This has been a topic that I recently found as I was updating some of my Wizard homebrews. In short, with how WotC has the "you add X spell to your spell" as part of the feature, incentivizes a player to not pick a spell that they would have picked for the theme of their wizard to instead maximize their "free learned spells." I know there is only two offical wizard subclasses (Necromancy and transmutation) that do this, but it really got me thinking. Why would you incentivize a necromancer (for example) to not learn animate dead at 5th level? Why not just have a line for them like "if this spell is already in your spellbook, choose a different necromancy spell instead," even if not this, them just a "choose a different wizard spell." I'm not sure how something like this was overlooked, and it's a simple enough fix that groups can do without breaking the game. I'm just curious what you guys think about this, and sorry if this was a little ranty but for some reason this really got under my skin.
This has been a topic that I recently found as I was updating some of my Wizard homebrews. In short, with how WotC has the "you add X spell to your spell" as part of the feature, incentivizes a player to not pick a spell that they would have picked for the theme of their wizard to instead maximize their "free learned spells." I know there is only two offical wizard subclasses (Necromancy and transmutation) that do this, but it really got me thinking. Why would you incentivize a necromancer (for example) to not learn animate dead at 5th level? Why not just have a line for them like "if this spell is already in your spellbook, choose a different necromancy spell instead," even if not this, them just a "choose a different wizard spell." I'm not sure how something like this was overlooked, and it's a simple enough fix that groups can do without breaking the game. I'm just curious what you guys think about this, and sorry if this was a little ranty but for some reason this really got under my skin.
probably because they are the signature spells of those schools so some would not have already added them
This has been a topic that I recently found as I was updating some of my Wizard homebrews. In short, with how WotC has the "you add X spell to your spell" as part of the feature, incentivizes a player to not pick a spell that they would have picked for the theme of their wizard to instead maximize their "free learned spells." I know there is only two offical wizard subclasses (Necromancy and transmutation) that do this, but it really got me thinking. Why would you incentivize a necromancer (for example) to not learn animate dead at 5th level? Why not just have a line for them like "if this spell is already in your spellbook, choose a different necromancy spell instead," even if not this, them just a "choose a different wizard spell." I'm not sure how something like this was overlooked, and it's a simple enough fix that groups can do without breaking the game. I'm just curious what you guys think about this, and sorry if this was a little ranty but for some reason this really got under my skin.
probably because they are the signature spells of those schools so some would not have already added them
I don't think you're answering the OP's question, but rather adding to their point. Yes, those are "signature" spells of those subclasses. But the rules disincentivize you from learning those spells as picked spells (if you come across a scroll or spellbook with the spell, that's different), because you'd be "wasting" a pick, since you'll be getting the spell later on. That seems contrary to expectations. Why wouldn't a Necromancer learn Animate Dead at level 5, or a Transmuter Polymorph at level 7? Right now, the only reason is that they'll get it for "free" later on, so why waste a pick on them? You'd expect Necromancers to learn Animate Dead as soon as they can, since it's one of their signature spells, and Transmuters to learn Polymorph as soon as they can, for the same reason. Having them be able to pick a different spell, even if constrained to their chosen school, if they already have the spell when they'd be given it for "free" would remove the disincentive to learn it as soon as possible, and might even add an incentive to learn it as soon as possible, especially in the Transmuter's case, since by the time they get Polymorph for "free" they can already cast level 5 spells, so they can get a higher level spell instead of Polymorph. I don't see that as breaking anything, since in the Necromancer's case it'd only affect them for a single level (5), and although Transmuters can end up with a higher level pick than they'd otherwise be able to, they always have the standard Wizard option of learning extra spells from scrolls and spellbooks, so the small imbalance introduced is something that might happen anyway during the natural course of adventuring.
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This has been a topic that I recently found as I was updating some of my Wizard homebrews. In short, with how WotC has the "you add X spell to your spell" as part of the feature, incentivizes a player to not pick a spell that they would have picked for the theme of their wizard to instead maximize their "free learned spells." I know there is only two offical wizard subclasses (Necromancy and transmutation) that do this, but it really got me thinking. Why would you incentivize a necromancer (for example) to not learn animate dead at 5th level? Why not just have a line for them like "if this spell is already in your spellbook, choose a different necromancy spell instead," even if not this, them just a "choose a different wizard spell." I'm not sure how something like this was overlooked, and it's a simple enough fix that groups can do without breaking the game. I'm just curious what you guys think about this, and sorry if this was a little ranty but for some reason this really got under my skin.
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probably because they are the signature spells of those schools so some would not have already added them
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I don't think you're answering the OP's question, but rather adding to their point. Yes, those are "signature" spells of those subclasses. But the rules disincentivize you from learning those spells as picked spells (if you come across a scroll or spellbook with the spell, that's different), because you'd be "wasting" a pick, since you'll be getting the spell later on. That seems contrary to expectations. Why wouldn't a Necromancer learn Animate Dead at level 5, or a Transmuter Polymorph at level 7? Right now, the only reason is that they'll get it for "free" later on, so why waste a pick on them? You'd expect Necromancers to learn Animate Dead as soon as they can, since it's one of their signature spells, and Transmuters to learn Polymorph as soon as they can, for the same reason. Having them be able to pick a different spell, even if constrained to their chosen school, if they already have the spell when they'd be given it for "free" would remove the disincentive to learn it as soon as possible, and might even add an incentive to learn it as soon as possible, especially in the Transmuter's case, since by the time they get Polymorph for "free" they can already cast level 5 spells, so they can get a higher level spell instead of Polymorph. I don't see that as breaking anything, since in the Necromancer's case it'd only affect them for a single level (5), and although Transmuters can end up with a higher level pick than they'd otherwise be able to, they always have the standard Wizard option of learning extra spells from scrolls and spellbooks, so the small imbalance introduced is something that might happen anyway during the natural course of adventuring.