D&D (2024) What other general common spell lists should there be?

[Kobold Avenger]

So there's common spell lists for Arcane, Divine and Primal magic.

I think there should be a common spell list for Psionics with things like Mind Sliver, Charm Person, Misty Step, Telekinesis, Friends, Crown of Madness and so on (and I'm definitely of the faction that says psionics get spells like everyone else), in the core book even if there's no Psion base class. Maybe something like a Bard subclass gets options to pull from that list. Obviously the existing Aberrant Mind Sorcerer should be able to pull from the Psionic spell list.

But beyond that, what else could there eventually be for common spell lists across classes (and special subclasses)?

 

[Shiroiken]

Martial

Shadow and Elemental from 4E could theoretically be used, but I feel they might overlap with Arcane.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Psionic would indeed be quite easy to do. I think I'd make ''elemental magic'' its own thing, removing it from the ''beast/plant'' side of Primal magic.

If we wanted to go with alternative general spell list instead of Arcane/Divine/Primal we could go with Black/Dark Magic, White Magic

or go full-on Final Fantasy with Black (elementalism)/White (cure and radiant)/Green (status buff and debuff)/Arcane (non-elemental damage, invisibility, banishment etc)

If I was to make my own game, I'd make those categories, with the less overlap possible:

• Creation (healing + enhancements + summons)
• Destruction (non-Fire/Cold/Lightning damage spells ala Shatter, Acid Breath, Finger of Death)
• Beguiling (mind magic mixing enchantment and illusions)
• Elementalism (Fire/Cold/Lightning damage)
• Entropy (hex, eyebite, bestow curse, fear, confusion etc)
• Spirit (Astral projection, teleportation, commune, divination, etc)
• Arcane (magic missile, shield, dispel magic, anti-magic sphere etc)

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, definitely psionic. I wouldn’t be opposed to shadow (as in magic that draws on the power of the shadowfell).

 

[Minigiant]

I'd be okay with Shadow from the Shadow fell, Elemental from pure Inner Plane and Primordials, and Mysterious for dead gods, great ones, vestiges, and far realm beings.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I figure primal is prime material plus inner planes (shares with arcane, not including astral), arcane is Far Realm plus inner planes (shares astral with divine), and divine is astral plus outer planes, so everyone gets an area of its own (prime material for primal, Far Realm for arcane, and outer planes for divine) and everyone shares something of the inner planes (arcane gets the most inner planes, but astral and Far Realm probably have a lot of overlap in terms of spells).

There are some things people are emotionally attached to being separate from other kinds of magic and a separate spell list is probably as good as they can expect: psychic and alchemical (and/or runes).

Not necessarily a new spell list, but given the neglect that monks tend to get, it would be better if they were a spell caster whose gimmick is that they deliver touch spells with an unarmed strike. It also has the benefit of making them more wuxia (if they add a bunch of offensive touch spells) while being less overtly oriental.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

Personally I think PF2E had it about right. We only really need one more list that is a hybrid of arcane and healing/buffs/debuffs for Bards and I would Hope Artificers. In PF2E they call this Occult. I care not what the name of it is but I will be VERY annoyed if Bards and Artificers lose the ability to heal and buff well because they get shoehorned into the Arcane spell list.

Other lists I could say are largely unneeded because they could easily be addressed by subclasses granting additional spells, though I don't think this could be as easily handled for Artificer and Bard through subclasses since pretty much every one of them is and should be good at both healing and buffs/debuffs and I'd argue giving the bard cure wounds is a far higher priority than fireball any day.

Additionally, the inclusion of this 4th list would make it so the Arcane is far less heavily weighted with 5 classes as opposed to the 2 classes of every other list. It would make it so the only list with 3 casters would be Arcane and honestly I'd love to see warlocks have their spell list determined by their patron rather than their class (i.e. fey = primal, celestial = divine, etc., fiend = arcane, etc.)

I could, however, see an argument for maybe a Psionics list for psionic classes as we do have quite a number of subclasses that fit that bill and it would present an opportunity to actually mechanically differentiate them from other magic if WoTC wanted to go that route. This could also pair well with the warlock idea above too.

I do however see a lot of homebrewing potential with making more custom lists for my players who want them.

 

[AliasBot]

In principle, my actual preference would be for spell lists to be fully or almost-fully decided at subclass level, with every caster subclass (or martial subclass that gains access to a spell list) getting its own bespoke list. In practice, I can recognize that tracking spell lists that granularly would be a pain, even with extensive use of spell tags, but I'd still prefer dividing spells out into a larger number of spell lists, with each individual list being narrower and more tightly thematic: a spell list for pyromancy, for necromancy, for storm magic, for mind magic, and so on.

(The Primal spell list would specifically cover animals, plants, and elemental earth. Spells that are specifically flavored as religious rituals would be available to all Clerics in some capacity regardless of subclass, whether as spells or just as class features, but otherwise the closest thing to a Divine spell list would be a "holy magic" or "light magic" list that covers radiant light and healing/revivification. Arcane magic would get carved up particularly heavily, with the closest thing to an arcane spell list being an "academic magic" list made up of spells that were very clearly invented by specifically a Wizard.)

...as far as "spell lists that are even somewhat likely," I think a distinct "spooky" spell list makes sense, whether that's Shadow, Occult, or expanding Necromancy out into a wider variety of effects. A Psionic spell list would also be reasonable. Beyond that, the main possible hole that I can think of is a spell list that makes sense as the "default" for Bards, which are narrower in range of effects than would make sense to get straight-up access to the same spell list Wizards pull from, but don't line up great with the effects that would belong on any one other spell list.

(Dunamancy also makes a lot of sense as its own spell list - in some ways it kind of already is, to the extent that power source-based spell lists exist in 5E - but it's not exactly a core element of D&D: that would probably have to be something introduced if we got another Exandria book post-2024.)

 

[jmartkdr2]

I like the idea of an occult spell list, though I dislike making bards the flagship class for that list. Witches or warlocks should be occult, bards pick a main and can dabble in others.

 

[Haplo781]

Psionic for sure. If we're doing Shadow then shouldn't there also be Fey?