D&D 4E Wizards learning spells gone in 4e? Maybe that's what Rituals do instead...

[Daniel D. Fox]

...meaning a Wizard cannot simply pick up a spellbook, cannibalize all of the spells he doesn't have into his book and roll to learn them.

I am willing to bet that's where Rituals come into play. Rituals will be the spells Wizards can learn from books (a maximum number learnable set out by level).

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well there are still spellbooks for your Daily Spells, and I believe I heard it mentioned that sharing and swapping of spells/spellbooks is still in 4E, so it may not be just from rituals where you learn spells.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I don't know if that neccessarily rings true, as I thought they were attempting to bring the amount of flexibility/options Wizards have to other classes. That is, unless people can "teach" each other Powers.

To me, it was sort of unappealing that Wizards could acquire more abilities by spellbook sharing/theft rather than leveling like other characters. I hope 4E addresses this.

 

[MaelStorm]

Well there are still spellbooks for your Daily Spells, and I believe I heard it mentioned that sharing and swapping of spells/spellbooks is still in 4E, so it may not be just from rituals where you learn spells.

But will you be able to add this at-will power to your character sheet and use it right away?

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I dunno, that is simply all I have heard.

 

[FourthBear]

I like the idea of characters being able to build up a library of possible rituals to really broaden out their scope. I also like the idea that rituals can be used to introduce plot and worldbuilding magics that have never fit well into D&D. How many D&D novels, adventures and campaign worlds have we seen where the magic on display is blatantly not represented by the D&D spell system?

What I am very concerned about is power and scope creep for characters with access to ritual casting. It does worry me that characters who build up libraries of potent rituals may grow to have an enormous advantage over those without. Even though they may not be usable in combat, campaign often have an awful lot of out of combat interactions and challenges. I'd hate to see non-ritual users become marginalized because the game eventually develops to the point where rituals are do-it-all, solve-any-problem answers to challenges out of combat. Or even if they represent a large portion of solutions to challenges that come up. I'd prefer it if all of the classes could contribute more or less equally, rather than having the wizard increasingly having most of the solutions as levels increase.

 

[MaelStorm]

I don't know if that neccessarily rings true, as I thought they were attempting to bring the amount of flexibility/options Wizards have to other classes. That is, unless people can "teach" each other Powers.

To me, it was sort of unappealing that Wizards could acquire more abilities by spellbook sharing/theft rather than leveling like other characters. I hope 4E addresses this.

I agree. I think this was a direct factor contributing to the difference in power between spellcasters and fighters that they want to address for 4E.

Rob Heinsoo mentioned the fact that there won't be any wizard with 400 spells in 4E and I'm pretty sure that you will have a cap limit of at-will/encounter/daily powers per level. The question is will that effectively stop spell cannibalism if you still have spellbook?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

but wizards without books seems not D&D, and i assume that spellbooks for wizards were temporarily out (remember that mystically changed article about wizard implements) and they decided that taking that ability away from wizards would be not D&D-like...

what i like about martial powers: you can spread legends about someone able to use a special fighting technique and you can gactually now train new cool abilities as fighters...

 

[Xethreau]

but wizards without books seems not D&D, and i assume that spellbooks for wizards were temporarily out (remember that mystically changed article about wizard implements) and they decided that taking that ability away from wizards would be not D&D-like...

The D&DEXP Wizard had a "spellbook" in his equipment, and his class feature allowed him to sellect which of his two daily powers he could use that day.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I hope spellbooks can't be cannibalized in 4e. Designing wizards is hard enough for DMs (picking spells) without having to write out spellbooks.