NPC Wizard “Specialization”
Recently, I’ve been debating something the like of “specialization” among select wizards that study specific spells and alter the way in which they function for them.
Here’s an example: A wizard has gained such mastery over mage hand that he can now control two at the same time rather than one.
I think having some variety like this could be a fun experience so long as it is used sparingly in order to emphasize the effort required to reach this point. Do any other DMs have any kind of experience in this region? Is this something that sounds as if it would break the game?
EDIT: Spelling
Posted Dec 18, 2019, 3:33 PM UTC
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I think it's generally OK to give NPCs abilities and features not available to the PCs in order to support your narrative and flesh out your world. That said, I think it's important to pay attention to your players as you introduce these things. In most DnD settings/campaigns the PCs stand out when compared to the NPCs they encounter. Spellcasters are the most comparable but generally the PCs have far more features and abilities than their NPC counterparts. This is done in part to make NPCs easier to run in game but also to keep the PCs from getting NPC envy. So as you introduce characters with these specializations watch to see if any of your players start getting envious of the NPCs they're encountering. If they do, consider either scaling those things back or giving the PCs way of acquiring similar features.
I appreciate the reply, I hadn’t really considered “NPC Envy” as my players actually complain that NPCs aren’t as powerful as them (they expect every NPC to be a PC character). If they start to show it I’d be more than happy to introduce some fresh spell variants for some time and effort. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for anything they might say/do.