D&D 5E Specialist wizards: Has anything been mentioned?

[Shadowsoul]

What's the story with specialist wizards?

Unless I read over something, I haven't seen anything mentioned with regards to necromancers, enchanters, evokers, etc...

 

[the Jester]

Looks like they will probably be subclasses. I suspect that the PH will have 4-6 wizard subclasses in it, but that might be wishful thinking.

 

[Mistwell]

What's the story with specialist wizards?

Unless I read over something, I haven't seen anything mentioned with regards to necromancers, enchanters, evokers, etc...

Mearls mentions in this most resent video that a necromancer would be a mage, not a warlock.

 

[Ryuujin]

But you should have seen stuff about Enchanters, Evokers and Illusionists. As they are subclasses we have already seen. What we have not seen is a Generalist Wizard.

 

[Ichneumon]

But you should have seen stuff about Enchanters, Evokers and Illusionists. As they are subclasses we have already seen. What we have not seen is a Generalist Wizard.

I asked Mearls about generalist wizards back in 2013, and he basically said they weren't a thing. That was a long time ago, and they may have changed their minds since then.

I'd expect 6 wizard subclasses, if the PHB has the room. Everything but diviners and abjurers.

 

[GX.Sigma]

We saw an NPC abjurer in an adventure bestiary a while ago. It had a feature that let mage armor absorb a certain amount of damage per day.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If they don't put all 8 specialties in at launch, they'll have a riot on their hands. Wizards have had 8 specialties for dozens of years (before 4e). It's not just mechanics, its woven into the setting and philosophy of pre-4e spellcasting. If you notice, the current spells still use all 8 schools. Not providing specialists for all 8 of them would be a travesty.

But I don't think they will do that. I expect we will have all 8 in the PHB.

As far as generalists...well I sent Mike Mearl's a tweet on it a couple weeks ago, just to see if his position had changed, and I didn't hear back. So my guess is that they are out. It's sad, because I foresee a lot of groups houseruling them back in immediately. They really should anticipate that and just make the darn subclass.

 

[Obryn]

If they don't put all 8 specialties in at launch, they'll have a riot on their hands. Wizards have had 8 specialties for dozens of years (before 4e). It's not just mechanics, its woven into the setting and philosophy of pre-4e spellcasting. If you notice, the current spells still use all 8 schools. Not providing specialists for all 8 of them would be a travesty.

But I don't think they will do that. I expect we will have all 8 in the PHB.

As far as generalists...well I sent Mike Mearl's a tweet on it a couple weeks ago, just to see if his position had changed, and I didn't hear back. So my guess is that they are out. It's sad, because I foresee a lot of groups houseruling them back in immediately. They really should anticipate that and just make the darn subclass.

"Travesty" is pretty harsh.

I don't think there's going to be room for all of that, though. We're already probably devoting half the PHB to their spell lists.

As for generalists, IMO one of D&D's biggest problems with balance has, historically, been the generalist spellcasters. Restrictive spell lists - think 1e Illusionist - are a lot more manageable and flavorful.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

There will plenty of room if they use anything like 3e page count and font size. A subclass would probably be less than a page, more times than not. Half a page for many of them.

If they don't put in all 8 schools, they shouldn't put in any. It's a package deal.

 

[Mistwell]

If they don't put all 8 specialties in at launch, they'll have a riot on their hands. Wizards have had 8 specialties for dozens of years (before 4e). It's not just mechanics, its woven into the setting and philosophy of pre-4e spellcasting. If you notice, the current spells still use all 8 schools. Not providing specialists for all 8 of them would be a travesty.

But I don't think they will do that. I expect we will have all 8 in the PHB.

You don't think they could find a couple that almost nobody ever really played? I think they could.