Player's Handbook Chapter 11

So, Chapter 11 is the list of spells. Actually, it starts with the lists of spells by class. Every class gets its own spell list (sorcerers and wizards share the same list, though). So, bards no longer use the same spell list as wizards did in 2nd edition, and paladins don't leech off the cleric list anymore. This is a very good change, since it never seemed appropriate to have bards flinging fireballs. The list includes a very brief (usually single-line) description of the spell's effect, which is nice to have handy.

Bards have up to 6th-level spells; paladins and rangers have up to 4th; clerics, druids, and sorcerers/wizards have up to 9th level. The bard spells are more along the lines of enchantments and sound-related spells, which makes sense considering they're bards. One very interesting addition: Bards get healing spells now. Not a lot, but still, it's quite the change. Paladin spells are more martial in nature, rangers are more wilderness-warrior focused. The sorcerer/wizard list is divided not only by levels, but also by school of magic. This makes it easier for the specialists, I suppose. Everyone except paladins and rangers get cantrips, too.

Looking at the cleric list, they get some seriously high-powered stuff at 9th level, which is to be expected. But the miracle spell is new; it looks like it's basically the divine version of a wish spell. And we all know how much fun those were...for the DM. Some of the spells that used to be 6th and 7th level for clerics are now 8th and 9th. Druids are in a similar situation, having some very high-powered summoning spells to call upon. Most of the spells are just updated versions of the earlier edition spells, although many have now been renamed (for example, protection from evil, 10' radius is now magic circle against evil). It's a cosmetic change, and sometimes it's a better name than before, but not always.

Alright, let's take a look at the actual spells. First thing I noticed was that unlike in previous editions, all spells are listed alphabetically in one long, 100-page section. In 1st edition, there were four separate sections of spell descriptions for clerics, druids, magic-users, and illusionists. In 2nd edition, it was down to two; priests and wizards. Now it's all together in one list. This has a few implications. First, it's easy to find the spell you're looking for; they're alphabetical, Acid Fog to Zone of Truth. So, no matter what class you are, you can flip through the single list of descriptions to find the spell you want.

The second, and more significant implication is that all spells are cast exactly the same now, and have the same effects. Sure, random effects like damage won't always be the same, but here's an example. In 1st edition, druids and magic-users could cast the wall of fire spell. The druid version was 5th level, took 7 segments to cast, had a range of 8", did 4d4+caster level damage to any creature passing through, and could be shaped like a wall, or as a ring surrounding the druid that moved along with the caster. It lasted as long as the druid concentrated, or 1 round/level if he didn't maintain it. Oh, and it was either yellow-green or amber in color because it was cast by a druid. Now, the magic-user version, which was 4th level, only had a range of 6", took 4 segments to cast, and did 2-12+level damage. The ring radius was smaller, too, and the colors were violet to reddish-blue. So, it was a less-powerful version of the druidic spell with its own look.

In 3rd edition, the only difference between the druid and wizard versions of the spell is that druids still cast it as a 5th-level spell, and wizards still cast it as 4th. Everything else is identical; same range, same damage, same ring radius. Even the color is the same. There's nothing to distinguish the spell based on the class of the caster, and that's disappointing. And this applies to every spell in the game; the cleric casts detect magic exactly the same as the wizard. So a lot of the flavor of the early editions is lost in the quest for standardization. I find this to be probably the most disappointing change in 3rd edition.

Another change is that there are no longer reversible spells. Earlier editions would have protection from evil with an option to cast it as protection from good for an evil caster; it was the same spell, just reversed. This effectively meant that the caster had two spells to choose from rather than just the one. Now, that is gone; instead, each spell that had a reverse option now has a second, separate, opposite spell. Antipathy and sympathy are now separate, and there are four different protection from <alignment> spells; law and chaos get their own versions as well. Cure wounds spells now have an opposite inflict wounds spell. That adds to the total number of spells in the list, of course.

As I said earlier, most of the spells are direct conversions from earlier editions, but there are plenty of new spells as well, particularly for bards, paladins and rangers. Since they are no longer tied to other spell lists, this gave the writers the opportunity to customize their spell lists to make the spells more relevant to the class. For example, paladins now get the bless weapon spell, giving them an instant magical weapon. When they can cast 4th-level spells, they actually get the spell holy sword, which turns their weapon into...well, a holy sword. Or holy axe. Or holy mace. Or whatever weapon they are wielding.

Ranger get spells more focused on woodcraft and animals. Some of their spells are borrowed from the sorcerer/wizard list (e.g., sleep, nondetection, wind wall), while many of the rest are druidic in nature (no pun intended). 

So, that covers the essentials of the spells list; as I said, most of the spells are just converted from 1st and 2nd editions. But that means we're almost done! Next time I'll cover the index and glossary, as well as the special 'Survival Kit' section that was only part of the 1st printing of the Player's Handbook. And I've got it right here. See you then.