So out of 12 character classes 8 of them can cast spells. The 4 non-casters are the: Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, and Rogue. There are 2 classes that can cast spells, but not until second level and not a lot - so let's call them the "partial casters" - the Paladin and Ranger. Then there are the full casters, who specialize in magic, the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard. And then there's the Warlock.
When looking at spellcasting there are several things to consider:
First, spells have levels just like characters, spell levels go from "cantrip" (or 0) to 1st through 9th. Each level of spells is a step up in options, offering new types of things to do as well as more powerful versions of lower-level spells. I have always hated that spells and characters both share the word "levels," it's an unnecessary potential confusion. So I'm going to rate spells by "tiers" since the really important thing is that each new tier expands your available options in the game. For example, at Tier 1 you can cast Jump, at Tier 2 you can cast Levitate and at Tier 3 you can cast Fly. So one option, movement, has limited power at lower tiers that expands - not just getting faster, or measurably better offering new abilities. Levitate is like a jump in that it moves you vertically, but with levitate you can hover and stay in the air; flight allows the same thing, but also allows you to move horizontally.
Second, characters can only cast or use a limited number of spells per day (or in-between long rests). This is the limiting effect on magic, while spells can be very powerful and do things that cannot be accomplished in any other way, you only have so many of them, so you have to choose when to use them carefully. How many spells you can cast is rated by each tier, so you may have 3 Tier 1 and 2 Tier 2 "spell slots." You cannot combine or divide these (so 2 Tier 1 slots cannot be used to cast a single Tier 2, nor can 1 Tier 2 slot be used to cast a pair of Tier 1 spells) but you can upgrade them (so a Tier 3 slot can be used to cast a Tier 1 spell, but that spell will have an increased effect from it's basic Tier 1 version). Now, of course there are exceptions. Cantrips (Tier 0) do not use spell slots, they can be cast an unlimited number of times (which also breaks the pattern that spells are large, uncommon effects, these are low-powered constant abilities that a typically non-caster, blurring the lines between the two) (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Also, some spells can be cast as "Rituals." A spell must explicitly say it is a ritual spell, and casting it that way does not use a spell slot but does take 10 minutes instead of the usual 6 seconds or so. So a ritual is not much good during a fight (though a fight could break out trying to stop one).
Third, besides the limit of how many spells can be cast in a day, there is another limit in how many spells can be prepared at any time. You can only cast a spell that you have prepared, and different classes can prepare different numbers and in different ways.
Finally, each class has a "spell list" or what spells that class can try to cast. They have to choose which spells from that list they know, and from the known spells which to prepare, and then expend slots (excepting cantrips and rituals) to cast those spells.
So, with that overview let's start looking at the spellcasters and how they progress.
Partial Casters
Okay, I want to start with the two partial casting classes, the Paladin and Ranger. They are different from what I've been looking at in that they do not start casting spells until second level (as opposed to the first level abilities I've described and the full casters who start at first level). Still, it seemed logical to put them in the spellcasting overview, and they have a fairly short and simple pattern to their spellcasting progression. I'm going to list each spell tier they can cast, and how many they can cast per day for each tier:
Tier 1
2/ rest at 2nd Level
+1 at 3rd Level
+1 at 5th Level
(so a max of 4 spells/day)
Tier 2
2/ rest at 5th Level
+1 at 7th Level
(so a max of 3 spells/day)
Tier 3
2/ rest at 9th Level
+1 at 11th Level
(so a max of 3 spells/day)
Tier 4
1/ rest at 13th Level
+1 at 15th Level
+1 at 17th Level
(so a max of 3 spells/day)
Tier 5
1/ rest at 17th Level
+1 at 19th Level
(so a max of 2 spells/day)
Okay, so this is a pretty clear and mostly solid pattern. They start casting at 2nd Level, and oddly they start with Tier 1 spells instead of learning any Tier 0 cantrips. I really don't get this. Some cantrips like Light, Mending, Minor Illusion, Resistance and True Strike would be very helpful to those classes, even if you broke the pattern and made them #/day instead of at-will. Also, since these are the partial caster classes, magic is not as necessary to their concept and execution, so starting them at Tier 0 would not be a bad thing or really hinder their abilities or usefulness. Oh well. After that, from learning spells at 2nd level, they gain a new Tier at 5, 9, 13, and 17 - so 3 levels later and then an even 4 levels afterwards. I like nice clear patterns. Why make some sort of random jumble unless there is a compelling story or mechanical reason to do so? This is almost a nice pattern, but just a little off here and there, which I find is the common state of the 5e SRD. It's like the designers didn't want to just make some patterns and always follow them, they have to constantly shift and move things around. And, almost like clockwork after gaining a new tier of spell they gain another slot 2 levels later, except of course for the couple of exceptions.
