Cantrips and more versatile spell memorization
by Anarion_ElendiliAs to where I am currently with my thinking:
1. Bonus to spell/prayer slots
13-15: 1 (+1 to 1st tier)
16-17: 1/1
18: 1/1/1
This bonus applies even if the Cleric by RAW doesn't get any prayers on 1st level. So a Cleric with WIS 13+ would get 1 prayer even at 1st level.
2. Cantrips
Minor (or slow, taking a minute to cast) versions of Detect Magic, Read Magic, Spark and 'Summon Reading Light'. But I am probably allowing those more as 'innate abilities' than spell slots, meaning that the Mage can use them as much as he likes. Success rolls (INT/2+Lvl/2 ?) might be needed in stressful situations.
3. On-the-fly casting
I am probably going to allow this. I don't actually mind the Mage going 'I have the exact spell for this', since otherwise they almost never get to say that. I'd rather that the Mage whips out the Floating Disc at the end of the adventure to help to haul loot/bodies, rather than use the final Magic Missile to kill a gnat as they approach the town. And during the adventure, it will add another tool for the PCs' toolbox, while changing the question from 'did I prepare this spell in the morning, yes/no' to 'do we want to expend our limited spell slots for this, or is there another way of doing this'?
I am definitely going to allow the Clerics to burn prayer slots for healing prayers, without needing to prep them explicitly in the morning. Otherwise, the Clerics did have almost nothing else in their 1st level prayer slots, and only used other stuff when there were no healing prayers otherwise. I might also adopt Xd6+X for Cure [] Wounds, where X is the level of the prayer slot. Cure Serious Wounds was severely anemic for a 4th level clerical spell, and Cure Critical Wounds was not much better.
My idea of giving the mages (I think clerics are probably fine as is, given their better AC and weapons) 'cantrips' was that they could still be very useful casting magic, albeit in a more limited way:
1. Detect Magic to help them see magical traps and whatnot, which is invaluable to the non-magical PCs, and makes magic traps less of a 'you idiots for walking into an undetectable trap, muahahahaa'.
2. Read Magic so that I can put magical writing into the dungeon and scrolls that the mage can use during the adventure, rather than needing to take the rest of the day off, and the next one, too (in order to spec again to combat).
3. Light (well, more of a reading light) so that I don't have to keep track of torches and lamp oil. Such logistics is not what I am into. I still need to decide if the Light requires that the Mage is conscious or not (it wouldn't take active concentration, though). It would fit my view of it better if it would require a constant, albeit minor attention from the Mage, so smart PCs should know to have a backup. But that might require the logistics again.
4. Spark is more just for the Mage to show off and light the campfire or their pipe, rather than take the extra couple rounds to do it with the flint and steel.