Playtest (A5E) Level Up Playtest Document #11: Wizard

Welcome to the 11th Level Up playtest document. This playtest contains a candidate for the first 10 levels of the game’s wizard class.

Level Up Playtest Document #11: Wizard — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

Welcome to the 11th Level Up playtest document. This playtest contains a candidate for the first 10 levels of the game’s wizard class.

www.levelup5e.com

What this is
This is a playtest document. We’d love you to try out the rules presented here, and then answer the follow-up survey in a few days.

What this is not
This is NOT the final game. It’s OK if you don’t like elements of these rules; that’s the purpose of a playtest document. Be sure to participate in the follow-up survey in a few days. All data, positive or negative is useful.

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[tetrasodium]

Damn total missed that. Well in that case, it’s way less powerful than I thought!

Looking at it closer it's even weaker than I originally thought when I was giving it neat but lacking marks

Spoiler: It doesn't even count as prepared

That highlighted but all but says that you still need to prep it anyways.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

By vancian I meant the whole spell slot thing. Having spell slots and needing access to your spellbook is what I dislike in the D&D wizard.

That is a D&D wizard though. There are other types of spell casters if you don’t like it. Or, you could use the spell point option in the DMG

 

[Faolyn]

Is one extra 1st level spell per rest a big deal for a 5th level wizard? Not cast higher, cast at level 1.

Currently, a 5th-level wizard gets 7 spells, plus 3 more from Arcane Recovery, plus four cantrips they can cast infinite times. In this version, they'd also get an additional free cantrip (prestidigitation) which frees up a cantrip slot for another attack spell, if desired, and a 1st level spell they can cast at least once more, and probably two or three times, without expending a slot.

That's... a lot of magic there. I voted for 1/long rest.

(And I have a sneaking suspicion that most DMs aren't going to require a wizard to give up their long rest to spend those 8 hours in study to change it.)

 

[tetrasodium]

Currently, a 5th-level wizard gets 7 spells, plus 3 more from Arcane Recovery, plus four cantrips they can cast infinite times. In this version, they'd also get an additional free cantrip (prestidigitation) which frees up a cantrip slot for another attack spell, if desired, and a 1st level spell they can cast at least once more, and probably two or three times, without expending a slot.

That's... a lot of magic there. I voted for 1/long rest.

(And I have a sneaking suspicion that most DMs aren't going to require a wizard to give up their long rest to spend those 8 hours in study to change it.)

Cantrips get massively oversold credit once you start looking at the math.
A level 5 fighter paladin ranger berzerker will have two all or nothing attacks of easily 1d10+Prime Attribute Mod+weapon mods piled onto each attack while a rogue will have an all or nothing 1d8+3d6+weapon mods+attrib bonus & possible bonus action 1d6 or 1d4+3d6+weapon mods offhand if that first attack misses for default at will attacks. Wizards even using a d12 cantrip like toll the dead for maximum deck stacking at level five will have one all or nothing 2d12+focus item mods. * Cantrips like chill touch/frostbite/ray of frost with a secondary effect tend to drop one or more die sizes and unlike those weapon users who can ignore "resistant to nonmagical bludgeon/piercing/slashing" the instant they get a weapon that counts as magical those cantrips will always fall prone to energy resists & magic resists. The math & weighting we can expect here is heavily dependent on what the a5e cantrips ultimately wind up looking like for damage & secondary effects when we get there.

The spell slots themselves are another reason why the lackluster free prestidigitation & get an extra cast of a first/second level spell you still need to prep at level nine is so important. In o5e there are a handful of deliberately overtuned iconic spells, a5e will be normalizing those to the dmg283 spell damage table & adding rare spells. The number of spells with secondary effects & nondamage spells that shed theor unused by design status is going to be really important for wizards just as what chunk of their class spell list they share with sorcerers/warlocks who in o5e have near total overlap.


*Adepts get left off the comparison because there are too many variables & what ifs

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

This is the first Wizard class since AD&D 2e that really comes off like what a real wizard could be like. All we need is to start with a Spellbook like our characters could in 2e.

These Exploration Knacks are fantastic. I can actually see myself making a wizard character, something I haven't done in almost 20 years.

 

[stadi]

That is a D&D wizard though. There are other types of spell casters if you don’t like it. Or, you could use the spell point option in the DMG

Yes, I can houserule it myself, or take existing options. Or say that sorcerers are wizards and start houseruling from there. Publications like these might be interesting for me because they might do just that. In this case, this is not going far enough for what I'm looking for. Might be what others are looking for though, I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

 

[Morrus]

Yes, I can houserule it myself, or take existing options. Or say that sorcerers are wizards and start houseruling from there. Publications like these might be interesting for me because they might do just that. In this case, this is not going far enough for what I'm looking for. Might be what others are looking for though, I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

If you're looking for new classes (rather than the existing 5E classes) this book probably isn't the one for you -- that's not the design goal. Maybe keep an eye out for supplements further down the line though, where we might release some new classes!

 

[Grantypants]

I like what I see, but it's hard to judge the wizard class without the spell list available yet. The class refers to some spells specifically: identify, detect magic, detect thoughts, guidance, and prestidigitation. Are those spells going to be changed from their o5e versions? I'm looking at prestidigitation especially. The action economy seems tough there. Presto, Prestidigitation! lets you use an action to see whatever is within 30 ft of a pebble for the duration of the spell, but the prestidigitation effects (as currently written in o5e) last until you use another action to dismiss them. Is that a deliberate choice to make ambush or surprise tactics more difficult for the wizard?

And if you find a rare version of any of those spells, would you be able to stack the improvements from the rare spell with the improvements from the class ability? In fact, it seems like some of the Spell Study, Wizard's Flair, and Exploration Knack options overlap with the sort of bonuses that you would see in rare spell variants. Would it be a more elegant design overall to change those class features into "you learn Fancy Wizard's Prestidigitation", etc? Or on the other hand, that might make the wizard class feel less special if anyone who found those spells could use those features. And it partly negates the design intent that rare spells be found and not handed out.

 

[Teemu]

I'm not a fan of Signature Spell the way it's written right now, or Spell Study or Wizard's Flair. The reason is that they add extra things to be tracked. A wizard is already keeping track of spell slots per long rest. Then you have Arcane Recovery once per long rest. Add Signature Spell once per short or long rest. Plus Spell Study can give perks that you can use once or more per long rest. And finally Wizard's Flair adds even more uses per long rest. That's too much. The wizard could also have magic items with long rest uses, and it all adds up and creates a tracking headache.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I'd prefer if the Flairs cost extra spell slot instead of being used x per rest, like the Invention Wizard UA did:

At 6th level, you learn to augment spells in a variety of ways. When you cast a spell with a spell slot, you can expend one additional spell slot to augment its effects for this casting, mixing the raw stuff of magic into your spell to amplify it. The effect depends on the spell slot you expend.

- An additional 1st-level spell slot can increase the spell's raw force. If you roll damage for the spell when you cast it, increase the damage against every target by 2d10 force damage. If the spell can deal damage on more than one turn, it deals this extra force damage only on the turn you cast the spell.

- An additional 2nd-level spell slot can increase the spell's range. If the spell's range is at least 30 feet, it becomes 1 mile.

- An additional 3rd-level spell slot can increase the spell's potency. Increase the spell's save DC by 2.

But with the Flairs effect as described in the document.