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

[Blue Orange]

I do like the idea of healing being in the same school as death magic--two sides of the same coin after all--but 'necromancy' just seems like an odd word for it, it's always associated with making zombies (or talking to the dead if you go to the way the word is used outside RPGs). I think someone (Gygax? someone else?) came up with the schools and then had to go fit every spell into one of them.

I've been reading old Dragon magazines, and it's interesting the various alternate categories that existed before the schools were formalized. As early as Dragon #1 Lakofka had generic, fire user, elementalist, charming/enchanting, illusion, and clerical; Dragon #17 has wizard specialists of aggression, defense, tenaciousness, detection, fire, movement, rustic, and summoning; Dragon #19 has a whole bunch of categories including control, summoning, mental, time/space, attack, senses, animation, illusion, knowledge, transmutation, protection, nature, and holy, with two assigned to each of the six statistics and holy requiring lawful alignment.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You’re basically describing Mage: the Awakening’s magic system (sans Paradox).

Okay. If the rest of that system did DnD well, I'd be all for using it. Then again, as long as you keep spell slots and the damage/effect by level balance in place, you can actually gut the spellcasting system and replace it and not have to adjust anything outside of it.

I've actually considered doing exactly that for a project, and then reintroducing spells as a thing you can learn or study or invent, but cannot ever gain just by leveling up in a magic class.

 

[J.Quondam]

I'm in the boat with those who'd keep it at eight; and put healing and necro in the same school, but give it a more encompassing name.
So Healing and Necromancy would be subschools within... "Animancy", maybe?

 

[Blue Orange]

You’re basically describing Mage: the Awakening’s magic system (sans Paradox).

That's not a bug, that's a feature!

Correspondence=Conjuration
Life, Entropy, Spirit=Necromancy or Alteration (for some spells in older editions)
Forces=Evocation
Mind=Enchantment
Prime=[metamagic] or Abjuration
Matter=Transmutation
low-level spheres=Divination ('sense' is often the first level)
Time doesn't fit all that well.

But overall it fits better than one might expect.

If I had more time I'd produce 1e stats for Voormas, Grand Harvester of Souls. Or, heck, Caine.

 

[Charlaquin]

Okay. If the rest of that system did DnD well, I'd be all for using it.

My intent was not to suggest you play Mage instead of D&D, but to suggest it as an example you might want to look at if you want to build a similar Magic system for D&D.

 

[Charlaquin]

That's not a bug, that's a feature!

I agree, that’s why I pointed it out. Awakening’s casting system is great!

Correspondence=Conjuration
Life, Entropy, Spirit=Necromancy or Alteration (for some spells in older editions)
Forces=Evocation
Mind=Enchantment
Prime=[metamagic] or Abjuration
Matter=Transmutation
low-level spheres=Divination ('sense' is often the first level)
Time doesn't fit all that well.

But overall it fits better than one might expect.

If I had more time I'd produce 1e stats for Voormas, Grand Harvester of Souls. Or, heck, Caine.

That’s Ascension you’re talking about, which is similar to Awakening, but I prefer the latter, personally. I’m a CofD gal.

EDIT: If I were to equate the schools of magic to Awakening’s Arcana, it would probably be

Abjuration = Prime
Conjuration = Space and some aspects of Spirit
Divination = Some aspects of Fate and a bit of low-level Time
Enchantment = Some aspects of Mind and some of aspects of Fate
Evocation = Forces and a bit of Life
Illusion = Some aspects of Mind
Necromancy = Death and some aspects of Spirit
Transmutation = Matter

It’s… pretty rough equivalence, but it kinda works.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I have long thought that all the necromancy and healing spells should be in the same school: it's life-essence magic. It means that none of the schools is inherently based on alignment -- there are good and evil uses of each school. It also keeps the 8 schools (tradition) and for myself makes better sense.

Thematically it sets healers against (traditional) necromancers, as rivals within the same school, which I also like.

personally, I want to smash illusion and enchantment together as they are super similar but you have a fair point.

 

[Horwath]

We need only 6 schools: (options for mage colors)


Life school - Gray mage(combination of white and black for healing and necromancy); radiant and necrotic damage, healing, resurrecting, animating dead, ability draining,

Elemental school - Red mage; elemental forces, acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder damage

Nature/matter school - Green mage; polymorphing, changing size, ability boosts, manipulating nature and weather, poison damage, summoning plants and animals,

Primal school - Blue mage; manipulation of magic, dispelling, enchanting, force damage, detection

Mind school - Orange mage, telepathy, mind control, illusions,

Summoning school - Yellow mage; Teleportation, astral travel, summoning outsiders

 

[Mind of tempest]

We need only 6 schools: (options for mage colors)


Life school - Gray mage(combination of white and black for healing and necromancy); radiant and necrotic damage, healing, resurrecting, animating dead, ability draining,

Elemental school - Red mage; elemental forces, acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder damage

Nature/matter school - Green mage; polymorphing, changing size, ability boosts, manipulating nature and weather, poison damage, summoning plants and animals,

Primal school - Blue mage; manipulation of magic, dispelling, enchanting, force damage, detection

Mind school - Orange mage, telepathy, mind control, illusions,

Summoning school - Yellow mage; Teleportation, astral travel, summoning outsiders

if you're going with colours go with the three prime colours followed by the three secondary colours.

in primal what do you mean enchanting?

 

[Horwath]

if you're going with colours go with the three prime colours followed by the three secondary colours.

in primal what do you mean enchanting?

item boosting, +X to Armors, weapons, saves, etc...

elemental or other types of damage would go into their schools.