Next up: resource burn and play patterns! TL;DR trick the player into playing the right way. *So much* ink has been spilled about D&D's adventuring day - how many encounters, adjusting rest pacing, etc. That's not what I want to talk about, though it is related. #dnd #dnd5e #spellboundsea 1/8 - ThreadSky

somanyrobots.com • 4 days ago

Next up: resource burn and play patterns! TL;DR trick the player into playing the right way.

*So much* ink has been spilled about D&D's adventuring day - how many encounters, adjusting rest pacing, etc. That's not what I want to talk about, though it is related.

#dnd #dnd5e #spellboundsea
1/8

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somanyrobots.com•4 days ago

Let's look at the more prosaic "how fast a character burns through their resources". Spellbound Sea includes the Stormborne Sorcerer, a replacement for WotC's Storm Sorcery. Its big feature is Gathering Storm - it gets cool benefits for continuously spending spell slots and/or sorcery points.
2/8

somanyrobots.com•4 days ago

This is expensive - to get the most out of your subclass, you want to burn a spell slot or a sorcery point almost every round. A couple of early readers and testers were concerned it'd run too hot and tear through all its spell slots really fast.
3/8

somanyrobots.com•4 days ago

But at the risk of being obvious: you're a sorcerer. Spending spell slots is what you *want* to be doing, so you're almost never sad when you're doing it. You spend some turns casting 1st-level spells when you might otherwise cantrip, or sacking a sorc point, but past level 3 or so it's smooth.
4/8

somanyrobots.com•4 days ago

This is one of the subs I've playtested directly, as a PC (playing it tonight in fact!). And rather than feeling stressed about my burn rate, I think it hits the spot as a cute little minigame to manage on top of your normal combat loop.
5/8

somanyrobots.com•4 days ago

In fact, having a feature that incentivizes burning slots I think makes for a more fun sorcerer. Compare to the classic potion-hoarding phenomenon, where you never drink potions because they might be handy later — some players stick to cantrips even when they really *should* cast real spells.
6/8

somanyrobots.com•4 days ago

So that's a quick design idea: make the player do what they should be doing anyway. Nudge them to play the game in the way that'll be the most fun.

(Another sub, the Circle of Swarms, similarly triggers its key feature anytime you cast a leveled spell.)
7/8

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