D&D 5E Divisions of power: Spell lists

[merwins]

Has anyone experimented with giving spellcasting classes a different spell list? Generally speaking, I'm not sure this is a problem (see Divine Soul).

But adding flavor to a campaign by giving ONLY cleric spells to an wizard who has access to divinely inscribed spellbook, or ONLY magic user spells to a druid to create an streetsmart urban spellcaster.

Anyone tried this or see any major red flags?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Anyone tried this or see any major red flags?

Not in a very long time. Back in the day I'd give each cleric a custom spell list based on the deity served. I had a lot of time on my hands, back in the day. ;|

There are some spells that matter more to the feel/concept of a caster than others. Spells that are particularly potent or flashy, for instance, give you a different character from spells that are subtle or balanced. Healing spells change the way a caster is played, because his spells are now a resource the whole party may need to get through the 'day.' Some spells can have campaign impacts, and affect how the caster will interact with society or other aspects of the setting.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Changing up spell lists will (as Tony said) change the aesthetics of a caster, and will change how its played. But it shouldn't introduce balance issues.

Obviously, there are outliers here and there. But by and large, a third-level spell is a third-level spell is a third-level spell. They're intended to be balanced with each other, at least on average, across the board.

 

[Gadget]

It should be okay for the most part. There are some highly effective spells for their level on some spell lists, and some stinkers for their level on others. 5e in general has homogenized the spell lists to a greater degree than most previous editions, so it should not be too much of a balance problem. The spell casting classes are not as differentiated by their spell lists as they used to be, and there are many abilities for one class to raid another class's list without multi-classing already. I will say that one of the things that makes the half-casters successful gish-types, IMHO, is the fact that they have custom spell lists with numerous spells designed just for them; as opposed to the 1/3 casters that just have to make due with grabbing spells from the full caster list in a delayed progression.

 

[Dragongrief]

The only real red flag I can think of would be giving the sorcerer/wizard list to a cleric. All the other perks they have PLUS the larger damage spells may be excessive.

 

[Coroc]

Imbalance might be caused by what [MENTION=8882]Dragongrief[/MENTION] mentioned. E.g. Cleric being able to add shield spell to his armor class, or to use bless/Bane in Addition to a spell requiring an attack or a saving throw. Unless you meant give him this spell list but take away his normal spell list for the seconfd case.

 

[merwins]

Yep. My original intent was to REPLACE one spell list with another, not give a character access to two spell lists.

 

[Bradley Hindman]

In my opinion, the wizard list is a bit more versatile that the cleric list. For the wizard this is balanced by only having access to the subset of spells that are in their spell book. Thus, I would be worried about giving the cleric the wizard list because clerics can access any spell on their list (whatever that list happens to be).

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm prepping my next campaign for the summer and indeed am changing up spellcasters. Rather than cleric/wizard/bard/druid, I'm instead basing each "class" upon one of the deities I'm using for my campaign (a modified Dawn War pantheon) and then giving each deity class its own individual selected spell list tailored to the portfolio and spheres the deity is in charge of. These spells are coming from all the spell lists combined. As an example, here are the spell lists for Bahamut and Corellon:

BAHAMUT (Protection, Courage, Honor) - divine (CHA) caster, Lawful Good

CANTRIPS
Thaumaturgy
Blade Ward
Booming Blade
Resistance
Sword Burst

1ST LEVEL
Alarm
Compelled Duel
Cure Wounds
Mage Armor
Protection From Evil
Sanctuary
Shield of Faith
Wrathful Smite

2ND LEVEL
Aid
Branding Smite
Dragon's Breath
Find Steed
Magic Weapon
Prayer of Healing
Spiritual Weapon
Warding Bond

3RD LEVEL
Beacon of Hope
Mass Healing Word
Crusader's Mantle
Daylight
Protection From Energy
Spirit Guardians
Thunder Step
Life Transference


CORELLON (Magic, Art, Beauty) - arcane (INT) caster, Chaotic Good

CANTRIPS
Prestidigitation
Eldritch Blast
Mage Hand
Message
True Strike

1ST LEVEL
Charm Person
Command
Detect Evil
Find Familiar
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Shield
Silent Image

2ND LEVEL
Crown of Madness
Darkvision
Hold Person
Levitate
Magic Weapon
Misty Step
Shatter
Silence

3RD LEVEL
Blink
Fireball
Fly
Haste
Tiny Servant
Tiny Hut
Slow
Clairvoyance

As you might tell, Bahamut leans heavily and takes quite a few spells from the paladin spell list, whereas Corellon takes most from the wizard list (as you might expect for the god of magic). Melora leans heavily in the druid list direction, Sehanine towards the ranger, Garl from the bard, Pelor is very fire and radiant heavy, the Raven Queen necrotic. But I went across the board in selecting spells so that I tried to not only find the ones that were most applicable to the protfolios I was using for each one... I also made sure not to give the same spell to too many deities so that there would be a true diversity for each god and thus the players would have more of a decision on which deity they would be a caster for.

 

[houser2112]

But adding flavor to a campaign by giving ONLY cleric spells to an wizard who has access to divinely inscribed spellbook, or ONLY magic user spells to a druid to create an streetsmart urban spellcaster.

If I were to create a "streetsmart urban spellcaster", druid would probably be at the bottom of the list of classes to consider, but hey, whatever works for you!