wingsandsword
Legend
I know rules for it still exist, but really, what happened to Wizards researching new spells all the time?
Back in my AD&D days, much of the work of playing a Wizard was in coming up with spells. It was expected that players of Wizards would come up with neat spell ideas, run them by the DM, then go back to their library and lab (once they had enough money to put one together) and spend time and money researching a new neato spell that only they had.
You'd also occasionally get Clerics and Druids researching spells too, not as often, but all spellcasters tried to spend the time to come up with signature magics for themselves or for their religion.
Somewhere along the line, with 3.x edition, that faded away. It persisted for a little while after 3e came out, but it happened less and less. Now I have the rules for researching spells, but they rarely, if ever, get used.
I'm wondering if it's partially that (at least as I always saw it played), in AD&D you got one new spell when you got the ability to cast spells of a new level, and that was it, and your starting spells were randomized, so if you got 3rd level spells, you got one 3rd level spell (typically Fireball or Lightning Bolt, sometimes Dispel Magic) and you had to find a copy of a spell in a captured book or from a scroll (unlikely) or research it yourself (likely). While you were in the library making PHB (or splatbook) spells for yourself, you could whip up a few new ones to have fun with. Now, in 3.x getting 2 new spells at every character level doesn't mean that Wizards have to steal, scavenger or research spells to get new ones, they just gain them as they level up.
I'm also wondering if the finite "spell list" mentality of 3.x discourages independent spell research. After all, in AD&D Wizards could cast any arcane (as we call it now) spell, and Divine (to use the modern term) spells were portioned out into Spheres so it was clear if a Cleric or Druid or Paladin or Ranger or Specialty Priest could use it. Now, if someone playing an Enchanter thought it would be neat to research a spell to erase or tamper with the recall of others, would it be "not on his spell list" because Modify Memory is Bard only? Maybe it's a touch of grognardism in me, but I think that Wizards should be able to cast any arcane spell, even if it might be a little higher level for them than it would be for another class. Heck, they should be able to do almost anything with magic if they are capable of high enough level spells (Healing and raising the dead being particularly difficult, and invoking divine power being nigh impossible).
Has anybody else seen a real drop in researching new spells in 3.x edition as compared to AD&D?
Back in my AD&D days, much of the work of playing a Wizard was in coming up with spells. It was expected that players of Wizards would come up with neat spell ideas, run them by the DM, then go back to their library and lab (once they had enough money to put one together) and spend time and money researching a new neato spell that only they had.
You'd also occasionally get Clerics and Druids researching spells too, not as often, but all spellcasters tried to spend the time to come up with signature magics for themselves or for their religion.
Somewhere along the line, with 3.x edition, that faded away. It persisted for a little while after 3e came out, but it happened less and less. Now I have the rules for researching spells, but they rarely, if ever, get used.
I'm wondering if it's partially that (at least as I always saw it played), in AD&D you got one new spell when you got the ability to cast spells of a new level, and that was it, and your starting spells were randomized, so if you got 3rd level spells, you got one 3rd level spell (typically Fireball or Lightning Bolt, sometimes Dispel Magic) and you had to find a copy of a spell in a captured book or from a scroll (unlikely) or research it yourself (likely). While you were in the library making PHB (or splatbook) spells for yourself, you could whip up a few new ones to have fun with. Now, in 3.x getting 2 new spells at every character level doesn't mean that Wizards have to steal, scavenger or research spells to get new ones, they just gain them as they level up.
I'm also wondering if the finite "spell list" mentality of 3.x discourages independent spell research. After all, in AD&D Wizards could cast any arcane (as we call it now) spell, and Divine (to use the modern term) spells were portioned out into Spheres so it was clear if a Cleric or Druid or Paladin or Ranger or Specialty Priest could use it. Now, if someone playing an Enchanter thought it would be neat to research a spell to erase or tamper with the recall of others, would it be "not on his spell list" because Modify Memory is Bard only? Maybe it's a touch of grognardism in me, but I think that Wizards should be able to cast any arcane spell, even if it might be a little higher level for them than it would be for another class. Heck, they should be able to do almost anything with magic if they are capable of high enough level spells (Healing and raising the dead being particularly difficult, and invoking divine power being nigh impossible).
Has anybody else seen a real drop in researching new spells in 3.x edition as compared to AD&D?
