Playtest 7: Wizards

 And here we come to the Wizard, the last of the class revisions in playtest 7. In the previous playtest, Wizards got a number of kind of meta-spells revolving around their spellbooks and being able to modify and create new spells. However, that route has kind of been set aside in this design, largely stemming from the restoration of class spell lists. The Wizard's most important class feature is its enormous spell list, and that has taken center-stage. But let's look at the class and its revised subclasses.

Level 1:

Arcane Recovery has returned as a 1st level feature.

The Spellcasting feature now incorporates the Tasha's option of Cantrip Versatility, letting you switch one of your cantrips on a long rest.

Since playtest 5, the number of spells you can prepare has increased. It is not based on your Level + Intelligence modifier, but in practical terms, it's pretty close. At level 20, you'll have 25 spells, which is consistent with a maxed-out Wizard. Basically, at level 4 you might be slightly behind, but you catch up at level 5, and at level 8, you might be behind but catch up at level 9 (assuming in this case that you were spending ASIs at level 4 and 8 to max out your Intelligence).

Wizard's Spellbook is now folded into the Spellcasting rules, but is basically the same. It does specify that other can only read it by using Identify.

Level 2:

Scholar is a new feature that is thematically similar to playtest 5's Academic. However, rather than granting advantage, you now get expertise in your choice of Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion, among those with which you have proficiency.

    I like this, because the Wizard really should be the one who can speak most knowledgeably about some intellectual topic. I imagine most will choose Arcana. It would be weird for the Arcane Trickster to have a better Arcana bonus than the Wizard. I almost wish that they could get two of these, but I guess you don't want to fully step on the toes of the Expert classes.

Level 5:

Memorize Spell replicates playtest 5's special spell but as a class feature. You can study your spellbook for 1 minute and temporarily get an additional prepared spell. If you use it again, the previous memorized spell is unprepared.

    Ultimately, this just means that you get one more spell prepared. But it's a good option for those utility spells that may or may not be useful. If you go into a spooky haunted house and prepare Protection from Evil and Good, only to discover that, Scooby-doo-like, the "ghosts" are actually just bandits in disguise, you might want to swap that out for something like Charm Person.

Level 18:

Spell Mastery now only lets you choose spells with a casting time of an action. Shield is specifically called out as a reason they made this change, which they felt would be too powerful to have at-will. Like in playtest 5, you can swap your spell mastery spells on a long rest, rather than needing a dedicated 8 hours of study.

    Well, this makes me sad, but I also 100% understand their doing this. That said, I think it would have to be a very eventful day for a level 18 Wizard to run out of low-level spell slots to cast Shield. But they could. It's a nerf, for sure, but probably makes the feature act closer to how it was intended.

Level 20:

Signature Spells is unchanged, just restored to 20th level.

    So, the Wizard looks very much like it did in 2014, which is fine, as it's always been one of the most powerful classes. The return to class spell lists is a kind of backwards-buff for the Wizard - by nerfing other Arcane casters (Sorcerers, Warlocks, and potentially Bards) the Wizard gains back its position of supremacy. Memorize Spell and Academic are nice little bonuses that make the class just a little better, so I don't see much reason to complain.

Now, let's look at subclasses. To my utter consternation, the Necromancer was not included in this list with Summon Undead taking the place of Animate Dead in the Undead Thralls feature. Indeed, I think I only wound up getting two of these in my predictions: we're getting the Abjurer, Diviner, Evoker, and Illusionist.

Abjurer:

The renamed "School of Abjuration," Abjurers are, I think, pretty similar to their 2014 version, but with some tweaks.

Level 3:

Abjuration Savant is redesigned (this will be a theme). When you get this feature, and then every time you get a new spell level (so, every other Wizard level through 17) you get one free Abjuration spell that is of a level you can cast for your spellbook.

    This redesign, which applies to all four subclasses for their respective schools, is one I actually like a lot. One of the ironies of the old Savant features is that it actually encouraged you to learn anything but your chosen school's spells for your free level-up spells, as those would be cheaper to copy. Now, you're instead going to be loaded up on spells of your chosen school, which is much better. Also, more spells is exactly what Wizards want.

Arcane Ward has gotten some subtle changes. First off, to create it in the first place, you must expend a spell slot - meaning that you can't use a magic item or spell scroll to conjure it. Additionally, while you can still recharge the ward when you cast an Abjuration spell (again, now requiring it to use a spell slot) you can also use a bonus action to just expend a spell slot without casting a spell.

    So, I'm sure this is to nerf using some magic item that can easily toss out Mage Armors and the like. But this does allow a little more flexibility if you don't want to, say, waste an action casting Mage Armor just so that you can recharge your ward.

Level 6:

Projected Ward is unchanged.

Level 10:

Spell Breaker is a new feature that reflects the redesign of Counterspell. You now always have Dispel Magic prepared. You can cast it as a bonus action, and you get to add your proficiency bonus to its ability check.

