A fix for boring and weak wizards who are too reliant on finding spells

[dropbear8mybaby]

My pet peeve about wizards in 5e is their inherent reliance on the DM to provide the character with spellbooks. Their power is dependent on versatility of spell choice and spellbooks/scrolls are very rare in random treasure rolls. Plus, the arcane traditions are based on the older edition model of specialisation in a school of magic, but haven't really managed to give the same flavour.

So I've come up with a house rule to fix what I consider an issue:

Preparing and Casting Spells
When you reach 2nd level, you may prepare additional spells. You may choose one extra spell, for each spell level, from your school of arcane tradition, to prepare each day. This does not count against your above limit.

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher
Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add three wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook. One of these spells must come from the school of your arcane tradition.

[SilverStud]

Not so sure about letting them prepare extra spells each day, but I don't see a problem with letting them get an extra spell in their book. Basically it just means that you're taking what the DM normally does (let them find extra spells) and making it automatic.

[dropbear8mybaby]

Not so sure about letting them prepare extra spells each day...

The wizard's one claim to fame, especially in this edition, is versatility of spell choice, and in that they're trumped by both the cleric and land druid, both of whom don't even have to maintain a spellbook for it, and on top of their versatility, get fantastic combat ability.

The wizard gets some minor extra class features but nothing in the order of magnitude of the druid or cleric. Sure, the diviner's ability is nice, but it's not exactly compensating for a d6 HD and almost zero combat ability outside of spells. Take away a wizard's focus/components, and they're almost entirely screwed. The druid can still shapeshift and the cleric can still fight.

So if the wizard is almost entirely reliant on spells, then they should have at least comparable versatility and choice to the cleric/land druid.

[SilverStud]

You know, you've got a point there. I forgot about those two classes and their monstrous spells available. Everybody is better at fighting than the wizard, and then some classes are better spellslingers too.

Consider my previous hesitance retracted.

[King539]

Ehhhh... Wizards already get enough spells known. I'm playing SKT right now, and the 2 wizards in my party are incredibly versatile. Copying spells is literally icing on the cake of all of their other awesome stuff.