D&D 5E Spell Versatility is GONE. Rejoice!

[Eubani]

It's amusing watching the Spell Caster Supremacy League turn in on itself, usually they are only roused to action when the fighter gets nice things.

 

[cbwjm]

It's amusing watching the Spell Caster Supremacy League turn in on itself, usually they are only roused to action when the fighter gets nice things.

Not true, the sorcerer fans are always out in force whenever the wizard gets anything nice. In this case, the wizard fans were out in force because the sorcerer got something nice.

 

[Dionysos]

I never cared about the whole “it makes the Wizard worse by comparison” thing. The game is unbalanced, always will be. It isn’t a competitive game, so I don’t care.

I’m glad Spell Versatility got cut because it was thematically stupid and totally unnecessary.

I‘m fine with clerics having access to their whole spell list because it represents them praying to to their deities for divine aid. It makes sense for that aid to take different forms, and for gods to send different help on different days. A bard going to bed to learn a spell he’ll need the next day, and the other hand, is dumb. It’s gamey. It’s thematically stupid. I have to make up a whole new concept of where bard/sorcerer/ranger spells come from for this to even make sense in terms of story.

And the whole rule is unnecessary if a DM is a good friend and lets his friends swap out spells they aren’t having fun with sometimes. I’ve been DMing for 25 years. Every time a player asked if they could swap out something they weren’t enjoying, I said sure. If your rule is there because some people are jerks, maybe instead ditch the rule and don’t play with jerks.

 

[ph0rk]

Not true, the sorcerer fans are always out in force whenever the wizard gets anything nice. In this case, the wizard fans were out in force because the sorcerer got something nice.

And they're all pretty mad that wizards got their version of Cantrip Versatility (Cantrip Formulas). Like, dudes, other than a tweaked spell list that's the only optional feature for the entire base class in the book!

If there truly was enough design space to support Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks, players/fans of the other two wouldn't care much when the third gets something. In 3e, for example, if you liked the flexibility of sorcerer you couldn't care much about cool things that were wizard specific. The idea of dealing with Vancian per-slot preparation was awful enough that you just didn't even think of it. Unfortunately, in 5e that space is a lot more cramped.

 

[Zardnaar]

We could always cast "Raise Dead" on some of the Warlord in 5e debates.

The class keeps flunking its resurrection % rolls.

Can't be raised once you flunk it. Perma dead.

 

[Asisreo]

I honestly don't see the big deal. You can already change your spell list even before a long rest.

All you have to do is have your first sorcerer die. Boom, congrats, you now have a second sorcerer with a different set of spells.

 

[ph0rk]

Playing a sorcerer and being upset you can't change your spells like you change your trousers is like playing a barbarian and being mad you can't fly, teleport, or cast cone of cold.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Playing a sorcerer and being upset you can't change your spells like you change your trousers is like playing a barbarian and being mad you can't fly, teleport, or cast cone of cold.

I mean, who is upset, though?

Disagreeing with a design decision isn’t the same as being upset about it.

 

[ph0rk]

I mean, who is upset, though?

Disagreeing with a design decision isn’t the same as being upset about it.

Oh, I see people mad about it here and there - there are threads I've seen where people make the claim that it isn't fair that a wizard can go to sleep and wake up with whatever spell the sorcerer used to win the day. Like, person - that's the class feature. It's what Wizards do.

It's bizarre because their love for the sorcerer class basically has nothing at all to do with the class mechanics and is entirely based on the no-schoolin' class fluff. Fluff for classes is as thin as cheesecloth in 5e though, so it's bizarre.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

It's amusing watching the Spell Caster Supremacy League turn in on itself, usually they are only roused to action when the fighter gets nice things.

Er...I mean, I wouldn't consider myself a Caster Supremacy League member, seeing as how I have consistently fought for reducing the power of spellcasting, developing non-spellcasting versions of classes like Paladin and Ranger, creating "simple" casters to parallel "simple" martials (and "complex" martials, like Warlords), giving Fighters more nice things especially outside of combat, etc. I find that this is less Caster Supremacy League infighting and more Wizard Supremacy League not being the entirety of people who like playing spellcasters. (Sorcerer is one of my favorite classes, alongside Warlord, Paladin, and Bard. I have a thing for Charisma classes, for various reasons.)

By far my favorite edition of D&D is 4e, if that helps? It's hard to be truly caster-supremacist and like 4e.

Oh, I see people mad about it here and there - there are threads I've seen where people make the claim that it isn't fair that a wizard can go to sleep and wake up with whatever spell the sorcerer used to win the day. Like, person - that's the class feature. It's what Wizards do.

It's bizarre because their love for the sorcerer class basically has nothing at all to do with the class mechanics and is entirely based on the no-schoolin' class fluff. Fluff for classes is as thin as cheesecloth in 5e though, so it's bizarre.

Oh there have absolutely been people mad about it on all sides: pro-Wizard/anti-Wizard, pro-Sorcerer/anti-Sorcerer, pro-SV/anti-SV, all of them have had people getting their jimmies thoroughly rustled. I just find it terribly sad that people respond to a completely optional rules variant failing to appear officially in the game with "Ding dong the witch is dead!" and "REJOICE!" That is not "our team won the sportsball game," that is not satisfaction that good design won out, it is revelling in the fact that the other side lost. It is "and GOOD RIDDANCE to BAD RUBBISH."