D&D (2024) Playtest 8 Spell Discussion

[Yaarel]

Well, it's objectivelly not a waste of space because that space was not used for anything before...

Listing classes in the spell description is objectively taking up space that is an unnecessary waste of space. And is always untrue, since there are other ways to gain spells.

It depends on how much space is used in the final version of the PHB. I don't know that saving half of a line of text (when printed in two columns) is somehow better than requiring people to constantly flip back and forth between the spell list and individual entries.

But yes, it's a constantly moving target, especially now that the arcane/divine/primal arrangement was rolled back. C'est le vie.

Spell descriptions can already be complex and technical. The descriptions need to avoid filling up with useless, distracting garbage.

 

[Yaarel]

I LOVE the Conjure spells!

 

[Bolares]

Listing classes in the spell description is objectively taking up space that is an unnecessary waste of space. And is always untrue, since there are other ways to gain spells.

no, what I'm saying is that if that space would not be used for other things, if it would stay blank, then it's objectivelly not a waste of space.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Spell descriptions can already be complex and technical. The descriptions need to avoid filling up with useless, distracting garbage.

I don't disagree, but requiring everyone who uses the PHB to be constantly flipping pages to save the space needed to include "Classes: Brd, Clrc, Drd" feels like a bad user experience for the sake of this ideal.

 

[Yaarel]

I don't disagree, but requiring everyone who uses the PHB to be constantly flipping pages to save the space needed to include "Classes: Brd, Clrc, Drd" feels like a bad user experience for the sake of this ideal.

Players need to flip back-and-forth between pages anyway to locate the spells of the appropriate levels as well as, the names of the spells for the appropriate classes.

Adding redundant information in the spell description − that is also necessarily inaccurate − is unhelpful.

Each class already has its own list of spells, including their levels grouping together.

 

[Bolares]

About subclasses making the subclass tags wrong, I disagree with that too. The subclasses don't get new spell lists, they just open up another classes spell list to them. You don't need an EK tag on the spell, the eldritch knight just has to remember that when they read "wizard" on the spell tag, it's a spell they can have.

There is no arcane trickster spell list, so there is no need to tag the arcane trickster in the spell description. Those tags are the general rule, if a subclass makes an exception, that subclass will make it clear and help the player to remember the exception.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I don't think that a single helpful line is worth arguing about, even if it's an impossible task to have it list every possible instance that someone may be able to get a spell.

What I'd find more interesting is a discussion of what the spells DO.

Like, is it okay that the Mass healing spells scale with single dice while the single target healing spells scale with double dice with much lower spell slots? Also, do we need to do d4s with healing Word if it's going to use 2 of them? I'd prefer d8s in that case.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Like, is it okay that the Mass healing spells scale with single dice while the single target healing spells scale with double dice with much lower spell slots? Also, do we need to do d4s with healing Word if it's going to use 2 of them? I'd prefer d8s in that case.

I'm OK with making a lot of D&D less swingy by using multiple smaller dice, especially with things like healing spells.

 

[Neonchameleon]

In the spell descriptions, to list the classes is waste of space. It is unnecessary − and is always untrue because subclasses and other features can gain the spells anyway.

It is absolutely 100% necessary to list which classes can take which spells if they want them playtested. Which means that they need to put it somewhere in the packet.

I do think it helps clarify the spells more than "spell school" does.

 

[Bolares]

I don't think that a single helpful line is worth arguing about, even if it's an impossible task to have it list every possible instance that someone may be able to get a spell.

What I'd find more interesting is a discussion of what the spells DO.

Like, is it okay that the Mass healing spells scale with single dice while the single target healing spells scale with double dice with much lower spell slots? Also, do we need to do d4s with healing Word if it's going to use 2 of them? I'd prefer d8s in that case.

I prefer 2d4 because it avoids the dreaded 1 in the healing die.

I think it's okay to scale the mass spells by one die because it will be affecting multiple people, so it scales exponentially (I don't know if that is the right word to use).