Spells and Spell Slots

#1

One spell takes up one inventory slot. I’m not a fan of this.

I was wondering if anyone’s got a workaround here. I’d still want to limit what spellcasters could do, but not using the inventory-slot mechanism.

I can see how using standard D&D wouldn’t work, not with loot defining a character to the extent it does. That would give us a spellcaster with spells, but also those freed-up slots that could be filled with pretty much any kind of loot, enabling them to be anything they wanted to be - and still be a spellcaster!

#2

Priest spells don’t take up inventory spaces. Just waive the requirement for mages or int-based spells.

#3

In 2e rules I viewed this as the Material Component, Magic Focus or Talisman that enabled an INT caster to cast spells is what took up a slot. In some cases the items was used up when the spell was cast.

The difference being that Divine casters only need a holy symbol to have access to spells granted by their deity. Spells that if a character profaned, blasphemed, committed heresy or gross hypocrisy against the tenants of their god could vanish in an instant. Or at least that’s how I run divine casting, Clerics don’t just get spells because their “Type” says so, no they get spells from a god or divine energy that does not take kindly to the abuse of “ITS” power.

But Alex is right you could waive the slot requirement and make them more like abilities or divine casting.

#4

If I recall, spell books can hold 5 spells in it and takes only one slot. This is in 2e. So you can use this as a good workaround.

#5

Agreed! I still use spell books (usually 5 spells per) but they can carry multiple books too. Or they can even find a rare Tome which carries 10. Ive never had a player complain that they’ve run out of space for spells while doing this.

#6

Brilliant! Thanks all for the advice - much appreciated.

#7

And to further reiterate the point of inventory and loot for mages, you should make them aware that if they lose that spell book, the spells are gone too. This is great for making wizards act selfishly and paranoid. You can have thieves try to steal it or threaten it with fire.

Eventually you can create gems and staves to allow other ways of storing.

#8

Are there actual rules for this (it would be easy enough of course) or are you just making suggestions? Because, it’s a good idea.

#9

I don’t know all the items in the book and don’t have it in front of me, but I imagine a Staff of the Magus that allows storing and and all spells in it and gives bonus to magical effort.

Or a set of earrings or rings that take up one slot, are difficult to steal when worn, and store 10 spells.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn’t see you were asking for rules on how to create items. There are no hard and fast rules and in my games, having a “crafting system” is always tedious. What I do is use the Narrative to figure out if the players can create something and if they have the right materials for it.

My rule of thumb is letting them know that they found special material (Example: Blood Gems) and that they could probably start creating a new set of rings or earrings to create something (Example: Mage Earrings from above). Depending on how much power or properties the item they are asking for is, I will set 1, 2, or 3 (3 being a super powerful artifact they are trying to recreate) :heart: threshold requirement.

When there is downtime, it is narratively appropriate, and when the PC can dedicate enough time on it, they can spend Coin or other resources of your choice (based on your setting) to roll EFFORT (no attempt, as they are in downtime and usually safe). This can only be done once per downtime session (not in-game time, but that is just how much they can progress in that span of time they spent in Downtime). Each time they roll effort, they have to spend some Coin or resource (this helps determine the price range [more skillful artisans are more efficient] and erratic behavior of creating magical items). If the players want to spend more and more resources in one go, they can probably get a bonus.

Just something to think about.