With the Expert Class UA, we got the first revisions of the Bard, Ranger, and Rogue class. Outside of the Arcane Trickster subclass (which, along with the Eldritch Knight, pioneered the kind of spell lists that we're likely to see for all spellcasting classes moving forward) the Rogue doesn't cast spells. But the Bard and Ranger are both spellcasters - one a full caster, and the other a half-caster.
Rather than having explicit spell class lists, instead we get, essentially, rules as to which spells the class can prepare. I don't know if all classes will be preparing, rather than simply "learning" spells (though with the changes to Bards, that would leave only Sorcerers and Warlocks as classes that don't prepare spells, so I would not be shocked if everyone simply prepares them each day). The rules for a class' access to spells now has them use one of the three lists - Arcane, Divine, or Primal - and then restricts them based on spell school - the schools being Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation.
As we saw with the Bard and Ranger, the number of schools available can vary widely. The Ranger gets to use 7/8 of the schools and uses the Primal spell list, with only Evocation spells being unavailable to them. The Bard, which has always had a somewhat idiosyncratic spell list that tends to push buffs and status effects rather than raw damage, gets Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, and Transmutation spells off the Arcane list. (The Bard also has a few features that let it get spells outside of those schools).
This is going to take some getting used to, of course, and while it's elegant, it will also mean a shuffle of what kind of spells you can cast (see this post from the other day).
I think we can assume that other classes will work similarly. So, I wanted to speculate on some of the possibilities for what we might see with those classes.
In all honesty, this really only starts to get complex when we get to the Arcane classes. But let's go in order. We'll be leaving out Barbarians, Fighters, and Monks given that these classes don't inherently get any sort of spellcasting capabilities. And we'll leave out Bards and Rangers because there's obviously not a lot to "speculate" on given that we already have these (though they are of course subject to revision - something I think is possible for the Bard). And Rogues fit in both categories. So, we'll be looking at just Clerics, Druids, Paladins, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards.
Clerics: This, I think, is obvious: Clerics will get access to the Divine spell list, and they'll get all 8 schools of magic. As only one of two Divine spellcasters, and the only full caster, it wouldn't make sense to put any spells of 6th or higher level on the list that they couldn't cast. Now, if there were no spells of some school of that level or higher, I could imagine limiting them to allow Paladins to get some exclusive spells from the list, but there is at least one spell of each school that is 6th level or higher, so Clerics must be able to use any school of magic - making the Divine Spell List effectively their class list.
Druids: The exact same argument can be made for Druids. As the only full caster with the Primal spell list, it's got to all be there for them. The one reason to doubt it, though, is that there are actually no Enchantment spells of 6th level or higher on the Primal spell list. As such, you could imagine Enchantment being reserved only for Rangers. However, this would mean Druids couldn't cast Animal Messenger, Dominate Beast, or Animal Friendship (holy crap, there's very little Enchantment magic on the Primal list). While those three spells certainly have a very Ranger vibe to them, they also very much have a Druid vibe to them. So I'm going to assume Druids will simply get every spell on the Primal list.
Paladins: Ok, here's where things get a little more complicated. Paladins, of course, use their spells to complement their melee capabilities, and tend not to have so many straight-damage abilities. But, that being said, the normal damage-dealing schools of magic like Evocation and Necromancy also cover spells that Paladins are likely to make use of - such as Searing Smite (and most of the Smite spells) being Evocation or Revivify being Necromancy. Classic Paladin spells like Command or Compelled Duel are enchantment. Illusion, on the other hand, I could possibly imagine being verboten for Paladins, as it literally just includes Silence in the 0-5th level spell range on the Divine list. Transmutation is likewise pretty rare on the Divine list, but Purify Food and Drink is one of them, and that feels like a good Paladin option. So, except maybe for Illusion, I actually think Paladins might simply get the full Divine spell list - but they'll naturally be limited by the fact that they only ever get up to 5th level spells.
