DMG Variant Rules: Spell Points

From the Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) for 5th Edition page 288.

Spell Slots are converted to Spell Points, allowing for more flexible casting, as the spellcaster can spend the spell points to cast any spell they know (restricted by the spell level they can cast up to). Each spell level costing a fixed spell point cost.

A 5th level Wizard would normally have the following spells slots: 1st:4; 2nd:3; 3rd:2.
Allowing for the Wizard to cast 2x Fireballs, they would then need to cast lower level spells only.
The same level Wizard using Spell Points could cast Fireball 5 times and still have 2 spell points left.

This allows for more flexible casting, as Rarely would a Wizard cast Fireball 5 times, but if they had the flexibility they could spend the spell slots of more utility spells at lower levels. When I play a wizard I reserve casting many utility spells because of the spell slot restrictions, holding those slots in reserve for “Just In Case”… and next thing I know we’re taking a long rest because the Cleric/Druid/Barbarian all need it. Well I have spells in reserve. I have gotten good at maximizing my spell usage but the utility spells are just wasted for the area effect and damaging spells to wipe out mobs.

When using a VTT, Spell Points will commonly need to be tracked independently.

Spell Points & Arcane Recovery

The Wizards Arcane Recovery allows the wizard to recover “equal to or less than half your wizard level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher.”

This becomes complicated as a 10th level wizard could recover:

• a single 5th level spells slot (7 points), which is the same as gaining two 2nd level slots and one 1st level slot (7 points.
• or five 1st level slots (10 points)

A simple solution would be recover the wizard level in spell points. Other options being far more complex:

1. Have the player keep track of the level of spells he or she casts, and then reverse calculate how many points that would be worth. – Ah bookkeeping, a common nemeses of many tables.
2. Base the number of points of the number of slots a standard wizard would have. This would have a variable number based on what spell slots are adjusted to recover – players would prefer getting the most amount of spell points back.

FoundryVTT module support:

Previously I used Spell Points for dnd5e, but that module is no longer supported – I don’t know if it still works for DnD5e v.3.x.x
Advanced Magic – Spell Points System 5e is the only current module listed to work with FVTT v12 & DnD5e v3. This module also has some additional items (disabled by default) as its based off both the DMG variant and the DM’s Guild book of the same name: Advanced Magic – Spell Points System 5e