D&D 5E So why's the spell's saving throw and target in the text block?

[Obryn]

http://www.enworld.org/newsimages/command.jpg

Pretty much what it says in the subject. I'm really confused as to why there's no Save line and no line about targets. Like for this one...

Target: One living, intelligent creature (you can mention "language" stuff below to keep this brief)
Save: Wisdom

Just kind of wondering; it seems inelegant to me.

Sorry if this was covered in another thread; there have been ... a lot of them.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Dunno. Perhaps so they don't have to have spells with "Save: None" lines?

 

[Shiroiken]

It's a style preference. Some, such as myself, prefer the layout.

Also, I imagine it saves space. The text in line would take up at most 1 line, while having 2 lines above would add to the length of each spell.

 

[TerraDave]

It feels more B/X then A...not that is an actual reason. Unless it is.

 

[GMMichael]

Pretty much what it says in the subject. I'm really confused as to why there's no Save line and no line about targets. Like for this one...

Target: One living, intelligent creature (you can mention "language" stuff below to keep this brief)
Save: Wisdom

Just kind of wondering; it seems inelegant to me.

...because defender's responses to spells are so various that it would be too confusing to have a Save: entry?

It's actually more elegant to me; it keeps the spell-stats shorter.

 

[Wolfskin]

Honest answer: I have no idea. WotC should know.

Speculative answer: maybe in the PHB spells will have Save and Target entries, even when those in the Starter Set don't. Mearls mentioned they were dealing with a set page count and tried to make the most out of it, so perhaps saving those two extra lines for each spell allowed them to tuck in a few more spells in the Starter. Or perhaps they'll follow the same aproach with the PHB.

 

[Capricia]

Not really sure I understand how people can see it as keeping things shorter. Compare

Command
1st-level enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: 1 round

You speak a one-word command to a creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or follow the command on its next turn. The spell has no effect if the target is undead, if it doesn't understand your language, or if your command is directly harmful to it.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can affect one additional creature for each slot level above 1st. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.

Vs

Command
1st-level enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: 1 round
Target: 1 Creature per spell slot level, all within 30 feet of each other.
Saving Throw: Wisdom

You speak a one-word command to one or more creatures you can see within range. If the target fails its save, it must follow the command on its next turn. The spell has no effect if the target is undead, if it doesn't understand your language, or if your command is directly harmful to it.

113 words vs 87 words.

As for why they do it, they've said before that the big emphasis on what they're doing with rule and spell design is focus on "natural language" for two reasons. One, the good reason that it should in theory make it easier for a new player to understand what it is that a spell does and two, the not so good reason that they want to get the 3e players who loathe 4e's concise formatting style.

Personally, I don't mind it at all. Putting the saving throw in the spell text takes up like 3 extra words and does have a more natural feel to it. Not having a target line and a separate section for how it works at higher levels is much easier to understand. You have a default spell, plus how it can be juiced up. It works well.

 

[darjr]

I think the space savings would be for the many spells that do not have a target or save or both. though they could leave those entries out if the spell in question didn't have it. ultimately I think your probably close to the real reason

 

[CM]

Wizards wants to do their part to combat illiteracy by making kids read more.

 

[fba827]

Because of the way certain players I game with are, I'd prefer it in the header way rather than in the text block.
That said, they chose to do it this way (I could make guesses why but their real reasons will probably remain a mystery to us public people so will just learn to deal with it and try not to roll my eyes when the players in question try to cast a spell and then have to retread it to catch those key bits of info every single time.... ;-)