Seriously? Spellcasters will not be able to have many spell choices?

[Dragonblade]

Ah, so rituals might take the place of some of the more "non-combat" spells. Well it might not be as severe then. Thanks for that, now to read up on Rituals.

Its been alluded that a lot of the non-combat utility spells like Phantom Steed will still be there. But it will definitely work much differently than it did in 3.x. No more spell slots after all.

 

[Lackhand]

It's also possible that they use the arcana unearthed model -- which basically made the sorcerer's "spells known" table into a "spells prepared table".

My fond hope is that a first level wizard have a few choices of what to do -- maybe an at will power, an encounter power, and a daily power. And that a thirtieth level wizards choices be related to that (maybe four at will powers, four encounter powers (or less!), and three daily powers), possibly with multiple uses. Certainly no more than a small handful of per-encounter powers available at a time, or they'll never be exhausted during an encounter, which seems to defeat the purpose. Also, probably not too many per-day powers, or the risk of going nova magnifies as levels increase, which seems counter-intuitive.

It's copacetic if they can change what these are each day, but from everything we've seen, these are specifically combat related powers; most players that can memorize Wall of Fire will continue to do so until something better comes along.
My guess is that they are indeed semi-sorcerer-like -- they might gather large lists of spells known, of which they select several spells readied each day (and this might take an hour of study to change), with this second set being much smaller.

We haven't seen nearly enough preview in this area. I demand MOAR.

 

[Sitara]

Well, Wizards will have the Orb, Staff and the Wand. Furthermore, they will have the Golden Wyvren. The feat that is.

They will also have, within them, a 'hidden flame'.

Make of that what you will.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Also of note, they have not gotten rid of the Vancian system completly. It still plays some kind of role in a wizards life. We just don't know how.

 

[withak]

Rituals are the new spells...

Not exactly, since they can't be performed during combat, but that seems the way they're going.

 

[Jinete]

Not exactly, since they can't be performed during combat, but that seems the way they're going.

I hope rituals can be performed during combat, but that it's really hard to do it. One of the most exciting moments in our campaign was protecting the wizard from demons while he was casting break enchantment to free the soul of the fighter.

 

[withak]

I hope rituals can be performed during combat, but that it's really hard to do it. One of the most exciting moments in our campaign was protecting the wizard from demons while he was casting break enchantment to free the soul of the fighter.

Maybe "can't" is too strong a word. Maybe rituals are generally too long (and the wizard too squishy) to be successfully cast during an encounter, but with the right setup, it could be?

 

[FreeXenon]

Check the our 4E page for what we know about class descriptions:

Wizard

# Fills the "Controller" role.

• ".. direct control powers affect targets for a much shorter duration."
• Will the Wizard and Sorcerer merge? No (source). Sorcerer will be different from wizards in more ways than just resource management.
• Wizards have spells and power words. Power words drain your energy and can be used time and time again. The wizard is designed to "make things go boom". Metamagic and Item Creation feats are gone. Item Creation is now a ritual.
• Rich Baker clarifies wizards' use of Enchantment, Illusions, Necromancy in a post here:

An aside on this one: Even though we want wizards to have a little less "concept sprawl" into all forms of arcane magic, that doesn't mean that every necromancy, enchantment, or illusion spell will be stripped out of their spell lists. Your core D&D wizard will still have a smattering of classic enchantments, like Sleep and Charm Person and Hold Monster. Ditto with classic illusions and classic necromancy spells. You won't be able to really build a specialist Enchanter, but you can still build a wizard with a couple of handy enchantments.

• Schools of magic are gone, replaced by foci (orb, staff, wand, with more to come in later books possibly). The orb foci involves terrain control and retributive and perception effects, staves ranged blasting, and wands long distance control and defense. In addition to spells, wizards will also possess rituals that deal with item creation. Metamagic feats are gone, though spells can still be boosted by Wizard powers and other feats. In addition, since characters can buy any kind of feats they want, it is mentioned that you could turn a Wizard into a 3E-style Warmage or Duskblade by buying weapon, armor and melee attack feats, as 4E Wizards no longer suffer from arcane spell failure in armor.
• Schools are heavily redesigned: lots of stuff moved to rituals (Abjuration's long term wards and restorative spells, Conjuration's teleportation, all of Divination, Enchantment reduced and saved for "future classes", Evocation expanded for more blowing-up potential, Illusions still common, Necromancy nerfed, Transmutation's polymorph gone). School is gone as a mechanical division.
• "I’ll take magic missile and fireblast for my at-will powers. Oh! Burning hands for an encounter power, and, let’s see, sleep for my daily." Interesting; in 3E they're all 1st-level spells, except fireblast which is new.
• "Power of Thunder" ability mentioned. Could be a spell or a class ability.
• See the extensive "Magic" section, below, for much more info on magic.

# Sorcerer - From Wizards Presents: Races & Classes: Made more distant from the wizard. They barely control their spells, but unleash enough energy every time that some remains around them. For example after a fireball, they are cloaked in fire which sears enemies nearby.

* It is stated that Sorcerers will barely be in control of their magical abilities, but whether or not this means they’ll function somewhat like wild mages is unclear. It does mention that a Sorcerer who casts a cold spell might have a protective aura of freezing cold around him afterwards for a short while.

This may help or not.

 

[Mallus]

Reduced size and breadth in the spell lists would be a big plus for me.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

I really like the idea that clerics can't automatically pray for any cleric spell WoTC chooses to publish.

That said, if the 4E wizard will no longer be able to find the enemy wizard's spellbook and scribe his spells into his own, I'm going to miss that. I always found that to be a compelling feature of the class.

So for me, it really comes down to the rituals, and how much of the the 3E wizard's capabilities they replicate.

Ken