.

[Mellack]

"They can grab a chair leg as an improvised club"
Improvised weapons are 1d4+str, and no proficiency on attacks. (so a -3 toHit relative to caster)


This part is incorrect (depending on the DM). The chair leg is the example used in the book as an item being similar enough to count as that weapon. It would get proficiency, and do only a couple of points less on average than a longsword.

[AureusFulgens]

A disarmed martial is severely hampered.
Why should a disarmed caster be largely unaffected?

edit:
in response to
"all cantrips remain available"
there are a small number of cantrips that are affected. i read this as the OP doesn't want to affect ANY cantrips.


martials already lag behind casters, now the OP wants to strengthen casters more.

NaughtyTiger, I think you've misunderstood my intention. I'm hoping to make a LOT fewer spells available to casters without a focus, with the explicit goal of making them more similar in equipment dependence to martials. The one thing I'm allowing them is that cantrips are allowed without a focus - which already works for nearly all of them anyway, since a few cantrips have material components, but there's little difference between them and the ones that don't.

For reference, the cantrips with an M component are Light/Dancing Lights; the damaging cantrips Infestation, Thorn Whip, and Word of Radiance; Mending, Message, Minor Illusion, Friends, and Resistance. (Also Shillelagh, Booming Blade, and Green-Flame Blade, but the components for those are the weapons that they are enchanting, so they seem like a special case.) I didn't see allowing them as a major change considering the far broader limitations I want to make on spells of level 1 and higher, but it isn't something I'm deeply attached to.

But counterbalancing that, my intention toward levelled spells is to decrease access to them. Nearly half of all spells are non-M but have V or S, meaning they can be cast without a focus or components. That's a number I'd like to significantly decrease. I think that a caster who's been stripped of equipment should suffer some level of limitation proportional to a martial being limited to unarmed strikes and improvised weapons. 10-20% of their spells being available seems about right to me - a major decrease from the normal ~40%.

The other thing I'm trying to address is the fact that a lot of the component distinctions seem largely arbitrary. For example, there are something like fifty spells that are verbal-only, and I have no idea why most of them are what they are. Healing Word, sure. Wish, sure. The flavor makes sense. But why is Faerie Fire verbal-only? Why is Circle of Power? And some of them appear systematic, like all teleportation spells being verbal-only, but that's also a dubious decision in my view.

Essentially, I don't think they thought that hard about what set of spells a caster has available under different circumstances, and I'd like to try to tweak things to make more sense and impose calculated limitations on casters.


I absolutely love this idea, in addition to what you’ve said.

Where do you think healing would go? I would think quick healing spells like healing word and power word heal would be in the not required but what about others.m?

Same for buffs.

Personally I’d just say anything with somatic and material requires a focus (besides cantrips) and everything else is free.

I kind of like this approach, more or less. As far as healing, I think I made roughly the same decisions you did, with HW and PWH being available and the others requiring a focus. Buff spells I've kind of hemmed and hawed on a lot. I think I allowed a lot of the Protection spells on my first draft of this list, and Sanctuary and Invisibility and Expeditious Retreat (I mean, come on, I think giving the caster their classic Run Away! spell for when they're naked seems right). But I might have nixed a lot of the others, and these decisions are really still me trying to get a feel for what I want casters to be able to do. Which is what I'm looking for other people's thoughts on.

In general, my approach is something along the lines of what you suggest:

S,M ====> focus required
V only ====> available without focus

But I do have some questions about why a few V-only spells are V-only (see above). Like, it's a little peculiar that you can teleport across the planet by just speaking, and it has implications for game balance - keeping a caster contained if they're conscious is nigh impossible. There's a good number of V-only spells that I'd like to relegate to "focus required," and give back some others in trade.

[Snowbluff]

As a rule these rules should be useless.

Disarm a martial character, he can still pull out another weapon or punch someone.

Remove a caster's spell component pouch, he'll just cast using his staff, or a ring, or the pinkie ring on his small toe hidden under his boot.

[UnintensifiedFa]

As a rule these rules should be useless.

Disarm a martial character, he can still pull out another weapon or punch someone.

Remove a caster's spell component pouch, he'll just cast using his staff, or a ring, or the pinkie ring on his small toe hidden under his boot.

Ok, but it evens the playing field, now everyone needs to pay attention to disarms. Imagine this:

“You wake up, naked on an island, with nothing but a small forest and a sandy beach”

Normal scenario:
Wizard: ok just give me a second to prep my teleport and bam! We’re outta here.

With homebrew: Long epic struggle against the elements where a wizard tries to find components for his spells, or uses what little spells he has to craft a way to get out, much more engaging then simply teleporting our in two seconds”