Assuming that you will never encounter a Dispel Magic spell, because of the default spell selection in the MM is a huge catch in my book.
The subclass was introduced in the book that has as it's raison d'etre is Player Customization. DMs could always modify monsters, but Tasha's should further reinforce that. If a sorcerer farmer can cast Magic Chicken Missiles...then a DM can swap spells from the pre-made lists.
I play defensively....the Manifest Mind ability is easily negated. Failure to recognize this in a very difficult game is going to lead to a poor ending.
But hey, man if you and TM never encounter Dispel Magic...cool.
I'm not sure what point you think you are making Mistwell.
In 3e...sure 1st level spells became useless due to how spell DCs were calculated.
That isn't the case in 5e.
Tasha's Hideous Laughter still works in T4. One will have much better options, but THL works. A Protection from Good and Evil protects from a whole host of conditions caused by a whole host of creatures.
Also Manifest Mind states this: Once you conjure the mind, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of any level to conjure it again.
So if you are out of 1st level spell slots, you are using a higher level slot to re-manifest
the mind.
I will state again, different games means different assumptions. Some games are not very challenging when it comes to resource management, some are.
Assuming you will almost never encounter Dispel Magic, is an assumption that is unlikely to come true.
Assuming that you can end every Adventuring Day with spell slots unspent, (and thus able to be re-charge Manifest Mind), seems more likely to me, than the assumption stated above.
I will also state, I am currently in a game, where every day the group finishes on empty.
5e is officially a multiverse filled with infinite worlds...not all of them will have 'easy' assumptions.
Eeeh. To my mind Wizardly Quill is clearly a ribbon.
You can tell because you get two features at the same level. Awakened Spellbook is the real feature.
I agree that it looks like a solution searching for a problem. Although it's probably better if your DM lets you copy out spells on the first short rest you get and doesn't make you go back to town to get supplies or spend money (and one could well interpret the power to imply you don't have to).
That's basically what is seems like. A ribbon for the impatient wizard player.
I think it’s great. Nice, flavorful subclass with some interesting abilities. Swapping spell energy types on the fly is very useful. As is casting spells from relative safety. Creating scrolls for free overnight adds a lot of utility in games where you don’t get much creation time, as well as even more useful when you do. One with the word seems to be a spell that would save your life while retaining all your remaining hp... handy when you get hit with disintegrate or powerword kill.
Incidentally, @Mistwell ‘s point is very clear. Yes occasionally you will come up against dispel magic if the DM changes stat blocks as one would expect them to. However, the unfortunate times this does happen the scribe responds by using a first level spell. If that enemy wizard is using its action to cast dispel Magic and the party scribe can invalidate that by spending a 1st level slot as a bonus action then the scribe is definitely winning. I wish the enemy wizard would spend all their 3rd level slots this way! Sounds like an easy combat.
Also saying the cost of scribing a spell with the quill becomes all about practicing with spell components... well what about when that spells components are sand and a bit of fleece?
As a DM i would allow the cost of scribing to be negated with the quill unless the spell has components worth 1gp or more. Otherwise they’re in your pouch like all other cheap components/or you use your focus item.
I would like Crawford to provide an official ruling on the ink cost. The cost of scribing a spell is from the special ink needed which this class says your magic quill provides.
I'm not sure what point you think you are making Mistwell.
In 3e...sure 1st level spells became useless due to how spell DCs were calculated.
That isn't the case in 5e.
Tasha's Hideous Laughter still works in T4. One will have much better options, but THL works. A Protection from Good and Evil protects from a whole host of conditions caused by a whole host of creatures.
Also Manifest Mind states this: Once you conjure the mind, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of any level to conjure it again.
So if you are out of 1st level spell slots, you are using a higher level slot to re-manifest
the mind.
I will state again, different games means different assumptions. Some games are not very challenging when it comes to resource management, some are.
Assuming you will almost never encounter Dispel Magic, is an assumption that is unlikely to come true.
Assuming that you can end every Adventuring Day with spell slots unspent, (and thus able to be re-charge Manifest Mind), seems more likely to me, than the assumption stated above.
I will also state, I am currently in a game, where every day the group finishes on empty.
5e is officially a multiverse filled with infinite worlds...not all of them will have 'easy' assumptions.
there is also the fact that it sheds bright(?) light and you can only cast through it proficiency bonus times per long rest. Yea there can be times when its useful but it doesn't rise to the level of rescuing the class from the almost whiny mediocre other abilities crippled by cost . Meanwhile it's getting talked up like its sneak/reckless
attack or rage
there is also the fact that it sheds bright(?) light and you can only cast through it proficiency bonus times per long rest. Yea there can be times when its useful but it doesn't rise to the level of rescuing the class from the almost whiny mediocre other abilities crippled by cost . Meanwhile it's getting talked up like its sneak/reckless
attack or rage
You seem to be having a raw, almost visceral reaction to the existence of this subclass. Are you truly unbiased here?
What abilities does it have that are crippled by cost? That don’t cost the same for regular wizards?
Regarding the paucity of treasure in official books. I just did a quick tot up of levels 1-4 of Baldurs Gate: Descent. 6,843 gp of priced treasure, that’s 1,710 gp per character in a typical 4 player group. You could assume that not all that would be found / taken but then it doesn’t include unpriced items like equipment or magic items (many of which wouldn’t be used by PCs and therefore are likely to be sold or traded). What on earth does a level 4 wizard spend 1,710 gp on if not on spells.
