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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5433139" data-attributes="member: 42582">Here (from memory, apologies for errors) is the list of the 12 spells for 1st level wizards and elves in Moldvay Basic:Magic Missile Charm Person Sleep Protection from Evil Shield Floating Disc Hold Portal Light Ventriloquism Detect Magic Read Magic Read LanguagesI've grouped them roughly as attacks, defences, utility and divination.In 4e you still have MM and sleep. Charm person is gone from the PHB, but returns in Essentials in two versions - the Suggestion cantrip, which I quite like, and the controversial 2nd level Utility power, which I don't like for the same reason as many others. (For charm person in the PHB, you need to use the Warlock utility Beguiling Voice.)The defensive spells are still there (protection from evil is now Staff Wizard instead).The utilities are still there - two as rituals, two as cantrips. It has become harder to cast Hold Portal under time pressure - it now behaves more like wizard lock. I'm not sure how big a loss to the game this is. Prestidigitation plus an Arcana check as part of a skill challenge could probably be used to replicate the old delaying function of hold portal.The divination spells are still all there, the first two as part of the Arcana skill (in which all wizards are trained) and the last as a ritual. (For what it's worth, the two most-used rituals in my 4e game are Comprehend Languages and Object Reading. But then my players have always liked divination magic when they can get hold of it.)This doesn't establish anything about the relative balance of combat to non-combat. But the idea that the non-combat elements of the old game have been removed isn't one that I really subscribe to.</blockquote>

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