Wisdom of a House Rule: Consolidating Spell Schools

[Visigani]

here's the jist

There are currently 9 spell schools in D&D

Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation... and of course the "Universal" school.. which is hardly a school at all anyway.


House Rule goes something like this, it eliminates Evocation, and Transmutation as spellschools altogether, and it relgates Divination and Abjuration to "minor" spell schools (i.e. you cannot lose them as a prohibited school, nor can you specialize in them).



What happens is this. Evocation becomes a part of the Conjuration school, and Transmutation becomes a part of part of the Enchantment school... leaving


Conjuration, Enchantment, Illusion, and Necromancy.


There's been discussion about consolidating Illusion and Necromancy, but illusion is arguably the most powerful spell school already, and necromancy isn't far behind.

Does this sound like a terribad idea?

 

[Trance-Zg]

Although merging Conjuration and Evocation seems plausible they are completely different spell schools in terms of creating spell effects and their mechanics.

And how did you make logic with combining Enchantment and Transmutation?

All I can think of putting together is Illusion and Enchantment(psionic telepathy school).

If you think of changing spell schools or having less of them try to think of different themes for spells, like

1. Primal; raw magical energy(force effects, spellfire, telekinesis, dispels and generally abjuration school and divination school.

2. Elemental magic; pretty straightforward(fire, ice, air, earth). All of them go through SR. Main defense is Energy resistance.

3. Spirit magic; necromancy, some illusion, some transmutation, some divination.

4. Alteration; generally transmutation school.

5. summoning school; teleports, summons

6. Telepathy school; Illusion, enchantment some necromancy.

 

[Rhun]

I don't see the need to combine the schools, as I think they are okay as is. With that said, I'm not sure your house-rule would "break" anything. What is the purpose of consolidating them in your game?

 

[Visigani]

I don't see the need to combine the schools, as I think they are okay as is. With that said, I'm not sure your house-rule would "break" anything. What is the purpose of consolidating them in your game?

The desire is to create more iconic casters that tend to follow more of a theme.


We've all heard of Conjurors, Enchanters, Illusionists and Necromancer... even Diviners.. in fact all four of those are found to be synonyms with the word "Magician".

However, you never really hear of "Math the Abjuror", or "Gwydion the Evoker".

 

[Rhun]

The desire is to create more iconic casters that tend to follow more of a theme.


We've all heard of Conjurors, Enchanters, Illusionists and Necromancer... even Diviners.. in fact all four of those are found to be synonyms with the word "Magician".

However, you never really hear of "Math the Abjuror", or "Gwydion the Evoker".

1. (noun) magician, prestidigitator, conjurer, conjuror, illusionist
someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience
Synonyms: illusionist, conjure man, thaumaturgist, seer, magician, thaumaturge, visionary, prestidigitator, sorcerer, conjurer, wizard, necromancer, conjuror

2. (noun) sorcerer, magician, wizard, necromancer, thaumaturge, thaumaturgist
one who practices magic or sorcery
Synonyms: illusionist, star, conjuror, thaumaturge, virtuoso, sensation, champion, superstar, whiz, mavin, genius, prestidigitator, ace, conjurer, necromancer, magician, hotshot, maven, wiz, thaumaturgist, adept, wizard, sorcerer, whizz

You don't exactly want to have "Gwydion the Whizz" or "Math the Maven" either.

 

[Tovec]

...Minor Thread Necro...

I really found your post entertaining I'm sad to see it didn't progress much.
I've been working on a bit of a rewrite (making my own minor version with d20) and found a similar issue.
I'm not positive what you were looking to achieve with this thread itself but I do applaud the creation.

I actually went a step further however.

Whereas you have Conjuration, Enchantment, Illusion, and Necromancy, I have Conjuration (bringing something from nothing), Enchantment (changing the nature of something), and Abjuration (protective, sigils, wards, and divination thrown in).

Thoughts Visigani?

 

[Ainamacar]

However, you never really hear of "Math the Abjuror"

On the contrary, performing math is just like casting a protection spell against certain segments of the population.