Wizard Spell Progression Per Level in The New System...

[Dragonblade]

I think you are trying to extrapolate the 3.5 system into 4e. I suspect it will work completely differently. I don't think that spell levels as we know them will exist at all.

I suspect that a wizard will have some at will abilities, like the Warlock's eldritch blast, and some per encounter and per day abilities, with the per day ones probably being pretty powerful. I suspect that a spell levels as we know them probably won't exist. Rather a spell will simply be a spell without a predefined level. Its power will be based entirely on the caster level, hence the phrase that there will be "25th level spells".

For example, there will probably be a standard "Dispel" spell. For a low level PC it probably acts as Dispel Magic does now. At higher levels, that same spell might be more like Disjunction. Likewise, there will probably be a base "Fireball" spell. At low level it acts like the Fireball we know and love, but when cast by a high level caster, might be more like Meteor Swarm.

 

[Felon]

Guys, you can probably flush the cantrips. I think those little rays that do 1d3 damage are going down the tubes.

I'm curious to find out what happens to wands. They currently fill a niche that won't be needed, namely providing lots of uses of relatively low-level spells.

 

[Aexalon]

I'd guess that the Vancian (i.e. per day) part of a wizard's repertoire will become TRULY Vancian; namely, a upper-mid-level wizard would be able to prepare some 3-4 spells per day. This battery of bunker-busters would then be augmented by a load-out of maneuver-like spells, with encounter limits on their use (perhaps this load-out will be changeable between encounters, like Bo9S maneuvers); and a phalanx of a few at-will abilities.

 

[Scribble]

Guys, you can probably flush the cantrips. I think those little rays that do 1d3 damage are going down the tubes.

I'm curious to find out what happens to wands. They currently fill a niche that won't be needed, namely providing lots of uses of relatively low-level spells.

Well... I think they could be worked into a progressing at will magic blast thing... Starts out as a small cantrip but then grows bigger as you gain levels...

Some of the cantrips would probably also be worked into at will defense powers in the same way.

But what about stuff like detect magic and read magic?

 

[Dragonblade]

Guys, you can probably flush the cantrips. I think those little rays that do 1d3 damage are going down the tubes.

I'm curious to find out what happens to wands. They currently fill a niche that won't be needed, namely providing lots of uses of relatively low-level spells.

They have already said how wands will work. Charged magic items no longer exist because they aren't needed considering mages will now have at will magic blasts. Rather a wand, will provide a bonus to a wizard's magic attack the same way a +5 sword helps a fighter's attack. So for example, there will be +5 wands.

This makes a lot of sense considering that saves in 4e are now flipped and work like defenses. For example, a Ref +5 is now Ref Defense 15. And it has the added benefit of making D&D casters more like Harry Potter.

 

[grimslade]

They have also said that there will not be 'must have' magic items. A +5 wand would be must have for every spell caster.

 

[Dragonblade]

They have also said that there will not be 'must have' magic items. A +5 wand would be must have for every spell caster.

Can't find the quote right now, but one of the designers specifically said there will be +6 wands, so I imagine there will wands of +1 through +5 as well.

 

[Scribble]

They have also said that there will not be 'must have' magic items. A +5 wand would be must have for every spell caster.

Depends on what you mean by "must have..."

If the rules are constructed assuming you don't have/need that wand in order to hit the foe you "should be" facing at X level, then the wand simply becomes a bonus, and not a necessary element.

Of course, that means you would have to be careful when giving out magic items, as they could seriously throw the game out of whack...

 

[The Grackle]

They have already said how wands will work. Charged magic items no longer exist because they aren't needed considering mages will now have at will magic blasts. Rather a wand, will provide a bonus to a wizard's magic attack the same way a +5 sword helps a fighter's attack. So for example, there will be +5 wands.

This makes a lot of sense considering that saves in 4e are now flipped and work like defenses. For example, a Ref +5 is now Ref Defense 15. And it has the added benefit of making D&D casters more like Harry Potter.

i like it

 

[grimslade]

Very interesting...
Do you have a link for the +6 wand discussion? I had thought they were going a different route and I would like to edumicate myself.