PhoenixPhyre
2021-04-04, 05:09 PM
To me, it seems like the schools of magic (abjuration, evocation, etc) only have meaning for wizards, and even then. Sorcerers? Don't care. Bards? Yeah? So? Clerics? Really but no.
And even for wizards, they're anything but balanced.
School
Spells on Wizard List
Abjuration
29
Conjuration
54
Divination
18
Enchantment
27
Evocation
62
Illusion
30
Necromancy
28
Transmutation
62
Total
310
This tells me that really, wizards have 3 major roles, with the rest playing supporting parts.
Conjury: Bringing matter from one part of the universe (including other planes) to another.
Evocation: Creating energy, often of elemental forms.
Transmutation: Changing matter into other matter.
With this in mind, how might we rebalance things to give wizards actual class features instead of being 50% "you get a new level of spells"?
One idea I had was to cut the subclasses into major/minor pairs (plus some oddballs like bladedancer).
Subclasses would be of the format Major + minor. So like "Conjuration + divination". And much of your spell list would come from the subclass--such a hypothetical Conjuring Diviner would be able to learn any conjuration or divination spell, plus a few low-level ones marked as universal, but would be restricted in their access to anything else (requiring finding scrolls or spellbooks of them and not being able to scribe ones of their highest level).
This would give room to do things like theurges--someone whose subclass is, say "Evocation + Life", gaining limited access to the cleric list in exchange for not really having much from the wizard list except evocations. Or "Conjury + Druid".
Most of the "same spell but with some things better" spells (Invisibility -> Greater Invisibility, Charm Person -> Dominate Person -> Dominate Monster, fireball -> delayed blast fireball, lightning bolt -> chain lightning, alter self -> polymorph -> mass polymorph/shapechange/true polymorph, animate dead -> create undead, etc) would become alternate upcast options, but only available to wizards with the right class features. They'd not cost another spell known or prepared (which is a versatility boost), but would be exclusive. So only transmuters can cast polymorph, but then they can't cast dominate person or greater invisibility).
Drop spell schools. Instead, give each spell a set of tags. Things like "summon", "fire", "transportation". Subclasses would specialize in tags, potentially gaining access to spells from other classes that have those tags. And would be better at casting tag spells than any other wizard.
In the end, I think that wizards are the worst-designed class. Their entire identity is "gimme all the spells." Maybe mixed with a bit of "I'm smarter than you." Basically no hooks, no identity, nothing to go on. And impossible to balance, since they automatically get new features anytime a new book is released with new spells[1]. Whereas others only get those new features if you build something of that new subclass.
Whatever the case, the wizard would be better off (as would the game, IMO) by cutting their list and actually giving them a new, strong identity. Or group of them.
[1] an issue shared with druids in past editions; this edition's basically mostly putting out new beasts which somewhat calms that problem.
And even for wizards, they're anything but balanced.
School
Spells on Wizard List
Abjuration
29
Conjuration
54
Divination
18
Enchantment
27
Evocation
62
Illusion
30
Necromancy
28
Transmutation
62
Total
310
This tells me that really, wizards have 3 major roles, with the rest playing supporting parts.
Conjury: Bringing matter from one part of the universe (including other planes) to another.
Evocation: Creating energy, often of elemental forms.
Transmutation: Changing matter into other matter.
With this in mind, how might we rebalance things to give wizards actual class features instead of being 50% "you get a new level of spells"?
One idea I had was to cut the subclasses into major/minor pairs (plus some oddballs like bladedancer).
Subclasses would be of the format Major + minor. So like "Conjuration + divination". And much of your spell list would come from the subclass--such a hypothetical Conjuring Diviner would be able to learn any conjuration or divination spell, plus a few low-level ones marked as universal, but would be restricted in their access to anything else (requiring finding scrolls or spellbooks of them and not being able to scribe ones of their highest level).
This would give room to do things like theurges--someone whose subclass is, say "Evocation + Life", gaining limited access to the cleric list in exchange for not really having much from the wizard list except evocations. Or "Conjury + Druid".
Most of the "same spell but with some things better" spells (Invisibility -> Greater Invisibility, Charm Person -> Dominate Person -> Dominate Monster, fireball -> delayed blast fireball, lightning bolt -> chain lightning, alter self -> polymorph -> mass polymorph/shapechange/true polymorph, animate dead -> create undead, etc) would become alternate upcast options, but only available to wizards with the right class features. They'd not cost another spell known or prepared (which is a versatility boost), but would be exclusive. So only transmuters can cast polymorph, but then they can't cast dominate person or greater invisibility).
Drop spell schools. Instead, give each spell a set of tags. Things like "summon", "fire", "transportation". Subclasses would specialize in tags, potentially gaining access to spells from other classes that have those tags. And would be better at casting tag spells than any other wizard.
In the end, I think that wizards are the worst-designed class. Their entire identity is "gimme all the spells." Maybe mixed with a bit of "I'm smarter than you." Basically no hooks, no identity, nothing to go on. And impossible to balance, since they automatically get new features anytime a new book is released with new spells[1]. Whereas others only get those new features if you build something of that new subclass.
Whatever the case, the wizard would be better off (as would the game, IMO) by cutting their list and actually giving them a new, strong identity. Or group of them.
[1] an issue shared with druids in past editions; this edition's basically mostly putting out new beasts which somewhat calms that problem.