Okay, so that lists how many spell slots they have to cast, but how many spells are known and can they prepare? Well, so much for sharing a pattern because the two classes calculate that in different ways:
The Paladin can prepare his Cha mod + 1/2 Paladin level (rounded down). Those can be chosen from the complete Paladin class list of spells. The Paladin class list has 11 Tier 1, 8 Tier 2, 6 Tier 3, 3 Tier 4 and 3 Tier 5 spells available/known. So every day the Paladin has that many choices to draw from to prepare.
Rangers also have a class list, with 11 Tier 1, 11 Tier 2 (3 more than the Pal), 9 Tier 3 (3 more than the Pal), 4 Tier 4 (1 more than the Pal) and 2 Tier 5 (1 less than the Pal). They have to choose which of those spells they know, and the known spells are always prepared. They start knowing 2 spells at 2nd Level, gain 1 spell known at 3rd, and then another spell known every two levels after that (5, 7, 9, etc).
At 20th level a Ranger would have a maximum of 11 spells known/prepared. A 20th Level Paladin would have 31 spells known (their entire list) and 10 + Cha mod spells prepared (likely at least 14-15 with mod). So while Rangers have a bit more to choose from in general, Paladins have a lot more flexibility in changing their day-to-day options. That does give them a somewhat different feel. I kind of think the Paladin is a better caster from looking at the raw numbers, but there are so many variables there and it doesn't seem to be an overwhelming advantage.
The Full Casters
The Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard all share a fairly common progression, so let's take a look at them together.
First, let's go over the spell slots:
Tier 0 cantrips
2 at-will at 1st Level for the Bard and Druid
3 at-will for the Cleric and Wizard
4 at-will for the Sorcerer
+1 at 4th Level for all
+1 at 10th Level for all
Tier 1
2/ rest at 1st Level for all
+1 at 2nd Level
+1 at 3rd Level
+1 at 5th Level
Tier 2
2/rest at 3rd Level for all
+1 at 4th Level
Tier 3
2/ rest at 5th Level for all
+1 at 6th Level
Tier 4
1/ rest at 7th Level for all
+1 at 8th Level
+1 at 9th Level
Tier 5
1/ rest at 9th Level for all
+1 at 10th Level
+1 at 18th Level
Tier 6
1/ rest at 11th Level for all
+1 at 19th Level
Tier 7
1/ rest at 13th Level for all
+1 at 20th Level
Tier 8
1/ rest at 15th Level for all
Tier 9
1/ rest at 17th Level for all
Okay, so something strange about this progression: everybody is identical except for the number of cantrips. What? Is having 2 or 3 or 4 cantrips such a big deal that it's even worth doing? Why not give everybody 3 and then you could print this table once in the spells/magic chapter instead of re-printing it for each class? Also, Tiers 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 all gain a spell every level after they unlock that tier. Then Tier 5 gains one the next level and then has a several-level gap. And Tiers 6 and 7 have several-level gaps. Then the last Tiers 8 and 9 only ever get 1 spell (though, granted, they are big spells). I kind of get that, they wanted to slow down the higher tier spells, but at the same time it just kind of looks like a muddle.
The next question is, how many spells does each class have on their list?
