Thinking E6. Are a LOT of SRD spells over-leveled? Am I being an idiot?

[johnbragg]

Well, are you sure E6 is what you want?

I'm not ready to break completely from D&D, so yeah. What I like most about E6 is that it gives you a background world that makes sense--most people are never facing more than CR 1 challenges (at least not many), so you have exponentially fewer people at each level--50% 1st, 37.5% 2nd, about 10% 3rd, 2.5% 4+, if you're in a challenging environment (frontier or savage area, professionals with PC classes, expert smiths, etc). In a guild, 1st level is Apprentice Member, 2nd level Journeyman, 3rd level Guild Master. So while there may be a spellcaster in every village and a dozen in a good-sized town and hundreds or thousands in a metropolis, a 3rd or 4th level spellcaster is something special.

So 2nd level spells should be something special. If a spell doesn't tell the townsfolk "Wow, our Twilight Sparkle is a good wizard, but this Great And Powerful Trixie is AMAZING"--it's not a second level spell.

Likewise, if we have a 1st level spell that could be cast at-will without creating problems, why are we even requiring a spell slot? Make it a cantrip. You still know a limited number of cantrips, so taking Detect Evil/Good/Chaos/Law means you couldn't afford Touch of Fatigue or whatever.

Invisibility is a spell that can do half the job of a good thief. Hold person accomplishes something that for most dedicated spellcasters is really hard to do in a mundane manner. Many of the others are as or even more situational, but when the situation does arise they accomplish something pretty cool.

If you want (slightly) stronger magic users the easiest thing to do is play E8...

I'm not saying I want stronger magic. I'm saying that a lot of spells were leveled in previous editions, or in the early days of 3rd, when the idea of a "warlock" with free blasting EVERY ROUND would have been unthinkable. I'm saying that a 1st level NPC or PC caster with animal messenger as a 1st level spell and speak with animals at will is not unbalanced compared to a caster with charm animal as a 1st level spell and daze at will.

It's a game of resource management, and I think that a lot of resources (mostly utility and situational magic) are overpriced by 2018 standards.

I went ahead last night and made lists

Cantrips
Animate Rope
Deathwatch
Detect Animals or Plants
Detect Evil/good/Law/Chaos
Detect Undead
Floating Disk
Hide from Animals
Hide from Undead
Ventriloquism

1st level spells
Animal Messenger
Animal Trance
Darkvision
Gentle Repose
Magic Mouth (maybe even a cantrip?)
Make Whole (but eliminate Mending cantrip)
Shatter
Shield Other
Spectral Hand
Status
Tree Shape
Undetectable Alignment
Warp Wood
Zone of Truth