D&D (2024) Wizard (Playtest 7)

[WanderingMystic]

No. Don't hide the dark options in the DMG so that DMs can soft ban them. I'd rather wait for an Everything book than see them in the DMG.

Personally I would much rather a Shadowfell specific book but that will be just as easy for a DM to soft ban them. If they are going to put some of the darker subclass options in the dmg I would rather it be like 1 option for each class than just the oathbreaker, death domain and necromancer.
Barb: Beast
Bard: Whisper or Spirit
Cleric: Death
Druid: Spore
Fighter: ???
Monk: ???
Paladin: Oathbreaker
Ranger: Monster Hunter ?
Rogue: Phantom
Sorcerer: Shadow
Warlock: The Undead
Wizard: Necromancer

 

[Kurotowa]

Well, Crawford had said quite explicitly that we would see the Necromancer in the playtest...the only way that seems plausible now is if there are some Subclasses set up in the DMG as examples.

Here's my wild unsupported guess: They couldn't figure out how to make a PC facing version of the Necromancer because what people want from a Necromancer is a swarm of undead minions, not a goth Evoker. The legions of the dead is the iconic image. But 5e handles PC minion swarms very poorly and they just couldn't square the circle. So they came at it from another angle and made it NPC facing material, where it can throw minion mobs at the PCs quite happily.

Well, either that or they just cut it, for the same reasons as the above. But I can easily see why a Necromancer subclass that doesn't feel disappointing would be a hard lift.

 

[Parmandur]

Here's my wild unsupported guess: They couldn't figure out how to make a PC facing version of the Necromancer because what people want from a Necromancer is a swarm of undead minions, not a goth Evoker. The legions of the dead is the iconic image. But 5e handles PC minion swarms very poorly and they just couldn't square the circle. So they came at it from another angle and made it NPC facing material, where it can throw minion mobs at the PCs quite happily.

Well, either that or they just cut it, for the same reasons as the above. But I can easily see why a Necromancer subclass that doesn't feel disappointing would be a hard lift.

Using the Tasha's Summoming Spells as a basis it would work fine. The 2014 DMG has two (admittedly terrible) Subclasses, so the idea that there might be a couple Subclasses as wxamplea of.jow.to build one, and have them be more "dark side"...seems really plausible.

 

[WanderingMystic]

Here's my wild unsupported guess: They couldn't figure out how to make a PC facing version of the Necromancer because what people want from a Necromancer is a swarm of undead minions, not a goth Evoker. The legions of the dead is the iconic image. But 5e handles PC minion swarms very poorly and they just couldn't square the circle. So they came at it from another angle and made it NPC facing material, where it can throw minion mobs at the PCs quite happily.

Well, either that or they just cut it, for the same reasons as the above. But I can easily see why a Necromancer subclass that doesn't feel disappointing would be a hard lift.

When Crawford was talking about it he was saying how much fun the minion aspect was and how they had worked it so you could start getting minions at 3rd level when you first took the subclass and didn't have to wait until later

 

[Kurotowa]

When Crawford was talking about it he was saying how much fun the minion aspect was and how they had worked it so you could start getting minions at 3rd level when you first took the subclass and didn't have to wait until later

Thank you, my memory had faded a bit. So they were obviously testing a PC Necromancer internally, and it ran into issues of some sort. Which is entirely in line with my wild speculation.

 

[Parmandur]

Thank you, my memory had faded a bit. So they were obviously testing a PC Necromancer internally, and it ran into issues of some sort. Which is entirely in line with my wild speculation.

Not necessarily: they just aren't testing it for the PHB right now. The DMG does have teats coming up.

 

[Yaarel]

@Parmandur

If the designers are developing the Necromancer in earnest but it is absent from the Players Handbook, you are probably correct there will be supplement soon after, a setting guide or adventure arc that features undead themes.

 

[Parmandur]

@Parmandur

If the designers are developing the Necromancer in earnest but it is absent from the Players Handbook, you are probably correct there will be supplement soon after, a setting guide or adventure arc that features undead themes.

Well, hey, there is that Vecna business next year...