D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook Reveal: "New Wizard"

"The paramount collector of spells."

Open your spellbooks, everybody. Today we get a Wizard video.

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The last version of the class was in the UA Playtest 7 package (PT7). It's not clear how much they'll say here. Of the base class, I am hoping that they have recanted the level 5 ability, Memorize Spell (or perhaps shifted it to needing a short rest). They've said that the PHB will get clearer rules for how illusions work -- maybe they'll talk about that? Other than that, I think the most they can do is show us some revised spells: Will the revised version of Counterspell be kept? Any surprise Necromancy reveals? Let's find out.

OVERVIEW

• "the paramount collector of spells": "many" of new spells are for the wizard.
• As in PT7: cantrip change after long rest (level 1); scholar -- expertise in an academic field (at 2)
• NO MENTION OF ARCANE RECOVERY
• NEW: Ritual Adept broken out as a new class feature. They can cast spells in their spellbook, as before, but here ID'd as a new feature.
• NEW: Memorize Spell at 5: you can swap a spell after short rest.
• Each subclass gets a new version of Savant: free spells in spellbook of preferred school. 2 free spells of favored class, and a new spell for each spell level (so every 2 levels, as in the playtest. This isn't what is said in the video, but has been corrected elsewhere.

SUBCLASSES
Abjurer

• new abjuration spells feeds back onto how subclass functions.
• NEW: Arcane Ward at 3: resistance, immunity applied before the Arcane Ward.
• NEW: Projected Ward a 6: your friend's resistance is applied before the ward for them.
• NEW: Spell breaker at level 10: Counterspell and Dispell Magic are both prepared (PT7 did not include Counterspell). Dispell Magic is a bonus action.

Diviner

• NEW: Third Eye at 10. As in PT7, bonus action to activate; 120' darkvision, see invisibility. NO MENTION of Greater Comprehension ("read any language")

Evoker -- "all about bringing the boom"

• As in PT7: Potent Cantrip at 3 applies to cantrips both with a saving throw or an attack roll.

Illusionist -- "we felt that the subclass needed more" (YAY)

• NEW: Improved Illusions at level 3:
  • cast illusion spells with no verbal components. (FUN)
  • illusions with range with at least 10' is increased to 60' (no-- by 60' to 70').
  • you get minor illusion cantrip, with both visual and audible
  • you cast minor illusion as a bonus action.
• NEW: Phantasmal Creatures
  • summon beast and summon fey spells always prepared. These MAY BE changed from conjuration to Illusion, and the illusory version can be cast without expending a spell slot, but the summoned version, only with half the hit points. ONCE PER DAY.
  • illusions can step on a trap to set it off (?!)
  • (replacing Malleable Illusions, which I complained about here. This is so exciting.)
• NEW: Illusory Self triggered by you being hit by an attack (not when you are targeted). As in PT7, you can get more uses by giving up a spell slot of level 2+.

SPECIFIC SPELLS

• NEW: school shift to Abjuration: no examples
• Counterspell as in PT7.
• GUIDANCE ON ILLUSIONS in Rules Glossary. E.g. How are they affected by environment?
  • spell descriptions also clarified. Rules Glossary to be discussed in future video (also conditions, areas of effects, guidance on teleportation, telepathy, "
• "being dead" to be discussed in Cleric Video. Tease...

So this gave much more than I was expecting, and it looks amazing. Playing an illusionist will now be much more clearly not a "mother may I?" situation, which (I feel) has long been the case. I think I got most of what I'd asked for in the PT feedback.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Look Alarm! you get an alarm when someone charges into camp. Oh wait thep arty can all take turns doing watch, and only get like 4 hours of interrupted sleep but it still counts as a full rest so it doesnt matter.

Total bollocks. Alarm is useful even if you also have someone doing the watch. It can give the attacker a nasty surprise.

Your also pretending that ritual is the ONLY way to cast these.

Sorcerers get only very few rituals (in 2014 at least) . So probably they cast none. And since sorcerers had only very few spells known, they usually did not learn the few rituals at all.

A big part of that is continually ignoring HOW DOES A WIZARD GET THEM. If they spend their 2 spells per level on it, then they are worthless in a fight

Wizards get 2 spells per spell level for their book. So you should be able to chose rituals and combat spells. In 2024 you also get an extra spell every other level. So you should get along.

(which is really the entire point of dnd).

For you. Speak only for yourself. Other people play D&D for other things. But this explains why you rate rituals as ribbons.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Like I said. That's a valid opinion. I haven't seen the full list of spells yet so I am withholding judgment.

That is not how forums work. You should jump to conclusion BEFORE you have the full information.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Look Alarm! you get an alarm when someone charges into camp. Oh wait thep arty can all take turns doing watch, and only get like 4 hours of interrupted sleep but it still counts as a full rest so it doesnt matter.

Or you get Alarm when you want to surveil an area without being there. Like looking for a gang of thieves. Or various other purposes. Then to check if it's a false alarm you send your familiar to check.

If you're not doing things like this no wonder you have problems seeing the worth of a wizard.