    So, let's talk about Counterspell: the spell no longer uses an ability check on your part, but instead forces a Con save on the person trying to cast a spell. If they fail, the spell does not get cast, wasting the action used to cast it, but not expending the spell slot. This is definitely a nerf, but as a DM who finds Counterspell tends to just mean I can't use spellcasting monsters (with 6 people in the party usually, a single Sorcerer locking down the spellcaster is a pretty valid strategy) I'm kind of happy about it. Granted, the new design for spellcasting monsters kind of side-steps this. I really like MCDM's approach: a powerful spellcaster might be able to take multiple spell-like actions, but these are also labeled as actual spells - a Lich's multiattack allows it to cast four 3rd level spells, each of which is a unique thing for them that doesn't appear in a player-facing list of spell options.

    But, this means that Abjurers will always be able to Dispel, so that's fun.

Level 14:

Spell Resistance is unchanged.

    Here, though, I think they need to clarify what a "Spell" is. Is any "Spell Attack," such as from an Archdruid, a spell? That seems reasonable, but you can't counter them.

    I've only seen one Abjurer Wizard in play (during EXU: Calamity) so I assumed I'd see more popular subclasses here. Still, this fits a certain role - the harder-to-kill Wizard - that makes sense in the PHB.

Diviner:

Now, this I knew was going to make it in, because people love getting Portent. How does the rest of the subclass stack up, though?

Level 3:

Divination Savant has been redesigned like Abjuration Savant, giving free Divination spells every time you get a new spell level.

    Like before, I like this.

Portent is unchanged.

    And of course it's the same. This is the reason people like this subclass.

Level 6:

Expert Divination is unchanged.

Level 10:

The Third Eye is now a bonus action, rather than a bonus action. It also combines Ethereal Sight and See Invisibility by simply letting you cast See Invisibility without a spell slot.

    Seems fine. Nothing huge, but easier to cast in the middle of a fight.

Level 14:

Greater Portent is unchanged.

    So this is a big "not broke, don't fix it" approach. People love this subclass, and it works almost identically to its old form.

Evoker:

We, of course, got our earlier version of this in playtest 5.

Level 3:

Evocation Savant, like the other Savant features, has been redesigned.

    Again, the changes here are good, even if they might be bad for your coinpurse. Though, arguably, getting 8 free spells rather than a discount on all Evocation spells could be a better bargain, depending on your campaign.

Potent Cantrip moves to 3rd level. Like in playtest 5, this also lets you do half damage with a missed spell attack cantrip.

    The logic behind this change is sound: at early levels, you're far more reliant on cantrips for damage, so getting this early is fantastic. The fact that you can always do a little bit of damage (unless you roll a 1 on damage) is going to feel really good, especially, again, in tier 1.

Level 6:

Sculpt Spells moves down to level 6, swapping with Potent Cantrip.

    This is probably ok. Fireball is probably 75% of why you want this feature in the first place, and by this point we can actually have that spell. There are some low-level AoE spells, though, like Burning Hands, Thunderwave, and Shatter (that might be it) that you might want this for in tier 1, but again, I do think Potent Cantrip is the better lower-level feature, and getting this at 6 is fine.

Level 10:

Empowered Evocation is unchanged.

Level 14:

Overchannel is unchanged, apart from some re-wording (that doesn't change its functionality).

    So, yeah, very slight tweak here, and one that I think works fine. Perfect subclass for people who want to deal lots of damage.

Illusionist:

I'll confess this is probably the one I least expected to be included, given that the use of Illusions is very DM-dependent - how likely NPCs are to "inspect" the illusions, etc. Let's see how it works mechanically.

Level 3:

Illusion Savant has been redesigned. You get the gist.

Improved Minor Illusion is unchanged.

Level 6:

Malleable Illusions now uses a bonus action, rather than an action, to change the illusion.

    Like a lot of similar changes, this is a nice quality-of-life change that will allow you to make use of this mid-combat more easily. I'm generally in favor of features that say "you can use this without feeling bad."

Level 10:

Illusory Self can now be used multiple times per rest by expending a 2nd level or higher spell slot.

    Cool. 2nd level for an auto-miss is, I think, fair. Definitely makes you harder to kill, which Wizards need.

Level 14:

Illusory Reality now specifies that the objects created with it cannot deal damage or inflict conditions.

    Here's the thing I think they need to clarify: they give an example of using an illusory bridge that become real enough to cross a chasm. That's cool. The object remains real for 1 minute. Cool. If I drop concentration on the illusion spell that created it, though... can I drop the foes chasing us over that bridge into the chasm? Basically, does the object remain real for 1 minute regardless of its origins? Just a clarification would be nice.

So, looking at the Wizard and these subclasses, it looks like they've taken a very light touch to the class. I think that's probably ok - I don't think anyone was complaining that the Wizard was underpowered or bad to play. The loss of the Modify Spell and Create Spell features from playtest 5 are a little sad - I liked having an explicit system for creating new spells in the game rules. Maybe this is something that could be worked into the DMG and allowed by any spellcasting class.

And that brings us to the end of the class revisions. We'll finish up playtest 7 with the odds-and-ends.