Am I using my high level spells wrong?

Question

I have been playing D&D 5e for only five months. I play a 5th level wizard. My warlock party member constantly berates me for using spell slots in encounters and says I need to "understand action economy."

I have read many articles on action economy and none say anything about saving spell slots and relying on cantrips only. I also have never run out of slots completely and only one party member has ever had to make death saving throws (me; I was in a bad mood and wanted my character to die so I could quit playing, so I "forgot" to move back behind cover).

Tonight I used Detect Thoughts and my familiar and knew there were only two orc casters to fight. We had them in a choke point, so when one appeared I threw a fireball at it on both my turns and killed it. On subsequent turns when the second enemy appeared, I threw two second level spells at it and it was easily defeated. We took only four total damage for the entire party.

I do not understand why I am being told I do not understand combat and "action economy" and that I should only ever use spell slots to "turn the tide." Why walk into the tide if you don't have to?

Answer 1

What they mean

Your friend is concerned that once you need to fight more than one or two encounters per (in-game) day, you will be frustrated not to have spells available to you. Action Economy is absolutely not the correct term for this; Action Economy is how much you can get done in a round (typically Action, movement, potential Bonus Action). What they mean is closer to 'trigger discipline' and is often called resource management.

In their defense, it is a fair thing to express to new players who may not realize the full potential of their slotted spells or the consequences of running out. However, while it is fair to notify a fellow player that they may wish to hold something back for an emergency, it is not OK to berate them and try to "play their character" for them.

This is exacerbated by your playstyle fitting with your GM's plans well; when you fight only once or twice between getting your spells back, there is very little reason to hold anything in reserve. In your friend's other groups they are probably expected to fight 4, 5, 6 or more combats per game day and are projecting that onto this group.

What you should do

Generally, there are a few ways to address this problem depending on how bad it is and your comfort level communicating to the other players.

• The most straightforward one is to communicate openly to the other player that you have heard their recommendation and understand the value of your spells, but that you are happy with the rate at which you use them.
• Another method that appeals to some players is to address it in-character; have your character note that they are glad they chose to use Fireball while the dangerous enemies were grouped up
• A little stronger of an option; ask the GM (and/or other player) to intervene. This is particularly an option if you have already attempted one or both of the other options or you aren't comfortable with direct confrontation. Everyone is there to have a good time, and the GM has the most potential to protect your right to do so.
• The nuclear option is always available; quit the game group and find a different one. Obviously there are a lot of variables that affect whether this works for you, but it is always an option, even among close friends.

It sounds, to me, that your friend thinks they are doing you a favor and the first option is the most appropriate. I personally prefer to have such talks just before or after a session and I find that most players will at least acknowledge and make a best effort to back off when it is expressed that they can be done "helping".

Bonus

You should never have to get your character killed to leave a group or even miss a session. Just tell your GM you need a break, and they should have no problem having your character disappear into the background temporarily while you get your head on straight. Sometimes it means the group takes the night off or does something else, but the game should not be running with unwilling players.

You don't have any responsibility to hurt yourself for their entertainment, only to minimize intentionally interfering with their fun.

Answer 2

It sounds like your “friend” is ruining your fun which is the very core of dnd. Your character has every right to use spells where they deem them fit and you have every right to tell this person to lay off and let you enjoy the game how you want to. Not everything is about number crunching and tactics, if you don’t want to play that way that should be perfectly acceptable, not that I see anything wrong in the first place with your decisions. You may need to find a new group if this persists, though I know that’s not always an option.

Answer 3

Your friend is wrong.

Strategy and tactics are topics that are quite complex even in a game that boils them down to simple numbers like DnD 5e and like any subset of 'what should we do' people often have strong opinions about it. However, the general point of view of most optimizers who have looked at 5e is that the system, with it's strong emphasis on hitpoint damage, lends itself well to use of higher level spell slots as early as possible to lower incoming hp loss (aka, take enemies out of the fight). Negating enemy actions is quite possible in 5e, although requires some ability to judge what kind of saving throws an enemy might excel in, but by far the most popular way to do this is to kill some of the enemies in an encounter, as 'dead' is a pretty good way to stop enemies from attacking (most of the time).

They are also wrong in understanding how D&D works. How someone plays their character and the choices that character makes is their prerogative. That's a fairly ironclad rule of D&D. Characters are not run by committee, each player has their own character and it is their character. People often want to control characters that are not theirs to control, and it is nearly universally considered a bad thing.

Finally, your friend is wrong about berating you. Their goal is to get you to change your behaviour, instead, you view that negatively, and definitely seem to dislike it. They probably think they are being helpful, and that the problem lies with you. However, they are wrong.

Why are they wrong?

A few reasons. Firstly, D&D can be very exciting for people, and is often a new experience, that can lead to relaxing or ignoring social instincts like 'don't berate someone over and over'. Secondly, the complexity of strategy and tactics is often an interesting topic for people and one that they can develop strong opinions about even if they are not themselves an expert in the field. Thirdly, your friend is playing a warlock. In D&D 5e, warlocks gain a very limited number of spell slots (until 11th level, they only get 2) but regain them per short rest instead of long rest.

