D&D (2024) Here's The New 2024 Player's Handbook Wizard Art

 

[Reynard]

I’m not a fan of this direction. It’s much more of a superhero video game look rather than Tolkien or Robert E Howard which is my preference

That hasn't been D&D's visual design for literal decades.

 

[Skayaq]

i'm probably creating more hassle for myself doing this but you can't tell me this doesn't look more wizardly than the original (this is a quick slap-job for demonstration and im not the best at digital editing at the best of times so don't criticise the quality please)

I see what you are going for, and I agree that looks more wizardly than the original

 

[Hussar]

If I didn't know this was a D&D image, I'd have immediately guessed this was a World of Warcraft Priest - everything about it screams WoW Priest -

I was going to push back on this, then I went and googled what a World of Warcraft priest looks like (not being a WoW player, I honestly didn't know) and the first fan art (I think it's fan art? Again, quickly googling) was this:

Fair enough. Point taken.

 

[Yaarel]

Heh, to be fair, the "spellbook" could be a sacred text.

i'm probably creating more hassle for myself doing this but you can't tell me this doesn't look more wizardly than the original

This is a fine image. I disagree the hue change makes the image look "more" wizardly.

What if different kinds of Wizards look different? What if dazzling "Gandalf White Wizard" and fiery gold is a fashion trend among Abjurers? Then blood red, night black, and bone white is what many Necromancers look like? Wearing black symbolizes negation, whether Good disavowing selfish temptations, or Evil extinguishing life. Clerics too can be otherworldly altruists, or necromancers. Perhaps this green and purple is the Fey magic of Illusionists? Alternatively, this is the turquoise and amethyst of an Elemental Earth Transmuter? Perhaps Evokers enjoy wearing energetic bright red, orange, gold, and white.


All of the classes are too customizable. Each breaks any cookie cutter stereotype.

 

[TwoSix]

Heh, to be fair, the "spellbook" could be a sacred text.

This is a fine image. I disagree the hue change makes the image look "more" wizardly.

What if different kinds of Wizards look different? What if dazzling "Gandalf White Wizard" and fiery gold is a fashion trend among Abjurers? Then blood red, night black, and bone white is what many Necromancers look like? Wearing black symbolizes negation, whether Good disavowing selfish temptations, or Evil extinguishing life. Clerics too can be otherworldly altruists, or necromancers. Perhaps this green and purple is the Fey magic of Illusionists? Alternatively, this is the turquoise and amethyst of an Elemental Earth Transmuter? Perhaps Evokers enjoy wearing energetic bright red, orange, gold, and white.


All of the classes are too customizable. Each breaks any cookie cutter stereotype.

Exactly. Color coding is far too facile of a method to differentiate D&D type casters.

Now, if you replaced D&D magic with M:tG magic and changed the caster class tropes accordingly, then color coding would make much more sense.

Or did the "dragon magic" idea specified in an earlier post.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I think the only thing that might weaken her re: being picked as a Wizard are the colour choices and to a lesser extent the armour.

She's wearing white and gold - traditionally, these are Cleric/Paladin-type colours.

She has some armour on - shoulderguards, the weird bustier which looks like armour, and generally it's a kind of a "Light armour" look, not a "no armour" look, despite Wizards being non-proficient in armour (as we see from photos of the spread this is still true in 2024).

Her magic is also gold - traditionally, Arcane magic is blue or purple, and Holy or Divine magic is gold.

The staff does lean Wizard but not very hard - in D&D, many casters potentially have magic staves.

If I didn't know this was a D&D image, I'd have immediately guessed this was a World of Warcraft Priest - everything about it screams WoW Priest - she's levitating, her eyes are glowing gold, she's got a golden shield around her, she's wearing dark-and-light armour with earth tones (which is 90% of WoW Priest class-specific armour), she's using a staff (as WoW Priests do), her armour is a mixture of cloth and a few tougher-looking bits, and even the background looks like she's a Titan facility.

Like, you could not make a more perfect picture of a World of Warcraft Priest, thematically, without jamming another guy in who was getting healed by them. And this broadly true across various other fantasy games - gold magic is almost always divine magic, and the floating/glowing-eyes deal

I still like the image, but I think someone new to D&D but familiar with videogames (which is going to be most people new to D&D) may well be confused by the sheer amount of gold and white into not quite getting what a D&D Wizard is. I think she should probably have been more lightly armoured, and using a different colour of magic - probably blue or purple.


Sure, but I 100% guarantee that after your first campaign or two of humans aging to death or elderly status, you will be surprised to see the next group of adventurers are solely beings with lifespans over 300 years, and your "extensive downtime" is calibrated for those with human lifespans (as it would have to be).

Are you saying D&D might try to appeal to WoW players? When has that ever happened before?

 

[DarkCrisis]

Most wizards dont make it to 20. Most PCs stop adventuring by Tier 3.

I've always subscribed to that Adventurers are rare. Anything about 10 even more so.

I get that modern D&D etc is every other NPC is an adventurer who went to wizard school or whatever

 

[billd91]

I get that modern D&D etc is every other NPC is an adventurer who went to wizard school or whatever

Where does that assumption come from? The liberal use of the commoner stat block throughout published 5e adventures?

It's not like retired adventurers weren't fairly common throughout the 1e/2e age with all of the former adventurers setting up bar in the Forgotten Realms.

 

[Minigiant]

I've always subscribed to that Adventurers are rare. Anything about 10 even more so.

I get that modern D&D etc is every other NPC is an adventurer who went to wizard school or whatever

Adventurers are rare.
Adventurers over level 10 outside of a few settings are extremely rare

Because of this ost old characters of PC classes are in the NPC stage or never were adventurers.

 

[Yaarel]

For the sake of an official visual iconography, it is probably more helpful to think about the power sources.

• Martial
• Psionic
• Primal
• Arcane
• Divine

Martial corresponds to a "normal" appearance with tools and weapons.

Psionic corresponds to a personal aura of magic. Normally this soul aura (whether bodily ki or extensive spirit) is invisible, but it can flare during spellcasting. Auras and haloes are psionic magic.

Primal likewise is a personal aura, like psionic, but is the aura of features of nature, often with wilderness imagery, including river, sunlight and sky, and land, plants, and animals.

Arcane is the scientific approach to magic. Its magic appears as complex geometric patterns, and mathematical and formulaic sigils. Indeed, this official Wizard portrait in the original post is clearly an "Arcane" Wizard − precisely because her magic is manifesting via a complex seal. In my culture the concept of magic is personal and relies on intention and visualization. I remember seeing the anime Fullmetal Alchemist and its magic that manifests as a complex sigil surprised me. Spending time to paint the sigil as part of a meditation is one thing. But for the entire complexity to manifest suddenly, felt more like activating a computer code. That said. It is perfect for visualizing the arcane source that relies on the Weave − the ambient magic that is inherent across the multiverse. It is impersonal.

Divine is astral magic, the realm of ideals, paradigms, linguistics, community traditions, and cultural symbols. Like arcane, divine relies on the ambient magic of the Weave, but wields it by means of language rather than science. The divine magic manifests as prayers, sacred texts, and holy symbols, as well as other cultural references. Divine is urban, relating to towns, temples, and civilizations, and their heraldry. Often divine magic manifests as luminous words or holy symbols.

Note, there are times when divine emanates an aura or halo. This signifies the energy and transcendence of ones own soul, personally, and is in a way a kind of psionic magic, when doing so.