Sorcerers: Here, things get particularly complicated. Spoiler alert: I think Wizards are going to get the absolute full list of Arcane spells. But what about Sorcerers? Sorcerers and Wizards already have a pretty hefty overlap in their spell lists, the main distinction being how they use them - in the current game, Sorcerers only learn a pretty limited number of spells, but they get to use things like Metamagic to do interesting things with them. The Wizard, on the other hand, is the hoarder of spells, with an expansive toolbox (and generally more spells they can prepare than the Sorcerer knows total).
Now, if we see every class preparing spells each day, that's going to have huge implications for what makes a Wizard special in the first place. After all, if a Sorcerer can just prepare any Arcane spell, they effectively have a fully-complete Wizard spellbook without being a Wizard.
However, let's imagine that Sorcerers might be slightly limited in their spell selection. Obviously, they've got to have Evocation magic, as they're meant to be the best fireball-tossers in the game. Where I could imagine them getting limited is Conjuration and/or Necromancy (with Shadow Sorcerers perhaps getting an exemption to the latter). Sorcerers, historically, have not had the summoning capabilities that Wizards and Warlocks get, and we saw with the Tasha's-era summoning spells didn't go to Sorcerers at all (Summon Draconic Spirit from Fizban's did go to them, though, perhaps to fit in with the Draconic Bloodline subclass). Now, the downside is that this means that spells like Dimension Door and Misty Step would be unavailable to Sorcerers. Still, this seems like it would be thematically appropriate - assuming that Sorcerers don't just flat-out get the whole list.
Warlocks: Warlocks have an almost entirely different vibe from Sorcerers, and actually, I could imagine that the one school of magic they don't get is Evocation. First off, some classic Warlock AoE spells like Shatter are now classified as Transmutation. This would keep Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and the like out of the Warlock list - which is true of the current Warlock. Indeed, the main Evocation spell that Warlocks currently use is Eldritch Blast, which is conspicuously absent from all three spell lists, suggesting that, much as it was in earlier editions, Eldritch Blast is likely to be transformed into a class feature rather than a spell in the traditional sense. Now, they could just lose Evocation spells and call it a day. If we were to imagine a more restrictive list, I could imagine also removing Transmutation. Conjuration and Necromancy would, I think, have to be on the Warlock list because the efficiency of summoning minions is really important for them mechanically, and it's also very flavorful (calling on your patron to send aid, or even just tying into the "dark magic" vibe with the ability to summon fiends or raise undead monsters).
I do wonder a bit how this will interact with the various Pact Boons - Pact of the Chain looks a lot less appealing (before Eldritch Invocations) when Find Familiar is already available to you, and everyone can ritual-cast.
Wizards: While they share the list with other full spellcasters, I think that the Wizard should fill the role of the Arcane Spellcaster who gets the entire spell list. Wizards are the masters of the Arcane, and this would be a clear way to reflect that.
The bigger question is what it will mean if everyone gets to prepare new spells each day. Wizards currently sit in this odd between-place. They get to swap out spells each day, but they don't automatically get their full list the way that Clerics, Druids, Paladins, or Artificers do. Instead, you get a collection mini-game where you add spells to your spellbook - in a campaign where the wizard really dedicates a ton of resources (and the DM permits it) they can ultimately get every Wizard spell, but it's a lot of effort to do so.
My proposal here is that, perhaps your spellbook doesn't determine what spells you can prepare, but rather what spells you have prepared. In other words, the Wizard can add spells to their spellbook and then have them prepared all the time, like a Cleric's domain spells. This would let the Wizard retain their "massive toolbox" approach to spellcasting even while everyone gets a more versatile way to prepare spells. This could be in addition to the "number of spell slots at each level" method of spell preparation that they have with the new Ranger and Bard, meaning Wizards are special in that they get more spell options than anyone else on a given day. Might that get very overwhelming for a Wizard player? Yes, that's a risk to this design. But it would also be pretty cool.
We will, of course, have to wait and see what the future holds for these classes, but this is my best guess of what we can expect.
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