D&D 5E How would YOU nerf the wizard? +

Reynard said:

What would you do?

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• Tighten up spell balance.
• Rework spell schools from the ground up, with an eye to flavor and theme over rigid function, and distribute the "must-have" spells evenly across the lists.
• On character creation, you must choose 2 or 3 schools. You can only prepare wizard spells from those schools. You can put spells of other schools in your spellbook, but the only way you can cast them is with Arcane Insight -- see below.
• Replace Arcane Recovery with Arcane Insight, a 1/day ability to cast any spell in your spellbook without expending a spell slot.

This prevents wizards from all gravitating to the same set of top-tier spells, keeps them from being the "do-everything" class, and gives each individual wizard a clear and distinctive identity. Arcane Insight offers you a tiny bit of flex, so when you really need to pull out that one ultra-specialized spell from another school, you can; but you can't do it all day.

I have to ask: are wizard players the only folks who have to suffer under these restrictions? What about all the other many, many casters?

Horwath said:

The amount of irrational hate towards at-will cantrips always baffles me.

An action spent on dealing 10pts of damage as a wizard is an action lost.

Also dealing damage is almost always the least important thing you can do as a wizard.


Problems:
ritual casting, this needs to go or be somewhat reduced in power. maybe prof bonus per day of rituals available.

Spells known/prepared, probably the way of the sorcerer, there is simply too much spells available.

spells known should be

1st level: 3
2nd: 4
3rd: 6
4th: 7
5th: 9
6th: 10
7th: 12
8th: 13
9th: 15
10th: 16
11-12th: 17
13-14th: 18
15-16th: 19
17-20th: 20

only one 6th-9th spell slot per day, as spell point variant.


spellcasting that is not Bonus action/Reaction should always trigger AoO and not be gated behind some feat, with Con save to lose spellcasting action.

Variant: if you cast leveled spell as an Action you can only cast a cantrip on your next turn.
this would limit leveled spell to one every other round.

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Nothing irrational about it. At-will cantrips, particularly the combat variety (although stuff like Mage Hand are certainly guilty as well) completely change the tenor of the setting by making magic incredibly common in play.

I'd reintroduce a lot of the weaknesses that wizards had in earlier editions, since taking those away is what started us down this road.

Make casting a spell something which can be interrupted easily. If there's anything which conceivably could ruin your spell, then it does ruin it. No check, or possibility of saving it; it's just gone.

While it might be hard to do without reworking the initiative system, make it so that (almost) all spells can't have their casting finished in the same action in which it started. There has to be a chance for enemies to interrupt the casting. Combined with the above restriction, this essentially makes wizards extremely vulnerable, which in turn puts the onus on the rest of the party to protect them. Successfully casting a spell isn't just the wizard's accomplishment at that point; it's the entire party's success.

Make it take a lot longer to regain spells. If you need to spend four days replenishing everything after you've completely expended your spells available, that could (depending on the adventure in question) put the party in a bad position. This encourages judicious use of spells, and sees wizards relying on staves and wands much like how the fighter relies on magic swords and enchanted bows.

And for the most controversial one, consider putting a cap on the maximum number of spells that a wizard can know at each spell level. That way, wizards can't do potentially everything, instead customizing in certain thematic "areas" depending on what spells they pick.

Also, there'd be other restrictions on other casting classes. Hey clerics, you're not picking your spells, you're requesting them; what you get is up to your god (who is, remember, trying to help by giving you a different selection of spells).

TwoSix said:

I would have the game acknowledge that there are seven distinct flavors of "castable magic"; the 6 full casters, plus psion.

I would divide up the different effects of "castable magic" relatively equitably among these 7 types of magic, attempting for as little overlap as possible. (Think something like MTG, just with 7 colors instead of 5).

I would have the focus of wizard (arcane) magic be force effects, time and space effects, and metamagic effects (like dispel magic and counterspell).

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so arcane, divine, primal, wild, infernal, bardic and psionic? what do you think of the following?

arcane: spells with specific 'complex' effects, 'crafted' magics.

divine: divination, buffs and abjuration, the most powerful healing and radiant damage spells.

primal: plant, animal and nature spells, summon spells for beasts/fey/elementals, light healing.

wild: simple and straightforward 'natural' magics, elemental damage, 'innate' themed spells.

infernal: spells that debuff or inflict additional conditions, or strong but awkward to use spells.

bardic: the jack of all trades, gets access to a bit of everything.

psionic: the powerful psychic and force damage spells, mental affecting spells and telekinesis

Hmm. If I wanted to nerf wizards, I think I'd increase the DC of the concentration check from a base 10 to 15. as @the Jester mentioned, going back to a d4 HD would also change things.

Now, if I wanted to be mean, I'd make Mage Armor and Shield concentration spells.

not-so-newguy said:

An easy change to implement would be to make their spells known random, or a fraction of their spells random.

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That just makes them lucky or sucky. A classes power shouldn't be tied to rolling well or poorly.

Off the top of my head:

• d4 Hit Points
• Lean into Schools:
  • declare some spells universal, a la 2e
  • Wizards pick one specialty school, two major schools, and three minor schools
    • Wizards can only cast their highest spell level in their specialty school, up to their next highest level in universal/major schools, and can only cast minor schools as a half-caster (full spell slots, full augment)
    • The remaining two schools are prohibited; Wizard can only cast prohibited spells as an EK/AT and they costs two spell slots of the same level.

It'd be nice do bring back spell interruption, but I can't think of anything that wouldn't be too unwieldy in context.

the Jester said:

Two things to start with.

First, return to a d4 Hit Die.

Second, allow a readied action to interrupt a spell being cast, given a failed Concentration check.

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This plus

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher​

Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add one wizard spell of your choice to your spellbook for free. This spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table.

On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your spellbook (see the “Your Spellbook” sidebar).

Your arcane tradition subclass might let you learn one additional wizard spell each time you gain a wizard level. There might be restriction on the spell learned this way such as school of magic.

Scribe said:

Vancian Casting.
Go back to Darts, Slings, and xBows, no more cantrips.
Far more limited access to spells.
Some spells just go away.

Fixed.

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This; but for the spells that remain:

--- make them more powerful when they resolve, BUT
--- make them much easier to interrupt, with risks attached (e.g. a wild-magic surge).

Meanwhile, put the inherent risks back into certain spells e.g. Polymorph (which needs to be split into two spells Poly Self (safe) and Poly Other (which could permanently mess the target up and that no sentient being will ever voluntarily accept), and Teleport (put back the risk of appearing below your destination in solid rock). Fireballs expanding to fill their entire volume is another high-risk high-reward option.

Wizards (and arcane casters in general) should be the high-risk high-reward class.