This will likely be colouring your friend's opinions in a few ways - the scarcity of his own slots makes him value them more, and want to 'hoard' them (a very natural human reaction to scarcity). Likewise, your more numerous (if lower-level) slots will make him naturally envious - you have more options at most points than he does, simply by virtue of having the option to use 3 or more spells in a single encounter. Finally, he may feel that his 'rechargeable' spell slots should be the ones used to defeat encounters if need be, 'saving' yours for situations where he has run out or they are in dire need of use.

The problem there is that he doesn't want to use his own very limited spellslots either. Short rests aren't exactly guaranteed, and wanting to hang onto limited resources until they can be best used is clearly something he is thinking about very strongly.

This is a fairly well known psychological behaviour, hoarding, wanting to expend resources that don't count first, only wanting to use things as a last resort, and the design of the warlock accentuates this trend in a few ways.

What can you do about it?

Polite, but firm.

"I don't think that is the correct strategy to use in this game, but even so, [character name] is my character and I am making the choices that he would make."

Complicated topics like strategy and tactics can be argued over endlessly. There are forums filled with these kinds of arguments, if you need proof. It is complex, even mathematically, to try to model and people often are emotionally invested in one or more parts of it. If you can convince your friend that your approach is valid, then that's great. However, if trying is emotionally taxing, instead indicate that this is a firm no and you are not interested in discussing it further.

"Sorry, but i'm going to keep using spell slots when I think I should. If you want to change character to Wizard and play one your way, you could talk to the DM."

There are a variety of articles, advice, and techniques about being polite but firm online. Some are better than others, but I don't have one on-hand to link. Either way, the advice therein is largely not modified by the setting being a D&D game. The only big change is that you can point to the fact that this is your character, not theirs, and the game is explicit about you being the one to decide what they do (and in fact, that you should be making decisions from the character's point of view and not your own (or his)).

Finally, try to keep in mind that he likely doesn't realize that this is having a strong negative effect on you. Sometimes people genuinely don't care about negative effects on others, for whatever reason, but most of the time people simply don't realize that they are having a negative effect and when this is pointed out to them will modify their behaviour on their own (albeit usually not entirely, but at least partially).

Answer 4

If this is standard D&D, you are vastly overextending

Standard 5e is 6-8 combats per day each of which are medium or hard. You usually get 2 short rest in the middle, and a long rest at the end of the day. Each combat is 3-5 rounds long, so a total of 18-40 rounds of combat.

A level 5 wizard has four 1st level slots, three 2nd level slots, and two third level slots. Those slots are supposed to last those 18-40 rounds of combat.

In a single combat you used detect thoughts (2nd level), fireball x 2 (3rd level), and 2x 2nd level spells. You used your entire day's worth of 2nd and 3rd level spells on a single combat. What will you do in the next 7 fights? Use your 4 1st level slots, and then you are down to just cantrips the rest of the day.

In rough terms you have 27 spell points worth of slots. You used 19 of those (~70% of slots) in 4 rounds of combat (~14% of combats). Essentially you overextended by 400%.

But, your game isn't normal

Now, I think you would have found this to be a very obvious problem if you really were fighting 6-8 combats every day. So I suspect your game runs very differently to the way the rules expect you to play. Could it be you fight 1 single combat and then take a long rest each time? If so, then your play style makes sense.

Answer 5

A wizard, or any caster or ranged damage dealer, doesn't have to be (in fact, usually isn't) the primary damage dealer. Providing an opportunity for the melee damage dealers to take care of a foe is just as important, perhaps more so as directly damaging them. Contributing to a victory isn't just about the damage you deal to your foe, or how little damage your team-mates take, so maybe consider are the play-styles in your team clashing? So, try to determine what is your role in your team. Is it the primary damage-dealer, or is it more support and "last resort" damage dealer?

Also ask your GM before the session starts if they are going to stick faithfully to the recommended guidelines for daily encounters. Doing these things might make the game seem a bit mechanical and involves some meta-gaming, but it will influence what spells you choose to memorise as a wizard, and when you should use them.

Consider as well how you can contribute to encounters without casting a spell, especially if you're not the primary damage dealer. Firing a crossbow or hurling a flaming pot of oil can be just as effective as throwing a spell at a foe in some (or many) circumstances. With a bit of creativity you won't need to meta-game so much by concerning yourself with a "recommended number of daily encounters" and having to conserve your spells to suit. Your spells will become a weapon of last resort or a solution to a problem nothing else in your group can solve.

Your warlock friend has handled the issue poorly and upset you - that's their fault and their failing - but they aren't necessarily wrong in seeking to adjust your playing style. You can, in fact, treat this as an opportunity to role-play and have your in-game character learn how to co-operate better with the team she is a part of (and have them co-operate better with you). If your whole group is fairly new to RPG's then encourage them also to treat this as a role-playing opportunity. If the others in your group are all experienced, remind them you are new(ish) and encourage them to help you to role-play rather than just criticise.

I hope you and your group overcome this bump in the role-playing road and you find the real enjoyment of RPG's.