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<blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8833547" data-attributes="member: 50987">Hm.&nbsp; I'm trying to figure out what X, Y, and Z might be, but the only thing that comes to mind is the find familiar spell/ritual and the clone spell...the artificer and the sorcerer can do just about everything the wizard can do.&nbsp; I'm sure there are more, though...the wizard spell list is like 300 spells long.&nbsp; I wonder how many &quot;wizard only&quot; spells there are in 5E.(checks donjon.bin)Turns out, there are several spells that are exclusive to the Wizard and only the Wizard: 28 in total.&nbsp; They are:&nbsp; clone, contingency, create homunculus, drawmij's instant summons, evard's black tentacles, find familiar, fire shield, illusory dragon, invulnerability, magic jar, maze, melf's acid arrow, mighty fortress, nystul's magic aura, otiluke's freezing sphere, passwall, phantom steed, prismatic wall, rary's telepathic bond, sequester, simulacrum, telepathy, tenser's floating disk, tenser's transformation, wall of force, wall of ice, wall of sand, and weird.&nbsp; This is about 9% of the total number of spells (311) that the Wizard can learn.And a few of them are downright iconic: find familiar, acid arrow, phantom steed, and passwall are the ones I've seen the most often.&nbsp; (This is probably because many of these spells aren't in the Player's Handbook, and most are 6th level and up.)&nbsp; As iconic as they are, I've never seen anyone but an NPC villain ever use floating disk or magic jar.&nbsp; So maybe there is something to be said for X, Y, and Z, above.I guess it all comes down to how you define &quot;Wizard's niche.&quot;In the games I've played, everyone expected the wizard to be a blaster: he was expected to (1) throw fireballs and magic missiles to keep the crowd under control and activate the cleric's toll the dead cantrip, and (2) to let the party bypass guards and obstacles with fly, knock, and invisibility.&nbsp; If someone at the table rolls up a wizard and doesn't select these spells, he will never hear the end of it.&nbsp; (Ask me how I know!)&nbsp; But none of these spells are exclusively wizard-only.But if we define the Wizard's &quot;niche&quot; as &quot;something that only the Wizard can/should do,&quot; you're going to be all over the place.&nbsp; You will end up with everything from &quot;owner of a magical menagerie of summoned familiars and horses&quot; to &quot;master spy who walks through walls and reads minds&quot; and &quot;swordsman summons a katana from thin air and transforms into Musashi Miyamoto.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 8833547, member: 50987"] Hm. I'm trying to figure out what X, Y, and Z might be, but the only thing that comes to mind is the [I]find familiar [/I]spell/ritual and the [I]clone [/I]spell...the artificer and the sorcerer can do just about everything the wizard can do. I'm sure there are more, though...the wizard spell list is like 300 spells long. I wonder how many "wizard only" spells there are in 5E. (checks donjon.bin) Turns out, there are several spells that are exclusive to the Wizard and only the Wizard: 28 in total. They are: [I]clone,[/I] [I]contingency,[/I] [I]create homunculus,[/I] [I]drawmij's instant summons, evard's black tentacles, find familiar, fire shield, illusory dragon, invulnerability, magic jar, maze, melf's acid arrow, mighty fortress, nystul's magic aura, otiluke's freezing sphere, passwall, phantom steed, prismatic wall, rary's telepathic bond, sequester, simulacrum, telepathy, tenser's floating disk, tenser's transformation, wall of force, wall of ice, wall of sand, [/I]and [I]weird[/I]. This is about 9% of the total number of spells (311) that the Wizard can learn. And a few of them are downright iconic: [I]find familiar, acid arrow, phantom steed, [/I]and [I]passwall [/I]are the ones I've seen the most often. (This is probably because many of these spells aren't in the Player's Handbook, and most are 6th level and up.) As iconic as they are, I've never seen anyone but an NPC villain ever use [I]floating disk [/I]or[I] magic jar.[/I] So maybe there is something to be said for X, Y, and Z, above. I guess it all comes down to how you define "Wizard's niche." In the games I've played, everyone expected the wizard to be a blaster: he was expected to (1) throw [I]fireballs[/I] and [I]magic missiles[/I] to keep the crowd under control and activate the cleric's [I]toll the dead [/I]cantrip, and (2) to let the party bypass guards and obstacles with [I]fly, knock, [/I]and [I]invisibility. [/I]If someone at the table rolls up a wizard and doesn't select these spells, he will never hear the end of it. (Ask me how I know!) But none of these spells are exclusively wizard-only. But if we define the Wizard's "niche" as "something that only the Wizard can/should do," you're going to be all over the place. You will end up with everything from "owner of a magical menagerie of summoned familiars and horses" to "master spy who walks through walls and reads minds" and "swordsman summons a katana from thin air and transforms into Musashi Miyamoto." [/QUOTE]

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