Incidentally there are at least 3 spell books in those four levels... and they gain access to Candlekeep I think you should consider revising your opinions about spell access in Hard Covers.
You seem to be having a raw, almost visceral reaction to the existence of this subclass. Are you truly unbiased here?
What abilities does it have that are crippled by cost? That don’t cost the same for regular wizards?
Regarding the paucity of treasure in official books. I just did a quick tot up of levels 1-4 of Baldurs Gate: Descent. 6,843 gp of priced treasure, that’s 1,710 gp per character in a typical 4 player group. You could assume that not all that would be found / taken but then it doesn’t include unpriced items like equipment or magic items (many of which wouldn’t be used by PCs and therefore are likely to be sold or traded). What on earth does a level 4 wizard spend 1,710 gp on if not on spells.
Incidentally there are at least 3 spell books in those four levels... and they gain access to Candlekeep I think you should consider revising your opinions about spell access in Hard Covers.
The awakened spellbook's damage shuffle is "you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spellbook, which magically alters the spell's formula for this casting only. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend."
This archetype needs both the "intentionally overtuned" spells of each level in addition to one or more damage spells chosen entirely for their damage type of each spell level to make use of it. That eats both of the free 2/level spells and relies on the benevolence of the gm and/or whims of adventure builders in addition to gold putting a bigger need ton the archtype to scribe more spells than other wizards. Thanks to the boneheaded choice to lean into "natural language" there is a reasonable argument to be made that the first point does and does not provide the ink needed to scribe the spell into the spellbook depending on which way specific beats general leans resulting in a class that plays massively different from table to table. In both cases, without something like the old guidance for purchasing copying spells from another wizard they can't even take a mountain of gold & buy them like classes that do the same with +n weapons & armor... To rub salt in the wound though, because the wizard spends so much scribing spells to their spellbook they are going to have a hard time buying anything like that as the only class with a built in class mechanic gold sink even if the gm lets them go shopping
Yes some HC adventures are better than others & newer ones are doing better than older ones, but Descent into avernus is not one of them & I'll go into that at the end... Without a WBL type chart the GM has no yardstick to determine if the players are underfunded overfunded or just about right & how much they should do about it if they suspect they need to bring things in line. Likewise if the players had too much treasure they couldn't find/take as you noted they have nothing they can point at when trying to convince the gm why they need to let them do some side quests for coin to make up for bad perception/investigation checks, generally not painstakingly mapping out every square inch of everything, and inadvertently stumble the path that seals off the option for treasure too often
It should be a great wizard archetype that has a clear niche within the scope of the class that differs from evoker's blasting, necromancer's undead, etc in a visceral way that feels rewarding, but the determination of that falls largely on how a particular bit of natural language is interpreted & in the event of one interpretation if the GM or adventure has enough gold+scrolls/spellbooks available to meet that bar.
The level 6 manifest mind is a nice feature & I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise, but a 10ft radius dim light that lets you cast a spell from it proficiency bonus times/long rest is not the "encounter trivializing" super scout the archetype should hang it's claim to fame on that some people are making it out to be... The scouting also stomps hard on the toes of scout types like rogue making "let me send my spellbook to go arcane eye around" both frustrating for other players & certain to push the gm towards creating "solutions" for an invincible camera drone that will have long lasting effects on the usefulness when it's actually needed
As to your choice to tally up the gold for levels 1-4 in descent into avernus.... Thanks you for choosing such an incredible example for my point. Yes page22 does indeed have...
Just so there is no confusion, I highlighted the first level spells & underlined the second level spells which leaves....
Page 23 has a slightly better spellbook on flennis with
Notice how one page apart the wizard is already up to 11 first level spells with five of them being duplicates in the 4 spellbooks. That's ok though because I'm sure there's another better spellbook later in the adventure?... oh wait no there isn't. Maybe the spell scrolls will save it?
Pg70.. mass healing, remove curse, tongues... well tongues & remove class are on the wizard list too so huzzah?.... Maybe DiA makes up for it with amazing caster loot to match up with the awesome monty haul levels of martial focused treasure
pg95 wand of magic missile, page102 circlet of blasting & wand of secrets, page 109 +1 wand of the war mage(one). In addition to all the +1/+2 martial stuff not listed here that totally compares to all the amazing monty haul martial gear in DiA... but take heart because a wizard can be sure to have plenty of gold to scribe every wizard spell they could find in the entire hardcover long before they hit level 5. Did you seriously take the time to add up all of the gold in levels 1-4 of DiA & not notice how bad the spellbooks are compared to the randomly generated treantmonk one or even stop to consider if there were other better spellbooks in the entire HC? That sort of oversight while holding it up as an example of WotC meeting the needs of the wizard class in adventure design makes it reasonable to wonder how fundamentally flawed the quicksand foundations supporting the rest of your arguments are beond just the flaws I've pointed out.
People have been clamoring for a "generalist" wizard since 5E's release 6 years ago (because apparently "generalist" wizards are unable to avoid hitting their party members in combat, which is why the Evocation school wasn't "generalist" enough for them.)
So now we have the Order of Scribes to fill the "generalist" wizard motif. It only took 6 years, but hopefully those that wanted it got what they were hoping for.
I think you should consider revising your opinions about spell access in Hard Covers.
