3.0 and 3.5 d&d

[hopeless]

Can someone explain to me why Dancing Lights was turned from an Illusion spell to an evocation?
I know the illusion version required a Will save since I originally thought it was a material componentless version of a Light spell.
Under 3.5 it really is nothing more than a light spell with no material component and a shorter timespan.
Are there any other alterations that didn't make sense?

 

[Christian]

Yeah--'cause it broke a general rule about illusions even in 3.0. For 3.5 they decided to keep the general rule & change the spell, rather than the other way around ... Only Evocation spells can create actual energy, including light. So if a spell is to illuminate an area, it must be Evocation rather then Illusion.

Note that the range, number of lights, and variable appearance of Dancing Lights make it superior for some uses to Light. Although Light is probably slightly better overall.

 

[Kormydigar]

Are there any other alterations that didn't make sense?

I never understood the need to make "shadowy illumination" out of darkness. Of course if you find yourself without a light source deep underground you can always cast darkness to see by.

 

[Tharkun]

Game Balance

You must worship at the feet of game balance!

 

[Hypersmurf]

Can someone explain to me why Dancing Lights was turned from an Illusion spell to an evocation?

This actually changed between the first and second printing of the 3E PHB, along with a couple of other spells like Continual Flame.

It was quite funny - the first printing had these Illusion (Figment) spells that lit things up, and a note in the description of the Illusion school that "Figments cannot... illuminate darkness..."

So in the second printing, they changed all the light-stuff-up figments to Evocation [Light]... and at the same time, removed the line from the description of the Illusion school that said figments can't illuminate darkness!

-Hyp.