In large part that, but also the 2014 PHB had eight Wizard subclasses in it. It doesn't matter that most of them are pretty forgettable, just by existing they take up a huge chuck of the potential design space for the class. It's those two things together that are why it's been so hard to get a new Wizard subclass through UA testing.I personally do not believe that the existing Wizard class permits enough room for flavorful subclasses at present. Too much of its power is in the class itself. Subclass features have to be thin in order to not make the Wizard blatantly overpowered.
I could see potentially combining pairs of schools together, since some schools are pretty clearly weaker than others. Thematic pairs might work (e.g. Evocation/Abjuration), or try for something like conceptual opposites (e.g. Illusion/Divination).In large part that, but also the 2014 PHB had eight Wizard subclasses in it. It doesn't matter that most of them are pretty forgettable, just by existing they take up a huge chuck of the potential design space for the class. It's those two things together that are why it's been so hard to get a new Wizard subclass through UA testing.
It'll be really interesting to see what four subclasses the next One D&D UA cuts the Wizard down to, and how they go about trying to make them a little more interesting.
I could see potentially combining pairs of schools together, since some schools are pretty clearly weaker than others. Thematic pairs might work (e.g. Evocation/Abjuration), or try for something like conceptual opposites (e.g. Illusion/Divination).
fundamentally i think all the 'spell school specialist' subclasses could be fitted into one (albeit longwinded) subclass,
A Healer mage subclass would be useful if you didn't have a cleric in the party.Bit of a tangent but: has cure wounds been in the same school two editions in a row? I recall it being abjuration, necromancy, conjuration, and evocation.
Yeah, I agree the eight schools were never a good taxonomy, and therefore most schools make for bad subclasses. Illusionist and necromancer work, the rest really don’t (or should be called something else like warmage or summoner).
This was what I was thinking -I could see potentially combining pairs of schools together, since some schools are pretty clearly weaker than others. Thematic pairs might work (e.g. Evocation/Abjuration), or try for something like conceptual opposites (e.g. Illusion/Divination).