D&D 5E Should Power Word spells be a bonus action?

[Plane Sailing]

Traditionally power word spells were very quick to cast (the clue being in the name - a single word to cast the spell).

In 5e they are whole actions to cast though. Presumably they would be presented by many people as just "very long words!" But I'm rather interested in the possibility of investing them with some of their earlier distinctiveness.

Considering that nobody gets more than one 9th level slot anyway, do you think it would work to make them a bonus action rather than an action to cast (or something similar)?

(Apart from a twin-spell nova-ing sorcerer!)

 

[Umbran]

I think it is a full action... to make it take a action, as opposed to something you can start combining with other such actions. It isn't about how fast it is, but how important it is.

 

[Astrosicebear]

This is how imagine power word spells.

 

[fuindordm]

I would totally make them a bonus action, but I might reduce their HP threshold a little to compensate.
If I'm using speed factors in combat, I would leave them as a standard action but give them a speed factor of 1 instead of 9.

 

[Plane Sailing]

The argument always was that it was ninth level because of the speed rather than the power.

Of course, 5e has made it a great finishing off spell now - it is arguably more powerful than it has been for several iterations. But... For a lone 9th level spell I'd like to see a little bit more special

 

[keterys]

I'd have designed them as bonus actions or reactions, but with a lower effect. I just think it's a better design space for them to live in and sets them apart from the rest. (Obviously, I didn't design them)

 

[Boarstorm]

Healing Word is a bonus action (as I recall), so there's some precedent for "word" spells to be so.

 

[billd91]

Power word spells may have been fairly quick to cast, but I don't think there's been any edition in which they didn't still command the whole spellcaster's turn. They were a standard action in 3e. They took a single segment in 1e/2e but there was no way to get another spell off in a turn and the spellcaster still couldn't move significantly. Any advantage they had in speed was the possibility of getting them cast without fear of interruption, not in getting more things done in a round.

So, no, I don't think making them a bonus action (or reaction) to cast is a good idea.

 

[Rune]

There might be a better way to model it--say, the spells may be cast as a reaction, or, if cast as a regular action, set the caster's initiative on future rounds to +10.

 

[Umbran]

The argument always was that it was ninth level because of the speed rather than the power.

"the argument"? Like, there was only ever one, and it was standard? Funny, 'cause I've never heard that argument. The most frequent argument I know of is that "kill *any* creature with under 100 hit points, with no save" is pretty darned potent. It isn't like 100 HP is a pittance, you know.

This is not an edition with lots of differences between fast and slow within a given round - the action/reaction/bonus action isn't about speed, it is about when you can do it, and what other things you can do along with it. It isn't like you have initiative segments, and have to worry about exactly when the spell goes off or gets interrupted.