D&D 5E Should D&D Have a 9th School of Magic (Restoration)?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

This is simple. I've always been put off by most healing spells being a part of the Evocation spell list and most spells that raise people from the dead being Necromancy magic. I know that the "8 schools of magic" is a sacred cow from previous editions of D&D, but I feel that one more that makes sense both vibes well thematically with the other schools of magic while also fixing one issue many people have with the schools of magic warrants a change like this. I'd still keep Reincarnate as a Transmutation spell, and Life Transference as Necromancy, but the rest of the bunch of healing spells and resurrection spells can be moved to a ninth school of magic: Restoration, which would be all about restoring hit points and life to creatures (basically just restoring "life essence", while Abjuration would be protecting people from losing their "life essence" in the first place).

I'm interested to see what people think of this, especially if any older-style D&D players would get on board with this. I get that many people would be hesitant (to say the least) about changing one of the parts of D&D that has been with the hobby for many editions, but I feel that this one fits well enough that people shouldn't be too hostile to the idea (right? who am I kidding? This is the internet).

Let's get discussing!

 

[John R Davis]

I think you have a point. In pathfinder cure light wounds, etc they are conjuration, which also makes no sense. I guess the issue is that most of the spells aren't arcane therefore what spells does a Restoration Wizard use?

 

[Alzrius]

I know that the "8 schools of magic" is a sacred cow from previous editions of D&D

I think previous editions allow for more wiggle room on this than you might think. AD&D 2E introduced alternative schools such as wild magic and elementalism in the Tome of Magic, while Player's Option - Spells & Magic went even further, with options such as dimensionalism, shadow, and force schools. Plus, it gave us the idea of a "Universal" school, something that was retained in Third Edition among a handful of spells, to use two examples.

And even before S&P used that term, 2E made a distinction between the Divination school and "Lesser Divination," the latter of which was basically the Universal school with a less-informative name.

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[Blue Orange]

The elephant in the room is, of course, that magic-users aren't supposed to be able to restore damage. That's been part of the game since the earliest published editions where we had Fighting Men, Clerics, and Magic-Users, though there was the occasional workaround. If they could, well, what's the point of clerics?

Now house rules are house rules, and you can make any rule you want; the line between abjuration or alteration and evocation has been blurry on quite a few occasions (Fire Shield comes to mind) and even back in 1st ed quite a few spells were listed in 2 schools.

2nd and 3rd ed put the clerical spells (including of course healing) into spheres (2e) or domains (3e), so you didn't have to worry--healing spells were in the healing domain, along with Plant, Animal, Combat, Guardian, and whatever else you wanted to make up. It's like asking whether an orange is a car or a truck--it's an orange, it's another class of object entirely.

So can arcane casters take restoration magic as a school; if they can, what do they have to give up to get it? Evocation magic would be my first thought--no more fireball--but it's ultimately up to whatever you want to do with your game.

 

[Cadence]

The elephant in the room is, of course, that magic-users aren't supposed to be able to restore damage. That's been part of the game since the earliest published editions where we had Fighting Men, Clerics, and Magic-Users, though there was the occasional workaround. If they could, well, what's the point of clerics?

I'm pondering aspects of a D&D variant and wondering if I'd let wizards have healing/harm spells, but at a level behind the clerics, or slightly weaker versions. The justification for this play balance move could be that healing/harm magic are hard, but clerics have a leg up as evidenced by their channeling. Would make it less goofy that they can be on the bards list but not the wizards.

 

[Maxperson]

This is simple. I've always been put off by most healing spells being a part of the Evocation spell list and most spells that raise people from the dead being Necromancy magic. I know that the "8 schools of magic" is a sacred cow from previous editions of D&D, but I feel that one more that makes sense both vibes well thematically with the other schools of magic while also fixing one issue many people have with the schools of magic warrants a change like this. I'd still keep Reincarnate as a Transmutation spell, and Life Transference as Necromancy, but the rest of the bunch of healing spells and resurrection spells can be moved to a ninth school of magic: Restoration, which would be all about restoring hit points and life to creatures (basically just restoring "life essence", while Abjuration would be protecting people from losing their "life essence" in the first place).

I'm interested to see what people think of this, especially if any older-style D&D players would get on board with this. I get that many people would be hesitant (to say the least) about changing one of the parts of D&D that has been with the hobby for many editions, but I feel that this one fits well enough that people shouldn't be too hostile to the idea (right? who am I kidding? This is the internet).

Let's get discussing!

I just put healing spells back to where they are supposed to be. In necromancy.

 

[Sithlord]

I am still confused that they took healing spells out of necromancy.

 

[Maxperson]

I am still confused that they took healing spells out of necromancy.

And put them into to the school of blow stuff up.

 

[the Jester]

I think healing should just all be necromancy.

 

[Aldarc]

I think you have a point. In pathfinder cure light wounds, etc they are conjuration, which also makes no sense. I guess the issue is that most of the spells aren't arcane therefore what spells does a Restoration Wizard use?

In Pathfinder 2, many of the healing spells were moved to Necromancy.