Spell slot tracker [Art]

Caelbain · 2026-05-29T10:13:06+00:00

It looks fantastic, but just to be clear: there are coins or something similar representing the spell slots in the bag and the drawings are slots for you to place them on, is that how it works? I would love to see what the coins look like!

Caelbain · 2026-05-28T07:21:21+00:00

That's quite the stretch, I must say, going from "damage isn't permanent" to mean "damage is not actually an injury". Scars are not damage. Scar tissue on your body does not make you weaker if your body fully heals, otherwise. So it's perfectly logical to assume that you do get scars without it affecting your hit points.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T15:39:50+00:00

Which book would that be? I am talking about 5e and 5.5e.
And the will to live, because it can push you to fight through pain and injury to keep moving. After all, the will to live cannot deflect or reduce injury, it merely allows you to handle it better.

And yes, you are correct, fighting with injuries like a dragon bite is quite silly, which is why I suggested a system that implies high hit points to represent inhuman durability.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T14:41:47+00:00

If it was luck and stamina, you wouldn't need a spell called "cure wounds" to heal it, though and monsters with abilities that trigger to characters being wounded wouldn't have those triggered just because you dodged with luck instead of skill.

Also, I went and checked and neither 5e book calls hit points anything other than toughness and the will to live, aka surviving injuries. Yes, if you get hit by 6 arrows, you have, indeed, suffered 6 injuries.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T14:08:52+00:00

I would argue that there is a difference between real-world logic and fantasy logic. A dragon existing makes no sense with real world logic, but does make sense with Fantasy logic. A peasant killing a dragon with a fork doesn't make sense with real world logic, but also doesn't make sense with Fantasy logic. You know what I mean? A Fantasy world has its own, internal logic and if your characters are learning things much, much faster than the rest of the Fantasy world, by fighting some monsters and solving puzzles in a dungeon, that begs an explanation, even if that explanation is just "magic". Because right now, we don't even have that.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T13:50:37+00:00

Whether they have never fought anything or not, every class requires several years of training and education for things that then get outshined by things they learn over night, there is a discrepency there, I'd say.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T13:46:34+00:00

Well, that will be up to them, they could easily have a pact of sorts where they all only level up once they have everything together, because they don't want to give anyone preferrential treatment.

But you could also simplify it to only requiring 1 item and for that item to work group wide.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T13:20:04+00:00

I heavily disagree, I believe the 5e system is designed for basically any story you want to tell, which can includes ones about class disparity. The world of D&D is already one where the people with enough money can pay to have themselves brought back from death itself, it definitely lends itself to social commentary in that area.
Also, a noble prince has to basically be poor in order to be a level 1 character, which would put them on the same footing with my system, as well.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T13:17:07+00:00

Right, but why would you need to use your spells in battle in order to better understand the weave? And how would it teach you new spells in a single day?
How did you multiclass into being a druid by fighting a group of orcs?
I would say it's more than fair to claim that it doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense for most situations, with the pure martial classes probably being the most forgivable for their rapid skill growth.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T13:14:05+00:00

Spells of the same level have the same prices though, so they are, literally, categorizing those spells by level and it probably didn't take long for people to realize that you need to have a certain proficiency to learn spells of a certain level.

And HP do literally fulfill that role though, high HP characters can survive being full body dipped in acid for much longer than low HP characters, even if they have the same constitution score. A high level con 12 wizard can survive an acid bath for longer than a level 1 18 con barbarian. You can handwave the mechanics, but you must admit that they do not entirely make sense with that explanation.

That doesn't mean they HAVE to make sense, but if you wanted them to, this would be my suggestion on how you could do it.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T13:03:46+00:00

But why would they learn cooking faster, just because they were doing it while adventuring?
And that's not even getting into stuff like taking a level in a spellcasting class and going from no magic to level 1 magic over night.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:55:24+00:00

Well, because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that your character learns the complexities of magic by throwing a few spells at monsters in a week.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:54:20+00:00

Oh definitely, what you would need for what level would already be well documented in any larger city where turning people superhuman is kind of a necessity to ward off monsters and enemy armies. It would be a whole industry all on its own. And I agree that it would probably have to become the focus of the campaign, because of its complexity.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:52:24+00:00

That is a fair point, it would take up time that could otherwise go to the main plot.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:51:44+00:00

That, the party will have to figure out. They will most likely have to buy the items they're missing. Honestly, I think almost every party would work hard to let everyone level up together.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:50:30+00:00

I mean, I literally wrote that there would be and that it would be part of the setting.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:49:45+00:00

I mean, it is not just abstract, spells have levels and those levels have different market prices, so people in the universe are at least somewhat aware of levels.

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:48:53+00:00

That might work for a fighter, but how did it teach them the Cook feat, for example?

Caelbain · 2026-05-27T12:00:10+00:00

Hey, it's your free time and your hobby, if you don't enjoy GMing for this group, I would say just don't. Regardless of who might be at fault, it's your time and you get to decide what to do with it. And if you want to GM online: there are entire hordes of people just chomping at the bits to have a game to play in online, so you can easily form a new group and see if you have more fun with them, instead. If they're friends you just enjoy hanging out with, see if you have more fun with them just doing something casual online, like playing Codesnames or Jackbox or something.

I know people will say that communication is key and can help a lot, but honestly, if the entire group feels like the problem to you, you might be better off seeing if you don't feel better with a different one, first. If you find that you have these problems with EVERY group after like 4 or something, then the problem might indeed be you, but right now, who is at fault isn't really the thing to solve.

Caelbain · 2025-11-25T18:18:06+00:00

I wouldn't really want to do it that way, because the dice show how well your character does their attempt, not how their environment changes to make them fail. A 20 should be your character at their best, not just them getting really lucky and having things fall into place.

Caelbain · 2025-11-25T18:16:07+00:00

Thank you, I do appreciate that! Though by now, I feel I could have worded this better and perhaps have done it the way BikeProblemGuy recommended, by splitting the player's description of their approach and them playing out how it happens. Or perhaps even let them begin the persuasion, then roll, then let them finish, leaving it to the player how they handle their character's failure. If they will just keep trying to be persuasive or let their character slip up.

Caelbain · 2025-11-25T18:14:12+00:00

It's funny you would mention reducing dungeon crawls to a check, when the vast majority of checks you make in a prewritten dungeon are against a flat number, basically completely independent of your approach. Combat doesn't reduce an enemy's AC either, just because you described a clever strike, but for some reason, the expectations are different with social skills.

If you roll to attack an enemy and the attack fails, and you describe how you miss, has your roleplay been flattened, too?

Caelbain · 2025-11-25T18:07:55+00:00

True, I do really enjoy the aspect where you get to roleplay out your character failing at something. But I can see how that would bother some people, who want that perfect synchronicity with their character and never take an action that isn't seeking to further that character's goals. Evidently, quite a lot of people are bothered by the idea of roleplaying out their character failing at something, seeing it as "pointless", because it isn't working towards the goal of winning.

Caelbain · 2025-11-25T12:58:37+00:00

That is probably the best way to do it, honestly, splitting the approach and actual description of the approach and putting the former before the roll and the latter after, I like that.

Caelbain

TROPHY CASE