Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Takes On Theurgy & War Magic

In the latest Unearthed Arcana from WotC's Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford, the wizard gets another look. This week's short two-page PDF includes two Arcane Traditions - Theurgy (wizards with divine patrons) and War Magic (wizards who use evocation and abjuration in combat). "After releasing the 28-page mystic last week, we have a short Unearthed Arcana installment this week: two Arcane Tradition options for the wizard. The Theurgy tradition has appeared in Unearthed Arcana before, but this time we’d like to gather playtest feedback on it. War Magic is an option we’re exploring after reading your feedback on Lore Mastery and seeing interest in a war mage option."

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[Curmudjinn]

So, a nature domain theurge can pick a druid cantrip at lvl 6. If I choose shillelagh I'll use it with Int or Wis?
If I choose tempest domain, I can use wrath of storm a number of times equal my Int or Wis?
Isn't just lazily designed, is really lazily designed.

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The material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by design iterations or full game development and editing.

This is the introduction to the file. The file you are complaining about being unfinished and badly designed. Read it a few more times to really let it sink in.

 

[zaratan]

The material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by design iterations or full game development and editing.

This is the introduction to the file. The file you are complaining about being unfinished and badly designed. Read it a few more times to really let it sink in.

I'm not complaining about be "unfinished", I'm stating that is completly lazily designed, because:
-there isn't new feature, is a ctrl+c ctrl+v of cleric
-you only need to read cleric features once to see that you need to put at least one more paragraph about Wis to Int conversion
-this is a second version, 90% is the same and have the same problems. Why the hell you make a second version if you're not making real improvements?

I'll not saying anything about balance, this would be an acceptable "playtest" or "unfinished" problem, but if you can't see the lazyness problem in that archetype, don't waste your time "reading a few more times".

 

[Tony Vargas]

I'm struggling to think of a situation where a wizard using healing magic could possibly be abused. The only negative possibility is a breakdown of niche protection, but that's not munchkinism.

The band-aid cleric niche-protection was broken down years ago - druids, bards & paladins in 5e can all take up that burden.
Adding a wizard sub-class to that list won't change things much - it might mean that the healing needs of the party could be shared out over more casters, giving them collectively greater flexibility in managing their slots - but 5e casting is already extremely flexible.

 

[jrowland]

The band-aid cleric niche-protection was broken down years ago - druids, bards & paladins in 5e can all take up that burden.
Adding a wizard sub-class to that list won't change things much - it might mean that the healing needs of the party could be shared out over more casters, giving them collectively greater flexibility in managing their slots - but 5e casting is already extremely flexible.

Yes, this. Everyone should have access to heals.Nothing worse than playing a War Cleric and having every one asking for heals all the time.

 

[unknowable]

Yes, this. Everyone should have access to heals.Nothing worse than playing a War Cleric and having every one asking for heals all the time.

We already have options for that. The GM can implement the healing surge variant rule from the DMG if they wish to run that sort of game.
Or they can give out a wand, staff, shield, ring or heck just let lots of potions drop and alow characters to purchase bandoliers for their potions.

 

[phantomK9]

Enough has been said about Theurgy already. Not much more to add there.

For the War Mage, I think it is a good start but perhaps needs a bit more tightening of the concept, right now it seems a bit all over. In my mind what should make a "War Mage" different from either an EK, Evocation Wizard or Adjuration Wizard should be a distinct focus on mass combat, specifically spells that do area damage and protecting multiple targets at the same time. Stay at the back of the unit and cast out AoE damage, protection spells, and physical enhancement spells (like blur, haste, enlarge, etc.). While the EK, Evoker, Adjurer, or Bladesinger would be more focused on buffing themselves and single combat.

I would think that it should be 50% enhancements to damage spells and 50% enhancement to abjuration / combat buffing spells. The mix is a bit more weighted to the abjuration than I would like.

With that in mind....
Arcane Deflection A big help with Concentration checks which would fit into the concept of buffing you party, so not bad.

Tactical Wit Just not sure if this is needed. Not really a bad ability. I'd rather see some limited change to how magic works for battlefield situations, like being able to cast self only buffs onto others, but not sure if that would be too powerful at this level.

Power Surge This really does fit the description in my mind. No complaints here.

Durable Magic Nice ability but I wish it did something more to protect those in your unit rather than yourself. Also this the 2nd (possibly 3rd) ability that is about protecting yourself vs. only one so far that enhances AoE damage.

Deflecting Shroud Aside from the fact that this is another protective type ability, the Wizard just shouldn't be in the situation where a lot of attacks are coming in. Misty step, dimension door, etc. all keep the Wizard out of this situation. This would be nice against a horde of goblin, for example, but at 14th level that shouldn't be your concern. Anything with comparable CR would just laugh off the 7+ damage. This seems to be just too little too late.

 

[dalisprime]

Tactical Wit Just not sure if this is needed. Not really a bad ability. I'd rather see some limited change to how magic works for battlefield situations, like being able to cast self only buffs onto others, but not sure if that would be too powerful at this level.

Giving Mirror Image to a high AC fighter is definitely broken. I get that EK could do the same but that would come at the cost of his limited spell resources whereas you as a wizard can restore some of your lost spell slots - also, paladin/barbarian tanks. So yeah, no.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

...and a few of them offer spells at different levels than a Wizard would normally get them.

All spells have a set level in 5e. A 3rd-level spell is always 3rd-level regardless of which class you get it from.

(Unless you were talking about something else?)

 

[Leatherhead]

All spells have a set level in 5e. A 3rd-level spell is always 3rd-level regardless of which class you get it from.

(Unless you were talking about something else?)

Knowledge Clerics have Scrying as a 9th level domain spell, which is a 5th level spell for Wizards.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Knowledge Clerics have Scrying as a 9th level domain spell, which is a 5th level spell for Wizards.

Those are the class levels at which the cleric gains the spells, not the levels of the spells for the cleric.