Chapter 14. The chapter itself has no text yet; these are the design notes.
Cooldowns instead of spell slots
Spells don’t use spell slots; they have cooldowns. So characters have fewer spells equipped at the ready. Full casters in 5e have up to 8 spells by level 5 and cap around 15–20. In Wayfarers, 20 spells is far too many and would make cooldowns trivial. The goal is to cut the number of spells a player can use by at least half.
Spells are streamlined, so there’s less spell bloat. Many spells, even cantrips, have multiple uses and can be upcast.
Initial numbers
- Cantrips are tied to your spell attribute.
- Full casters get two spells per tier level.
- Half casters get one spell per tier level.
Spell tiers
Higher-tier spells are more potent than lower-tier ones, but lower-tier spells stay viable. Not every spell needs an upcast. Like Pokémon: not every Pokémon needs a full evolution line; some have only one or two stages. The more variety in where spells sit across tiers, the better.
Target: under 300 spells total. Fewer spells, each with more options, should add importance and texture to spellcasting.
Schools, tags and attributes
- Spell schools are reworked to classify spells better.
- Spell descriptors are reworked into a spell tag system (on the Roadmap).
- Every spell has an attribute. Critical hits with spells give extra options based on that attribute.
Spell timing
Certain spells get a bonus depending on when in the round they’re cast relative to other creatures. Lightning spells might have an extra effect against creatures that haven’t acted yet; earth spells against those that have. This gives reasons to use different spells at different times.
Keeping it in check
Because spells have cooldowns, casters can cast multiple spells per turn, and spells are more versatile, so spells will seem much more efficient. To compensate, the design leans toward reducing some aspects of spells: damage, range, or duration.
Spell lists
From the Additional Info notes, each tradition has a role:
| Tradition | Role |
|---|---|
| Arcane | Single-target to area spells, no healing |
| Primal | Single- or multi-target damage, area control |
| Divine | Single-target to area healing |
| Psionic | Not decided |
The same notes group magic into Elemental (fire, frost…), Mystical and Carnal types. Carnal isn’t defined yet.
More magic ideas
Spell affinity, spell nature, and “mold and harness the elements”.
The source mentions Primal (Druid, Ranger) and Universal (cantrips from the Adept identity) spell lists. Sorcerers and Warlocks can draw from any list. A metamagic system is referenced for the Arcanist and Sorcerer.
See also Areas of Effect, Spells.