D&D 5E Niche protection: the wizard’s niche

[CreamCloud0]

[doublepost, deleted]

 

[overgeeked]

that's the thing that this poll isn't really accounting for though, each class has more than one niche that it serves and can lean into, like the results are very clearly showing people think the wizard should be just as much a controller as a utility caster.

Fair. I think it also shows that people aren't reading the OP and just voting based on what they assume the categories are. I defined utility caster in the OP, and most people commenting that they voted for utility caster seem to think it means the status quo of "step on everyone's toes all the time."

I also think the base class can have a singular niche while the subclasses can lean into other niches. Like the fighter. The main niche is damage dealing, but it can lean into other areas with subclasses and builds. The point was to find out what people wanted the core niche to be. Taking into account the bad utility caster assumption it's clear the main niche is battlefield control.

 

[Tonguez]

Fair. I think it also shows that people aren't reading the OP and just voting based on what they assume the categories are. I defined utility caster in the OP, and most people commenting that they voted for utility caster seem to think it means the status quo of "step on everyone's toes all the time."

I also think the base class can have a singular niche while the subclasses can lean into other niches. Like the fighter. The main niche is damage dealing, but it can lean into other areas with subclasses and builds. The point was to find out what people wanted the core niche to be. Taking into account the bad utility caster assumption it's clear the main niche is battlefield control.

your definition of utility isnt very clear though, and really I think people are coming with different ideas of what things like utility, buff and control mean.
For instance is Invisibility a buff or utility? Where do flight or the teleport spells go? Telekinesis?

 

[overgeeked]

your definition of utility isnt very clear though, and really I think people are coming with different ideas of what things like utility, buff and control mean.
For instance is Invisibility a buff or utility? Where do flight or the teleport spells go? Telekinesis?

Not everyone's interested in writing a 5000 word dissertation with every post. Sorry the definition wasn't detailed enough for you.

 

[CleverNickName]

I've played multiple niches in this list with the same Abjurer, so I'm not really sure how to vote.

 

[Lanefan]

your definition of utility isnt very clear though, and really I think people are coming with different ideas of what things like utility, buff and control mean.
For instance is Invisibility a buff or utility? Where do flight or the teleport spells go? Telekinesis?

For me those are all utility.

I've always seen "buffing" as meaning those spells that boost a core stat or give temporary h.p. or otherwise help in a here-and-now combat e.g. Bull's Strength, Aid, Haste, etc.

Anything that lasts longer e.g. Invisibility, Fly, etc. is utility.

 

[Tonguez]

For me those are all utility.

I've always seen "buffing" as meaning those spells that boost a core stat or give temporary h.p. or otherwise help in a here-and-now combat e.g. Bull's Strength, Aid, Haste, etc.

Anything that lasts longer e.g. Invisibility, Fly, etc. is utility.

Yeah me too, but earlier in this thread @GuardianLurker referred to Invisibility/Silence as a buff, which is what got me thinking about how different people categorise things.

For Telekinesis I agree utility until its used to throw a rock or fling an enemy 30ft into the air …

 

[CreamCloud0]

Utility caster spells to me are all the ones that deal with 'environmental' problems and obstacles, stuff like feather fall, alarm, unseen servant, leomunds tiny hut, invisibility, knock, spider climb, water breathing and water walk, fly, sending, speak with dead, dimension door, fabricate, stoneshape.

 

[TwoSix]

Fair. I think it also shows that people aren't reading the OP and just voting based on what they assume the categories are. I defined utility caster in the OP, and most people commenting that they voted for utility caster seem to think it means the status quo of "step on everyone's toes all the time."

I read the OP, and that's the exact thing I think wizards should be. All the other options are better served by other classes.

The only thing I might combine is "utility caster" and "party sage".

 

[Tonguez]

Utility caster spells to me are all the ones that deal with 'environmental' problems and obstacles, stuff like feather fall, alarm, unseen servant, leomunds tiny hut, invisibility, knock, spider climb, water breathing and water walk, fly, sending, speak with dead, dimension door, fabricate, stoneshape.

See I’d put speak with dead and sending under the sage role, even consider it Divination (I have no idea why sending a telepathic message is evocation), but yeah the others are utility