Your also pretending that ritual is the ONLY way to cast these.

Nope. I just don't pretend that first level spell slots grow on trees. A second level wizard gets 3+1 of them to last the entire day.

A big part of that is continually ignoring HOW DOES A WIZARD GET THEM. If they spend their 2 spells per level on it, then they are worthless in a fight (which is really the entire point of dnd).

It's not all or nothing.

A second level wizard knows eight spells. They need an offensive spell and might want two (one lockdown, one AoE). There are four defensive spells that remain good all the way (Mage Armour, Shield, Absorb Elements, Silvery Barbs) - and Absorb Elements and Silvery Barbs honestly aren't useful until you have leveled up. But a wizard only ever gets four first level spell slots.

I would therefore expect just about every wizard to pick Find Familiar and have two or three other first level ritual spells, possibly as many as four, just from their default spell collection.

Likewise levelling up. Wizards gain four spells in their spell book per level beyond first, and can prepare two at a time. I would therefore expect a sensible wizard to pick one to two rituals per spell level.

By comparison to that second level wizard with four slot-cast spells, find Familiar, and three other rituals a second level sorcerer knows ... three spells. W00t! If they are lucky enough to be from Tasha's it's ... five.

So either the wizard spends all their money on spells and has no gear, or there is no "magic is for sale" and the wizard doesn't have them anyways.

Or they don't go all in, but have the flexibility of both spells cast out of slots and some rituals they don't use preparation slots for.

We keep talking around the main problem, wizards cannot have all these spells unless the dm goes out of their way to give them to the wizard.

And a wizard doesn't need "all these spells". Played well they are the strongest class in the game without it.

No other class has this gigantic problem. Name any other class that cannot function without either unlimited gold (and magic shops) or constant dm handouts?

What you mean is "no other class is both the strongest class in the game out of the box and can be powered up even further in ways no other class can be if they get a lot of gold and item shops".

 

[mellored]

HOW DOES A WIZARD GET THEM. If they spend their 2 spells per level on it, then they are worthless in a fight (which is really the entire point of dnd).

2.5 per level, including subclass.
Sorcerer get roughly 1.5 level, including subclass.

Assuming they both prepare the same spells for combat.

That leaves the wizard with roughly has 1 extra (very likely ritual) spell per level in their book.



*also of note, subclass spells for the sorcerer and warlock stop at level 9. While wizard subclass keeps adding more.

 

[tetrasodium]

.

Assuming they both prepare the same spells for combat.

The fact that you can even make that assumption is a big part of the problem. The purely hypothetical whiteroom limitations on what they could prepare no longer justifies all of the class & subclass abilities granted to offset what is generally nothing but a hypothetical thought experiment possibility.

 

[mellored]

The fact that you can even make that assumption is a big part of the problem. The purely hypothetical whiteroom limitations on what they could prepare no longer justifies all of the class & subclass abilities granted to offset what is generally nothing but a hypothetical thought experiment possibility.

There are very few spells a sorcerer, even with their subclass, can prepare that a wizard can not also prepare.

But sure. Assume they have the same number of spells for combat.

That still leaves the wizard with roughly 1 extra ritual per level.

 

[ECMO3]

If you think rituals are weak no wonder you don’t like the wizard!

But I will simply disagree. Alarm, detect magic, comprehend languages, all great spells when they cost no slots and the wizard can pull them out whenever needed.

When you have the time to cast as a ritual .... which is not most of the time you need them.

When you have time for a ritual these are good, not great. They are great primarily when a Wizard would need to burn a slot for them.

If you have played with Detect Magic as a ritual and Detect Magic from Drow High magic you can see that the difference between ritual and non-ritual use without a slot is greater than the difference between not having it and having it as a ritual.

 

[Stalker0]

No we can not agree because your point requires the linked +10 stealth creature rolling a nat 20 making it a long shot on top of an extreme edge case to get that 30 stealth result.

Feel free to lower it to a 20 then. My point was a lot of characters on a watch are not going to have a 20 passive perception, and so a sneaky character will easily get passed them, but might still set off an alarm spell.

 

[tetrasodium]

Feel free to lower it to a 20 then. My point was a lot of characters on a watch are not going to have a 20 passive perception, and so a sneaky character will easily get passed them, but might still set off an alarm spell.

Have you not noticed how basically all of the points you've been using to justify the idea of sometimes maybe useful rituals equaling the value of regularly useful class and subclass features collapses like this once the smoke of the edge case long shot hypothetical white room clears?

The value of rituals from spell book is vastly overstated and they are only even an option if the wizard chooses those spells instead of spells that are going to be more reliably useful... Then there is the extra functional warlock ritual book

 

[Baumi]

I wonder how many spells the different Classes will be able to prepare (not learn).

I would bet that there is now a fixed ammount instead of the old Attribute+level Formula (for Wizard, Cleric,..). But if thats so, will all full-casters have the same ammount (wich will give an advantage to those who gain spells through subclass-features) or will it differ per class.

Do we have some insight about that (blurred screenshots, Interview,..)?