July Errata is up

[jimmifett]

Having not finished reading this thread yet, i'm not sure if I like the change to magic missile...

2d4+int mod, vs 2+int mod.

assuming int mod of 4

new: guarenteed hit for 6 damage with no ciritcals.
old: Chance to miss, 6 - 12 damage, chance to crit.

Using Wizard's fury...
new: gaurenteed 12 damage, no crits.
old: 12 - 24, chances to crit.

Even stranger now is Master's Wand of Magic Missle. You don't get the chance to crit, even when casting magic missile via this wand. A third Magic missile during a single turn in an encounter is nice, as is the pushing.

18 damage vs 18-36 + crit chances.

Player: "I hurl bolts of force at BBEG, blasting him off the cliff into the lava below! Pew Pew Pew!"

DM: He fails his save and is pushed into the yawning expanse behind him. Gravity, slightly late to work that day and being the friendly sort, taps him on the shoulder and reminds him he does not have the hover keyword. Now confused at having being tapped on the shoulder by a supposedly universal law of attraction, who was quite disheveled and not very attractive, realizes he has left the stove on just as he crests below the floor he was previously standing on. "Aaaaaaaaagh!" sploosh, sizzle. The load bearing boss is now a memory.

Player: "Load bearing... Expiditous Retreat!"

 

[Zaran]

I'm thrilled about the magic missile auto-hit; having to roll to hit annoyed me every time our wizard used it. Hurrah!

Don't know if anyone else has noticed but the Staff of Missile Mastery still does 1d8 for each +1 of enchancement bonus on a crit with Magic Missle. How are we supposed to crit with that? I suppose we can use it on Coup de Grace...

Edit: Oops. Someone did notice!

 

[jimmifett]

As a DM, I certainly enjoy the fixes to items that were being abused for surgeless healing (especcially in combo with the Battle standard of healing by lfr players that insist it works a certain way and I don't have the time to explain basic engrish to them)

 

[keterys]

It makes low level master's wands of magic missile pretty darn useful treasure now.

 

[Mengu]

It makes low level master's wands of magic missile pretty darn useful treasure now.

That's actually a good point. Auto push 1 can sometimes be rather useful, so keep one in your deep pocket cloak.

 

[MrMyth]

You forgot that bonuses to hit (expertise, combat advantage, leader bonuses, etc) also add to average damage per round for the old version. Also leader bonus to damage (as well as a Syberis Shard of the Mage) is also pretty common at higher levels and don't apply to the new MM. And if you're using a +6 staff of MM, that means that you likely don't have a +6 Staff of Ruin that actually helps all of your other powers.

As I mentioned, damage skews in favor of the old version once you get to start adding bonuses in - but the counter is that damage skews in favor of the new one when up against enemies that are debuffing you, and there are plenty of high level enemies that blind, weaken, or can otherwise hinder your attacks - none of which apply to the new Magic Missile. And remember, you get two At Will Powers - being able to break out Magic Missile when hindered, and your other power when buffed, and you get the best of both worlds.

The +6 Staff of Missile Mastery is a good point - it isn't likely to be a primary weapon. On the other hand, it makes a decent off-hand implement for all the dual-implement casters out of there. They use their Staff of Ruin most of the time, and then cast out of the Staff when they want to Magic Missile - or several, as the case may be.

 

[Zaran]

I really wish they would encompass all the updates into new printings of the books.

 

[Xeterog]

ignore.

 

[sigfile]

but it's an implement that you can use other powers with..and those could crit.

There is special crit damage for Magic Missiles. *shrug*

 

[mneme]

You lost me there. The old MM did 2d4 base which averages to 5; the new MM does a flat 2. That's a loss of only 3 damage, in exchange for never missing, which is a great tradeoff.

That's not a great argument (as 2.5 is better than 2), but if you actually expand it out to the real world, the new MM does a lot more damage than the old one did (yes, even with Bracers of the Perfect Shot factored in). The old MM had a DPR of (13 * 50% + 6.5*.05) 6.825 at 2nd level (with bracers); the new one has a dpr of 8 at 2nd level, and you don't need to acquire a 3rd level item to do it. And yes, I'm quite certain you can optimize the old MM to do more damage than the new one at 30th level due to the optimization limits that "static damage" imply -- but even that's a sucker move; against really tough foes, the comparably unoptimized MM (doing 2+10+6+5 (dual implement spellcaster) = 23 damage) is going to start outdamaging an optimized single-target will just through hitrate.