The Rival Schools of D&D

In previous editions of D&D, many classes had various restrictions on what they couldn’t do. Many of those restrictions, like limiting class selection and level limit by race, have gone away, and are not particularly missed. 

Others have been flipped from restrictions into benefits (I cast Sticks to Carrots). Instead of forbidding monks from wearing armor, the game gives them a big bonus when they don’t have any on. This is also fine.

But could a few of these ideas bear a second look? Restrictions breed creativity. Restrictions force characters to pick a side in a world of cosmological struggle. Restrictions can tell a story about a class in a way that mere benefits do not.

Rival Schools

D&D 3.5E had an option for wizards to specialize in a school of magic, at the cost of closing themselves off from other sorts of magic. Of course, it’s 3.5E, so it’s needlessly complex. Most of the schools of magic give up two other schools for specialization, but divination only gives up one. Possibly as a balancing mechanism? The book doesn’t explain. 

The wizard also gets to choose which schools to give up. As with everything in 3.5E, the emphasis is on customization, customization, customization. But because it’s so abstracted, it tells us almost nothing about wizards, except perhaps that divination specialists are naturally better generalists than other wizards.

What if instead, the tradeoffs were fixed? Wouldn’t that then tell us some pretty interesting things about how the world worked?

For example, consider these school rivalries: 

Abjuration vs. Evocation. Abjuration includes spells that block or obstruct. It’s opposed by Evocation, the school that manipulates and directs energy. This is a classic offense/defense matchup.

Conjuration vs. Illusion. Conjuration is the school of spells that summon or create creatures or materials. It’s opposed by Illusion, a school defined by the absence of physicality. Conjurers despise the immateriality of illusionists, while illusionists see conjurers as hopelessly bound by the constraints of material form.

Divination vs. Transmutation. Divination is a school of absolute remove; study from afar, but do not interfere. Transmutation is the opposite, tactile magic reworking the world in the most direct ways possible. 

Enchantment vs. Necromancy. Ever notice how so many undead are immune to charms? Enchantment is a school dependent on the vital passions of living creatures; it literally speaks from the heart. The cold hearts of the undead are anathema to enchanters, and the loathing is mutual. 

Some of these are clearer or stronger matches than others. And you could probably flip several of these around a bit – Divination vs. Illusion (seeing vs. occluding) would also work. But some ambiguity is a feature, not a bug. The important thing is it provides, from character creation, tension, conflict, friction, goals, factionality, and movement. All the things we want when a game is just getting started.