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If you strip Wizards of their ability to learn just about every spell in the game, why would anyone ever play a Wizard over Sorcerer? That's the only thing Wizards have
If you strip Wizards of their ability to learn just about every spell in the game, why would anyone ever play a Wizard over Sorcerer? That's the only thing Wizards have
I'm contemplating gutting the wizard of their spells. At least, sharply restricting what spells are available to ALL wizards. I want to move most of the spells off to the various schools for the subclasses and leave a very small core of spells that all know - the most iconic of spells that make up a "wizard". Something in the neighborhood of 3-5 spells per level. It's a huge task, and I'd like to get opinions on what should stay as essential to a wizard's identity. This is my initial thoughts:
CANTRIPS
Blade Ward (every wizard benefits from preventing taking damage)
Firebolt (the most basic magic attack spell)
Light (an essential "human" spell to see by)
Mage Hand (basic "move [dangerous] things at a distance)
Prestidigitation (universal near magic)
Message (basic magical communication)
1ST LEVEL
Detect Magic (essential magical detection)
Magic Missile (I think there'd be a riot if this wasn't core to the wizard)
Mage Armor (pretty basic magical protection)
Shield (again, magical protection - might be better reserved for the Abjurer)
Find Familiar (basic magical companion)
Identify (basic magic item identification)
2ND LEVEL
Blindness/Deafness (simple defense)
Invisibility (core magical protection)
Levitate (basic magical movement)
Rope Trick (basic extradimensional space)
3RD LEVEL
Counterspell (basic magic defense)
Dispel Magic (basic magic denial)
Fireball (core blast spell)
Fly (advanced magical movement)
Magic Circle (essential magical summons protection)
The spells that you prefer for this list are almost the same thing as "telekinesis".
Force:Blade Ward, Magic Missile, Shield, Levitate, Fly, Animate Objects − but also include the following two by making them explicitly telekinetic: Mage Hand, Mage Armor
All of these "Force" spells and Force related spells, can fold into the 5e school of "Dunomancy".
The other spells also relate to force.
Force as "Magical Energy":Detect Magic, Identify, Counterspell, Dispel Magic
Distortions of Space-Time that Relate to Force:Rope Trick, Dimension Door, Teleportation Circle, Contact Other Plane, Scrying, Arcane Eye, Legend Lore, Private Sanctum (a complex spell that also involves other applications of Force). These space-time spells relate to teleportation and divination.
Elemental Evocations − can be understood as telekinetic manipulations of Elemental Energy, in the sense of "pyrokinesis": Firebolt, Fireball, Light, Invisibility (manipulating light), plus Message (per description nontelepathic, and like a telekinetic manipulation of soundwaves)
Illusion: The objects that are made out of Force (magic-energy), like Prestidigitation, are more like the quasi-real Illusion spells that sometimes have have a solid quality. This immaterial solidity is like a forcefield, molded into the shape of an object. I would relocate these force object spells to the Illusion school. Then I would rewrite Mage Hand and Mage Armor to be clearly telekinetic propulsion rather than quasi-real objects.
Planar Conjurations − seem like outliers but might still be relevant: Find Familiar, Magic Circle, Contact Other Plane. All of this planar magic forms a specialized "Conjuration" school, that focuses on summoning spells that call creatures from other planes of existence. Demiplanes are distortions of the fabric of space, as opposed to planar spells that are levels of being such as the Astral realm of thought.
Two irrelevant outliers should be deleted from this Wizard list:
• Blindness/Deafness (per description is body magic, a kind of opposite of healing)
• Geas (a form of mind magic akin to Charm)
The spells in the list are "old school" D&D spells. Some of these are terrible in the context of 5e, such as Legend Lore being obsolete because of a normal History skill check. These subpar spells would need updates that significantly improve the spell description to be worth bothering with. But thematically they can apply.
In sum, finetune the thematics of the Wizard spell list as "Dunomancy" as follows:
DUNOMANCY
CANTRIPS
Blade Ward (every wizard benefits from preventing taking damage)
Mage Hand (basic "move [dangerous] things at a distance" [telekinetically])
1ST LEVEL
Detect Magic (essential magical detection)
Magic Missile (I think there'd be a riot if this wasn't core to the wizard)
if you want to do this then maybe it's best to ban wizard and keep only the sorcerer.
sorcerers spells known is limiting and you can add subclass that adds a cantrip or two plus 2 spells known for levels 1-5 that fit the theme of the caster:
Healer;
cantrips; resistance, spare the dying
level 1; cure wounds, healing word
level 2; lesser restoration, healing spirit
level 3; mass healing word, revivify
level 4; Aura of light, death ward
level 5; mass cure wound, raise dead
Necromancer;
cantrips; chill touch, toll the dead
level 1; false life, inflict wounds
level 2; blindness/deafness, ray of enfeeblement
level 3; animate dead, summon undead
level 4; blight, shadow of moil
level 5; dance macabre, enervation
Fair enough I guess. It just seems like the proposed idea to take the Sorcerer class and call it Wizard, I can't really think of anything productive to add so I'll see myself out
I like the idea if you mean "iconic" in general fantasy literature, not so much if you mean "iconic" in D&D history alone, because in that case you end up with pretty much the same Wizards that most players come up with anyway, making the exercise a bit useless. Then I would strip the list to an ever smaller core spells. I would not choose which spells to be on the list on based on what the wizard "needs", so I would eliminate attack and protection spells. Use non-spells ways to attack and defend yourself, or specialize in the proper schools. I would leave mostly only spells that aren't strongly associated with a school, so I think I could probably remove a few more from your original list, then the list would need some additions in order not to be too short.