From My Table – Magic Mastery for D&D 5.24

I had the fortune to have played lots of different RPG systems with various mechanics early on in my gamer origins, including several home brew rule sets and a couple formed from smashing systems together like grafting Runequest combat phases to Chivalry & Sorcery mechanics. Then I was introduced to the Weapons Mastery of the Dungeons & Dragons Master Set. Each of the weapons had it’s own unique perks that got better in damage and effects as one increased in level and slots were devoted to them. It was AWESOME to see how an expert dagger fighter had advantages over a basic long sword user. It was something I attempted to bring into games I was playing but it never quite worked as desired.

Dungeons & Dragons 5E (2024) (or D&D 5.24 as I’ve started calling it for brevity) has a system that scratches that itch that cries out for there to be differentiation between a great club d8 and a long sword d8 and a rapier d8 and etc. It’s added an extra layer of tactical thinking in weapon selection at our table but it also comes with some added complexity. Still, better than some of those old THAC0 tables and adjustments based on armor …

More importantly, Weapon Mastery has given the martial classes a new widget to play with in 5E. It wasn’t the first attempt, with 4E having lots of different abilities that imposed conditions other effects, 2E has Weapon Specialization but that was more about hitting harder, and 3E feat trees provides all kinds of wackiness. 5.24 has really leaned hard into mechanics that allow players to tweak and modify characters regularly and Mastery is no different.

Naturally enough, it wasn’t long before somebody suggested we try to apply that same idea to spells and casters but without devaluing warlock invocations and sorcerer metamagics. At this time, I’m bringing these ideas a few at a time as connected to items and faction benefits to test rather than directly into rewriting all the spell casters. Likewise, we’re going to use these with just cantrips as the equivalent of a martial or simple weapon, so the caster would have to pick a specific cantrip like Poison Spray as their ‘weapon’ instead of this applying to all cantrips. For full casters, they will start with two masteries with an additional mastery at 9th level. Partial casters with access to cantrips can choose two masteries but only have one prepared per long rest. Only one mastery can be applied to a cantrip at a time.

Some mastery properties are simple to port across with little alteration

• Cleave Splash: If you hit a creature with a melee attack targetted cantrip, you can make a spell attack against a second creature within 5 feet of the first that is also within your reach spell range. On a hit, the second creature takes the weapon’s spell damage, but don’t add your ability modifier to that damage unless that modifier is negative as if cast by a first level character. You can only make this extra attack once per turn.
  Potentially this could be applied to an area effect or one that requires a saving throw, again only affecting one additional creature. Few spells have ability modifiers so that’s a minor thing. Applying only damage and as if 1st level keeps it from being too close to twinning spell attacks.

• Graze: If your attack roll with this weapon spell missing a creature, you can deal damage to that creature equal to half (round up) the ability modifier you used to make the attack roll.
  Ability modifiers to spells is rare (eldritch blast with an invocation being a notable exception) so it’s possible that dealing damage equal to the ability modifier might be higher than the dice might do so we’re reducing it to half (round up).

Push, Sap, Slow, Topple, and Vex need no modification.

Nick doesn’t really work and I haven’t figured out something similar.

In the very experimental category (and the most likely to be nerfed or otherwise altered):

• Defensive: After successfully rolling to attack a creature, you may apply a bonus of +1 AC to a creature of your choice within 30 feet of you (including yourself). This bonus does not stack with another defensive mastery bonus and lasts only until the start of your next turn.
  With the bounded accuracy of 5E, +1 may not seem like much but it’s still something. Applying a bonus of casting ability modifier would be too much but maybe half of the ability bonus (round down) might not be too unbalancing. This might even be something that could work as a melee ability if changed to “after a successful attack, gain a +1 to your AC or to a creature within 5 feet of you; this bonus can only be applied once per creature.”

• Weaken: After successfully rolling to attack a creature, that creature will be at disadvantage against the next spell cast by you until the end of your next turn.
  I debated about limiting this to affecting only the next cantrip from the caster but that seemed just a little too limiting. As currently worded, it wouldn’t apply to area affects or cantrips based on saving throws, but we might change to allow the latter.

I’m hoping to have some data points and feedback after a couple of games of use. Currently, I’m liking these minor abilities to sculpt cantrips and excited to see how this plays out.

(Cover image a very cool piece of art found at https://www.deviantart.com/inkimagine/art/Wizard-s-Duel-1009473420)