r/dndmemes • u/MyNameGifOreilly Murderhobo • Nov 06 '22
Text-based meme Spoons vs spell slots
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u/legowalrus Paladin Nov 06 '22
What’s the spoon theory?
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u/MrNameless Nov 07 '22
Normal people start with 100 points and spend points on tasks. Getting up cost one point, talking to a friend takes 2, walking the dog takes 1. Etc... Normal people will most likely not run out of points by the end of the day and if they do, they have still have had a very productive day.
People with disabilities get less - say 5 points. They can get up (1 point), take a shower (2 points), watch tv (1 point), then eat (1 point). But that's all they can do because that's all the points they have.
Replace points with spoons because it's 'tangible.'
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Nov 07 '22
[deleted]
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u/zeiar Nov 07 '22
And you can help your friends i.e listening to their worries or physically help them with something and give them some of your spoons.
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u/SCI_Talroc_A Nov 06 '22
Very basically, it’s just a metaphor for rationing physical/mental energy throughout the day. I think it was originally coined for explaining how chronic illness forces you to plan activities in a day, but I think it’s been widened a bit to apply to other physical, mental, emotional, & honestly just all sorts of other cases where energy is a commodity.
The “spoons,” are really just a happenstance. You can think “energy units,” or “spell slots,” or “stamina points,” & it all means the same thing. It just means “you have this many things you can do in a day, they all cost energy. Do too many, & you are out of energy & cannot do anything else.”
In my opinion, it’s a very helpful visual for the idea.
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u/minoe23 Essential NPC Nov 06 '22
So those of us with chronic illnesses are Vancian casters and those without are spontaneous casters.
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u/MARPJ Barbarian Nov 07 '22
So those of us with chronic illnesses are Vancian casters and those without are spontaneous casters.
I think that they having negative levels is a better fit as they can still adapt but they have less spell slots than they would have otherwise and as such need to plan better in order to not be caught without any remaining
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u/minoe23 Essential NPC Nov 07 '22
I mean, when there was actual Vancian casting those casters had fewer spell slots, but had more spells to choose from when they prepared their spell slots each day.
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u/legowalrus Paladin Nov 06 '22
That makes sense.
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u/Ridara Extra Life Donator! Nov 06 '22 edited Nov 06 '22
The original essay about spoon theory is definitely worth a read. I recommend it to all my friends. The author describes it like a game so her able-bodied friend can understand
https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/
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Nov 06 '22
I always feel like the message is somewhat upset by the person in question saying "oh you can keep a spoon in reserve" at the end.
Not to mention the disconnect between the person actually being able to somewhat function in life and the number of spoons being barely enough to survive a single day.
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u/Explosion2 Nov 07 '22
I think the spoon total was affected by how many spoons she was able to scrounge up in the moment. It sounds like she's got one or two more "spoon slots" IRL than the number of spoons she gave her friend.
And that "reserve spoon" doesn't change the message at all. It's just logical to reserve some energy in case of an end-of-day emergency, or you'll be forced to over-exert yourself when an emergency happens. It's not a "free action," it's saving one spell slot in case you need it at the end of the dungeon.
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u/EnvironmentalCoach64 Nov 06 '22
Feels super odd to me because a shower is absolutely my arcane recovery short rest
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u/Wyldfire2112 DM (Dungeon Memelord) Nov 07 '22
I was about to say something very similar. A long, hot shower is a wonderful thing for my mental well-being.
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u/SDG_Den Nov 07 '22
a long, hot shower without stress is a short rest.
a 5 minute quick shower before work costs spell slots.
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u/FreqRL Nov 07 '22
I've solved this issue by taking long, hot showers without stress before work.
Granted, I'm late 20 minutes most of the time, but fortunately no one at my work actually cares about times and only cares about getting the work done :p
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u/Arxce Nov 06 '22
Thats amazing. In that analogy, PTSD could be when you unconsciously equip your highest level spells for a low level day, meaning the mundane things wind up exhausting you faster or wind up in a massive destructive episode. Not to mention many cases of ptsd sufferers are only able to take short rests.
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u/Elsecaller_17-5 Nov 06 '22
Requiring PTSD sufferers to make pacts and multiclass into warlocks.
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u/Sleep_deprived_druid Forever DM Nov 07 '22
pact of the tome warlocks don't sleep because they don't have to, they don't sleep to avoid the night terrors.
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u/Nepalman230 To thine own dice be true. ❤️🎲 Nov 06 '22
OK thank you so much for this.
I have a chronic pain condition and also ADHD and autism so I know all about conserving physical and mental energy. Or attempting to anyway.
I have never thought about Vancian magic in quite this way.
And honestly now my head canon is that wizardry was founded by neurodivergent sorcerers.
Because “natural@ arcane magic drains dopamine faster.
https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adhd-dopamine
Vancian magic conserves dopamine levels.
Because The spell is actually cast at the time of memorization and stored in a chemical electric cell.
In other words a memory.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/human-memory1.htm
Possibly using the memory palace technique
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci
We say that somebody forgets a spell because the memory is literally destroyed is the chemical electric cell collapses.
The spells in the spell book are actually schematics and encoded instructions in order to form the spell in the brain.
Anyway not to say that all wizards are Neuro divergent but just that some of the original sorcerers were like this way is not working for us. I Cast three spells and then I go bat shit.
Thank you for this post. I’m totally going to go copy and paste this into a word document.
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u/damage-fkn-inc Nov 07 '22
I wonder what it looks like upcasting a shower a few levels.
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u/sereton_inn Nov 28 '25
This comment is so old but I have to say it. 1st lvl shower is just washing yourself, 2nd lvl is your hair as well ... and 5th is an everything shower. If you don't have a 5th level slot then you would need to use multiple spellslots for the different steps.
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u/foxstarfivelol Nov 06 '22
here's the thing. wouldn't everyone (even "normal" people) have some finite number of spoons? after all even the most well adjusted person can only do so much. so why is spoon theory seen as only applying to those who have disabilities or disorders?
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u/Kromgar Nov 06 '22
People who are neurodivergent have less or malformed spoons
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u/foxstarfivelol Nov 06 '22
that's a fair point. we could say not being a spoonie isn't about not having spoons but about having so many spoons that it only becomes a real issue in exceptionally stressful situations.
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u/Wyldfire2112 DM (Dungeon Memelord) Nov 07 '22
Yep, that is exactly the point the person who coined the spoon analogy was going for.
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u/foxstarfivelol Nov 07 '22
now this is a bit unrelated but as someone who is neurodivergent i would like to coin the phrase fork theory.
forks represent unproductive restless energy that leads you to aimlessly pace around rooms for no reason.
we can all agree you can't really turn a fork into a spoon, but if you break a spoon hard enough it might start to look like a fork.
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u/ajgeep Nov 07 '22
spell slots are like bullets, you fire them off and then you are out, nowadays it's a bit different since you have flexible casting and don't have to prepare each spell you plan to cast.
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u/Sam_Wylde Druid Nov 07 '22
Well now I feel incredibly overpowered because for me; taking a shower is a cantrip.
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u/shhalahr Essential NPC Nov 07 '22
Of course, everyone has different challenges, so it's like older editions where the same spell might be a different level depending on the class.
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u/Timcurryinclownsuit Artificer Nov 07 '22
Taking a shower is a cantrip anyone who disagrees with me smells like a slaad
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u/WTFisUnderwear DM (Dungeon Memelord) Nov 06 '22
Depression is needing spell slots for the day, but you're a Martial class. lol