Tier 0 cantrip
7 Cleric, Druid
9 Bard
14 Wizard, Sorcerer
Tier 1
15 Cleric
16 Druid
17 Sorcerer
20 Bard
27 Wizard
Tier 2
17 Cleric, Druid
19 Bard
21 Sorcerer
31 Wizard
Tier 3
12 Druid
15 Bard
19 Cleric
20 Sorcerer
28 Wizard
Tier 4
8 Bard, Cleric
10 Sorcerer
15 Druid
23 Wizard
Tier 5
11 Sorcerer
13 Cleric
14 Druid
16 Bard
23 Wizard
Tier 6
7 Bard
9 Druid, Sorcerer
10 Cleric
19 Wizard
Tier 7
5 Druid
8 Cleric, Sorcerer
10 Bard
15 Wizard
Tier 8
4 Cleric
5 Bard, Sorcerer
6 Druid
12 Wizard
Tier 9
3 Bard
4 Cleric, Druid
5 Sorcerer
12 Wizard
So the Wizard always has the most spells available, and it's a toss-up between the rest.
Okay, so many spells does each class prepare?
Bard / Sorcerer
4 2
5 3
6 4
7 5
8 6
9 7
10 8
11 9
12 10
14 11
15 12
15 12
16 13
18 13
19 14
19 14
20 15
22 15
22 15
22 15
Cleric
Wis mod + Cleric Level
Druid
Wis mod + Druid Level
Wizard
Int mod + Wizard Level
Wow, Sorcerers get screwed over, they have the fewest spells they can prepare, and only get one more cantrip spell slot than all the other casters. And a Bard should have at least a +4 to +5 Cha mod by 20th Level, so is only short 2-3 spells from just using the exact same Attribute mod + Level formula most other casters use - so why don't they? Again, we see a pattern established and then broken, but what benefit is there to breaking the pattern?
The Warlock
And lastly, there is the Warlock class. You might think that the Warlock would be a full spellcaster, but it isn't. It isn't a partial spellcaster either, instead it uses it's own progression that's kinda similar to the partial casters. Warlocks can only cast up to Teir 5 spells (like partials) but they also get Tier 0 cantrips (unlike partials). They are limited in their spells known to a max of 15, like a Sorcerer, but only have 4 spell slots total - yeah, not a typo, 4. Wow, even the partial casters get 15 slots total. Warlocks make no sense, they have a totally different way of using magic and I do not understand why. If they aren't really spellcasters but should instead use their custom "invocations" then why not drop the spellcasting part altogether? If they should only be partial casters, they why not use the same tables as the Paladin and Ranger, who are both at least pretty consistent with each other? Again, with 7 other spellcasters setting some kinds of patterns (granted, filled with a Swiss cheese load of exceptions) why not try to use at least one of those patterns, why make something totally different? Does that really make the Warlock such a worthwhile character? Is the extra complexity (since it's now harder to balance the Warlock class against the other spellcasters because they have such different rules) really providing anything worthwhile? It doesn't look like it on paper, though I'll admit I haven't played or GMed a Warlock so I don't know how they are at the table.
Last Thoughts
Like everything in the 5e SRD I wonder what exactly the designers were thinking. I see things that seem to have a pattern, to have been thought out, and then there are so many exceptions you wonder why they decided to make those patterns in the first pace. I see so much that is random and unbalanced in the mechanics, I wonder if the classes play well at the table in spite of the rules and not because of the rules. That's the problem with RPGs actually, the fact that people can use their creativity and change things in play or set up the scenarios means that the players can fix a lot of the problems - thereby hiding the mechanical defects. Which is good from a marketing standpoint, your product looks better when the end user is fixing the problems with it, but it's a bad stand to take as a game designer. And as I'm trying to figure out how to add my own settings and abilities to these rules, in many places I feel pretty lost about how to measure and judge any new concepts to change the rules (I do not want to set myself up for even the possibility of any future Pathfinder bloat).
And we're just getting started in terms of the total rules, so I'll be back next week to keep looking at classes and class related mechanics. Until then!
Role-Playing Games, Interactive Narratives, plus anything science-fiction or fantasy
No comments:
Post a Comment