D&D 5E More at will magic

[DnD Warlord]

Okay, I want to talk spells and magic.
There is a thread about limiting cantrips, I wonder about the reverse. Giving higher level spells the at will or per encounter treatment.

I know at extreme high level 16+ wizards (and I think only wizards) can take a 1st level spell or two and cast it at will (effectively making it a cantrip) at the highest level (I want to say 19ish) they can even do that with up to a 3rd level spell.
I also know that some warlock invocations are at will (mage armor, detect magic, speak with animal and speak with dead) so the idea isn’t outlandish.

what spells do you think could get the “high level cantrip” effect and not break the game?

Off the top of my head I think a 10th+ level person with misty step or comprehend language or even magic weapon would be fine. On a more maybe scale I am thinking stone shape scrying hallow and dream all have such limited uses that giving a 11+ level spell caster these at will would not hurt.

telepathic bond and astral projection I could almost imagine giving any character at level 3+ at will and not breaking the game.


in one campaign I had a player (multi class ranger barbarian) get a boom from a chronomanver that let him spend a HD, roll it and divide it up between number of allies affected and duration for a time stop... and it didn’t break much.

legend lore is not a ritual but I could see it getting a ritual like or cantrip like effect.

I am sure there are a lot of spells we could do it with.

(bonus points if you say whether it should be PC/important NPC only or if we could use this mew at will spell to effect the setting).

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I'd go for something like this:

Cantrips - at-will (obvs) and deal only one die of damage (no increases at 5/11/17). At level 8 (or 11?) they gain an extra die of damage. Yes, like in 4e.

At level 5 - 1st level slots are regained on a short rest.

At level 17 - 2nd level slots are regained on short rest.

Then, make sure each long term utility spells are rituals (I'd go as far as making them ONLY rituals) with appropriate cost and casting time. So kinda at-will, as long as you have the time and money.

Edited:
Add maybe 1-2 more slots to the warlock and 1-2 invocations.

 

[DnD Warlord]

I'd go for something like this:

Cantrips - at-will (obvs) and deal only one die of damage (no increases at 5/11/17). At level 8 (or 11?) they gain an extra die of damage. Yes, like in 4e.

At level 5 - 1st level slots are regained on a short rest.

At level 17 - 2nd level slots are regained on short rest.

Then, make sure each long term utility spells are rituals (I'd go as far as making them ONLY rituals) with appropriate cost and casting time. So kinda at-will, as long as you have the time and money.

All sounds like fun. I made a homebrew class like that for a middle earth/game of thrones world where the magic was limited but powerful and basically took any spell that took more then an action to cast amd moved it to a ritual.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

All sounds like fun. I made a homebrew class like that for a middle earth/game of thrones world where the magic was limited but powerful and basically took any spell that took more then an action to cast amd moved it to a ritual.

One of the upside of having some slots recovering on short rest at higher level is that now sorcerer can burn their first level slots before a short rest to regain some Sorcery points, making them less starved and stuck between 2 class features that consumes the same resources.
Like a light version of the sorlock cheeze without the hassle of multiclassing.