D&D 4E Obtaining new spells in 4E

[Praeden]

Hi folks,

I had been wondering, given the changes to the 4E wizard, whether there would still be an opportunity to steal/buy spells from other wizards. This blog suggests it might be so:

http://www.gleemax.com/Comms/Pages/Communities/BlogPost.aspx?blogpostid=27100&pagemode=2&blogid=2100

The quote that caught my attention:

"I'm pretty happy with my wizard right now, though I'm looking forward to hunting down some more rituals so I can do some more versatile things."

Not totally conclusive, but it sounds like we might still be able to kill the enemy wizard, disarm his spellbook, and run off with his spells...err rituals...

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Spells I hope you can't "steal" but would love to be able to find out how to do rituals through learning, stealing, etc. Seeing how rituals will probably require certain items, words, etc. that could be easily stolen.

 

[Voss]

Yeah, it depends on how things are divided up. Wizards, I believe, have power words, spells and rituals (maybe some other terms). Rituals look like they're largely big noncombat stuff.

Spells are just the class specific powers. I think. Lack of concrete info is trying, at times.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Hmm... Actually the theft of rituals could add a interesting element to non-magical players. I would love to play a rogue who specializes in stealing magical-items, etc. Who comes across a text describing a ritual and tries to perform it, since it is not a innate-magical ability that is behind a ritual.

Perhaps being non-magical, or having low spellcraft, or concentration, or arcane knowledge means you get negatives for rolling on the effects of the ritual, so it could backfire.

This could open up interesting dilemmas for non-magical characters, should they risk taking part in the ritual that could potentially harm them but could enormously help themselves or others if they succeeded.

 

[HeinorNY]

Yeah, it depends on how things are divided up. Wizards, I believe, have power words, spells and rituals (maybe some other terms). Rituals look like they're largely big noncombat stuff.

Spells are just the class specific powers. I think. Lack of concrete info is trying, at times.

I'm not with my R&C here, but I think wizards have arcane strikes(will), power words(encounter), spells(per day) and rituals(noncombat) stuff.
I hope that at least wizards can still choose his per day spell from a big list of normally learned spells. If all wizards powers, including spells, come from talents, feats or at every level up only, it's gonna be a BIG change.

 

[Generico]

I do hope they keep the intellectual flavor of the wizard, which involves learning new spells (powers, rituals, whatever you want to call them) from scrolls or tomes or something along those lines.

In SWSE, you learn new force powers by taking a feat, which grants you a number of new powers equal to your Wis mod + 1. I doubt they'll be using that system in 4e though.

 

[The_Pugilist]

In SWSE, you learn new force powers by taking a feat, which grants you a number of new powers equal to your Wis mod + 1. I doubt they'll be using that system in 4e though.

Might make sense to learn new "at will" powers though, as they are weaker (esp for Wizards, according to Races and Classes).

 

[Generico]

True, it would probably make the most sense for "at will" powers. Although, for all we know, at will powers are treated as cantrips and you just automatically know them whenever you get to the appropriate level.

I still foresee a chart designating the number of at-will, per encounter, and per day powers that you can ready, while the number of spells known increases slightly by level and more so through the use of scrolls or some other form of item acquisition. The ability for wizards to learn an enormous array of spells is a core part of their flavor, and what seperates them from other casters. I don't see how they could eliminate that and still call it a wizard.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Not totally conclusive, but it sounds like we might still be able to kill the enemy wizard, disarm his spellbook, and run off with his spells...err rituals...

Watch out, there. Based on the previews I get the sense that "Spells" and "Rituals" are not synonyms. They seem to describe completely different game elements.

 

[Generico]

Watch out, there. Based on the previews I get the sense that "Spells" and "Rituals" are not synonyms. They seem to describe completely different game elements.

I would agree. Rituals seem to be more along the lines of the "incantations" presented in Unearthed Arcana.