D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook Reveal: "New Wizard"

"The paramount collector of spells."

Open your spellbooks, everybody. Today we get a Wizard video.


The last version of the class was in the UA Playtest 7 package (PT7). It's not clear how much they'll say here. Of the base class, I am hoping that they have recanted the level 5 ability, Memorize Spell (or perhaps shifted it to needing a short rest). They've said that the PHB will get clearer rules for how illusions work -- maybe they'll talk about that? Other than that, I think the most they can do is show us some revised spells: Will the revised version of Counterspell be kept? Any surprise Necromancy reveals? Let's find out.

OVERVIEW
  • "the paramount collector of spells": "many" of new spells are for the wizard.
  • As in PT7: cantrip change after long rest (level 1); scholar -- expertise in an academic field (at 2)
  • NO MENTION OF ARCANE RECOVERY
  • NEW: Ritual Adept broken out as a new class feature. They can cast spells in their spellbook, as before, but here ID'd as a new feature.
  • NEW: Memorize Spell at 5: you can swap a spell after short rest.
  • Each subclass gets a new version of Savant: free spells in spellbook of preferred school. 2 free spells of favored class, and a new spell for each spell level (so every 2 levels, as in the playtest. This isn't what is said in the video, but has been corrected elsewhere.
SUBCLASSES
Abjurer
  • new abjuration spells feeds back onto how subclass functions.
  • NEW: Arcane Ward at 3: resistance, immunity applied before the Arcane Ward.
  • NEW: Projected Ward a 6: your friend's resistance is applied before the ward for them.
  • NEW: Spell breaker at level 10: Counterspell and Dispell Magic are both prepared (PT7 did not include Counterspell). Dispell Magic is a bonus action.
Diviner
  • NEW: Third Eye at 10. As in PT7, bonus action to activate; 120' darkvision, see invisibility. NO MENTION of Greater Comprehension ("read any language")
Evoker -- "all about bringing the boom"
  • As in PT7: Potent Cantrip at 3 applies to cantrips both with a saving throw or an attack roll.
Illusionist -- "we felt that the subclass needed more" (YAY)
  • NEW: Improved Illusions at level 3:
    • cast illusion spells with no verbal components. (FUN)
    • illusions with range with at least 10' is increased to 60' (no-- by 60' to 70').
    • you get minor illusion cantrip, with both visual and audible
    • you cast minor illusion as a bonus action.
  • NEW: Phantasmal Creatures
    • summon beast and summon fey spells always prepared. These MAY BE changed from conjuration to Illusion, and the illusory version can be cast without expending a spell slot, but the summoned version, only with half the hit points. ONCE PER DAY.
    • illusions can step on a trap to set it off (?!)
    • (replacing Malleable Illusions, which I complained about here. This is so exciting.)
  • NEW: Illusory Self triggered by you being hit by an attack (not when you are targeted). As in PT7, you can get more uses by giving up a spell slot of level 2+.
SPECIFIC SPELLS
  • NEW: school shift to Abjuration: no examples
  • Counterspell as in PT7.
  • GUIDANCE ON ILLUSIONS in Rules Glossary. E.g. How are they affected by environment?
    • spell descriptions also clarified. Rules Glossary to be discussed in future video (also conditions, areas of effects, guidance on teleportation, telepathy, "
  • "being dead" to be discussed in Cleric Video. Tease...
So this gave much more than I was expecting, and it looks amazing. Playing an illusionist will now be much more clearly not a "mother may I?" situation, which (I feel) has long been the case. I think I got most of what I'd asked for in the PT feedback.
 

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Wow, you must have really hated the TSR 2e era then. All those books constantly coming out with kits galore. And we had to pay for them! Nothing but dlc after dlc...
Those were nearly all new material, not small updates to existing material for what is ostensibly the same edition.

And I never said dlc was bad. But it is what it is.
 

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What do you call supplements that come after the core you have to pay for? Even worse in this case, since it seems likely most of the forthcoming "supplemental" material won't even be new concepts, but rather updates to 5.5 for stuff we can already do now in 5.0.
This might be radical but I call them...supplements. Even worse, I have done for the last 40 years, because the idea of releasing supplemental stuff isn't new for D&D, or any other RPG. I have bookshelves filled with supplements to prove that point.
 


This might be radical but I call them...supplements. Even worse, I have done for the last 40 years, because the idea of releasing supplemental stuff isn't new for D&D, or any other RPG. I have bookshelves filled with supplements to prove that point.
Agreed. Read my post above though for where I see this situation as a little different.
 

No, they were picked for being opposites. Illusions (lies) vs Diviners (truth) and Evokers (offense) vs Abjurers (defence). This is a themes in most if not all subclass choices in 2024 PHB.
Crawford addressed this head on ina. Ua video: they had wanted to do Necromancer at some point, but it just wasn't as popular as these 4. The opposites were a fun thing they ran with, but the reason was "update the popular ones".
 



What do you call supplements that come after the core you have to pay for? Even worse in this case, since it seems likely most of the forthcoming "supplemental" material won't even be new concepts, but rather updates to 5.5 for stuff we can already do now in 5.0.
I just mentioned that in diablo, the necromancer was DLC.
I have not heard people speaking of download content for D&D.

It just sounds like you are using a computer game term to accuse wotc of holding back a class intentionally to make people spend an overproportional amount of money on a small packet of contend.

4 classes for each, 4 had to go.
I had woshed for different subclass structure for wizards too (I liked the proposal of chosing spell school independent from subclass choice), but I can see why they did go that route in D&D 2024.
 


I think there's quite a lot of differences between the Artificer subclasses, an Artillerist is quite different from the others. Maybe Battlesmith and Armorer are similiar, but they still play quite differently.
Artificer is to me a different enough concept from wizard to be its own class. I mean, even WotC, which seems to hate the idea of new 5e classes, gave us that one.
 

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