New Mage Class idea.. am I crazy?

[Darksidebro]

So I'm making a world that has no magic users except Druids and "Mages" Mages are linked to positive or negative energy. The Material plane itself is in constant struggle between positive and negative energy, so the Day/Night cycle is messed up as a result.
In game terms this means I'll roll a d20, and the result will be the amount of "days" that it stays night, followed by another d20 roll that shows how many daytime days follow it. Repeat and repeat.

Now that that's out of the way. Let's get down to the crunch of the "Mage" class.

Class- Mage.
Hit Dice: D8
Proficiencies- Light Armor, Quarterstaff, Light Crossbow, Dagger, Club, Sling, shortbow
Skills- Choose 2 from Arcana, History, Religion
Spellcasting- Intelligence. Advancement as Wizard. Prepare spells as wizard. Your casting stat is intelligence.

Level 1- Choose Classification (Black or White)
- You may scribe any spell into your spellbook, from any spell list except Druid. You may prepare and cast spells from your spellbook.


Mage of the White- Abjuration, Divination.

Mage of the Black- Necromancy, Enchantment


- Your classification lists 2 schools of magic. You may choose the Arcane tradition features from either of these two schools when you are granted one. These schools are called "Keystone Schools"

-Your classification shuts off certain schools of magic.
Mages of the Black cannot cast spells from the Abjuration or Divination schools.
Mages of the White cannot cast spells from the Necromancy or Enchantment Schools.

-Whenever you cast a spell from one of your Keystone Schools during the Day* (White) or Night (Black), you may treat that spell as one level higher than the slot you used. 2/Long Rest.

Well.. am I crazy for expanding spell lists like this?

[ZX6Rob]

The expanded spell list would, I assume, include Cleric, Warlock, and Bard spells? Possibly even half-caster lists like the Ranger and Paladin? Well, if you look at WotC's "Modifying Classes" (here (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/modifying-classes)) article, they state in a couple of places that increasing the versatility of full-casting classes by allowing them access to more spells should always be approached with caution. I would think that tacking on two and a half (there's a lot of overlap with Warlock) complete, nine-level spell lists goes over the line a bit.

How much that would actually affect in-game performance is debatable, but it's still a huge boost in versatility. Given what you're doing, what'd be wrong with simply giving the "Mage" class access to the Wizard list? Is it that you want "White Mages" to have access to healing spells, too?

I guess I'm unclear on what your end goal for the Mage class would be. Is it intended to subsume the role of the Bard, Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock into a single class? If so, what's the design reason beyond the fluff? Why not simply refer to spellcasting classes as "Mages" in-universe. Death Clerics and Necromancer Wizards would both be called "Black Mages"; Light Clerics and Evoker Wizards would be called "White Mages" alike.

Seems easier than trying to balance out a new class.

[Darksidebro]

The expanded spell list would, I assume, include Cleric, Warlock, and Bard spells? Possibly even half-caster lists like the Ranger and Paladin? Well, if you look at WotC's "Modifying Classes" (here (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/modifying-classes)) article, they state in a couple of places that increasing the versatility of full-casting classes by allowing them access to more spells should always be approached with caution. I would think that tacking on two and a half (there's a lot of overlap with Warlock) complete, nine-level spell lists goes over the line a bit.

How much that would actually affect in-game performance is debatable, but it's still a huge boost in versatility. Given what you're doing, what'd be wrong with simply giving the "Mage" class access to the Wizard list? Is it that you want "White Mages" to have access to healing spells, too?

I guess I'm unclear on what your end goal for the Mage class would be. Is it intended to subsume the role of the Bard, Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock into a single class? If so, what's the design reason beyond the fluff? Why not simply refer to spellcasting classes as "Mages" in-universe. Death Clerics and Necromancer Wizards would both be called "Black Mages"; Light Clerics and Evoker Wizards would be called "White Mages" alike.

Seems easier than trying to balance out a new class.

Yeah it would include every other spell list, including half-casters. The end goal is a person in robes that acts like a wizard, but can be built to suit many different needs.

Both sides can use healing magic, as it's evocation. Only Black Mages can resurrect. White gets most buffs and protections while black gets most curses and debuffs.

I could just call every class a Mage, but that's not what I'm going for, as there won't be a person that has purely "divine" spellcasting.