D&D 5E New L&L is up

[Thaumaturge]

It's also nice to see Otto and Mordenkainen's names have officially made it to the spell list.

THIS PART MAKES ME SO HAPPY. I THINK MY CAPS LOCK MAY NOT WORK ALL WEEK.

THAUMATURGE.

 

[Ruzak]

I thought it was mentioned in a video Basic was going to have only four backgrounds. My assumption was that one didn't chose a background in basic, but rather each class was preassigned one.

 

[The Hitcher]

But are these suppose to be the ONLY backgrounds available in Basic? That's what I got from the L&L article.

Isn't that... too few?

It covers a fair few bases. But they're also including the rules/guidelines for creating your own, so that should keep you going forever or until you buy the PHB.

 

[thalmin]

But are these suppose to be the ONLY backgrounds available in Basic? That's what I got from the L&L article.

Isn't that... too few?

Not according to what Mearls said:

Backgrounds: The backgrounds featured in the Starter Set pregenerated characters are included in the D&D basic rules.

There are only 5 pregens included in the set, so that accounts for 5 backgrounds.

(edit) Hmm. Rereading that quote, I realize it does not say they are the only backgrounds included. I guess we will find out Thursday.
HEY, THAT'S THIS WEEK!

 

[Dausuul]

I'm not concerned with the PH right now - but they showed us Starter Set Preview 3, and the cleric list there contained the one and not the other.

One of these two lists is out of date.

The cleric list in L&L is nine spells shorter than the wizard list. Maybe the L&L list doesn't include domain spells?

Those are some pretty iconic wizard spells. I hope that's just an error and not deliberate.

Traditional maybe, but with the possible exception of anti-magic shell, I wouldn't have said "iconic." Iconic wizard spells are stuff like fireball, lightning bolt, and the power words.

Probably it's just a Basic D&D thing, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they were making an effort to pare back the scope of wizard magic a bit.

 

[The Hitcher]

Not according to what Mearls said:
There are only 5 pregens included in the set, so that accounts for 5 backgrounds.

He said it in the Starter Set live Q&A.

Edit: Sorry, just re-read your post and noticed you weren't responding to me. There will be five Backgrounds and guidelines for making your own, because even though this is Basic, it's really quite easy (which is what he stated in the aforementioned live Q&A).

 

[Verys Arkon]

It could be that they have chosen to include more Evoker spells on the wizard spell list since the subclass in Basic is an Evoker, and left others off the basic list?

 

[erf_beto]

Pardon my ignorance, but are any of the 2nd level wizard spells from the Evocation school?
No direct damage spells on 2nd level "again"?

 

[Thaumaturge]

Pardon my ignorance, but are any of the 2nd level wizard spells from the Evocation school?
No direct damage spells on 2nd level "again"?

Good catch. The difference, this time around, is that Burning Hands and Magic Missile should both be spells you can cast from 2nd lvl slots for improved damage, which makes a dead spell level much less of an issue.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Ruzak]

I thought it was mentioned in a video Basic was going to have only four backgrounds. My assumption was that one didn't chose a background in basic, but rather each class was preassigned one.

Edit: Never mind. It's five.