3PP releases Witch Doctor, new controller class, for playtest

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

My biggest criticism is that it doesn't fit my mental image of a witch doctor.

I think it should be more of a primal "devoted cleric-deceptive warlock" hybrid. It looks like they went "war wizard-tactical warlord" hybrid, which I would call a battle mage, more of a leader role.

So, in my mind, I expect the powers to be more about buffs and debuffs (love the "enemy has to reroll a save and use the second roll" power) with a bit of healing rather than the big damage spells that dominate.

What is the "spirit" power source? Seems like it should be primal or arcane.

The mask is a very cool idea. Get rid of the staff or rod implements and use the mask instead. I'd like to see the whole mask thing fleshed out into a category of magic items.

I also like that they use a bunch of wall effects. That definitely fits my mental image of a primal witch doctor.

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

I have to admit when I started reading this I loved it, I have to agree that curse of the mask is really fun.

Love the use of walls. Damage seems within the right limits. Lower then most other classes due to all the effects.

I don't like lightning lure - it is just not good. Perhaps as an immediate interrupt that simply negates damage.

Mask of the elements is in my opinion needing a change due to the fact that you pretty much cut elves out of ever taking that feature.

I like the at wills although I am not sure how balanced the synergy between Poison strike as a first attack followed by whatever other attack you choose is like and if it might be a little too strong as a combo from a single class' at-wills.

That said this class has me seriously contemplating a purchase even though it is a PDF (which normally would make it a big NO THANKYOU) the quality is great and I love the layout. I don't know what to do? Get it or hold out in a vain hope that all these products will be great and be put into a book and be within easy pricing especially as One Bad Egg only plan on printing through on-demand which is just more expensive.

 

[Kunimatyu]

It's an Area Blast 2. Yes, that's right; it's a Blast that isn't adjacent to the caster.

0_o

That explains a lot.

Hm, now you have to wonder whether the 4e team would have been better off with close blasts and area blasts, and burst always centered on the caster...

 

[Shroomy]

I should probably send this to One Bad Egg, but my biggest question is whether the masks are actual masks or just names for the class features. I mean, is it an object that you can take off or that takes up the head slot of the PC?

 

[Shroomy]

Another thing that I'd like to see is more powers built around the "Fear" keyword. It just seems more witch-doctory to me.

 

[rdonoghue]

Just want to say, the feedback is incredibly useful, thank you all. I'll see if I can answer questions or comments sometime when I'm not about to fall asleep.

-Rob D.

 

[rdonoghue]

Implements

So, implements make for an interesting question. In an ideal world, I would probably want the mask and something else, like a medicine bag, to be the implements for the witch doctor. It's non-standard, but I could completely support it, and it's strongly thematic and it would just be fun. Plus, from a cynical marketing perspective, it means sometime down the line we could produce a 2 buck pdf of magic items just to support it.

Unfortunately, that does a disservice to anyone who actually plays a witch doctor. As more magic items become available, there will always be many more staffs and rods than there will be little one-off things, so this is a point where some short term cool is sacrificed so the class can be more easily plugged into the game as it grows. Or at least that's the theory.

-Rob D.

PS - Rods are an odd choice, I know, since they are currently slanted so strongly towards Warlocks. However, that will change with time. Artificers can use Rods, and I feel confident other classes will be able to in time as well, so once again it's a matter of looking to the future.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

The trade-off being 1d4 damage. That's chicken scratch.

Hmm, if the power is designed to primarily kill minions, I wonder if the damage should be based on an ability modifier instead of a die roll (maybe Cha or Int?). That reduces the amount of rolls and kills minions. I'd probably reduce the bonus to attack to +2.

But all in all this is a really neat class! With this class and the barbarian preview, I think I have enough primal/spirit badassitude for my short-term needs.

 

[Zaukrie]

Give the witch doctor a ritual that allows it to convert rods or staffs or whatever into fetishes and masks. heck, allow it to have an attack that tries to steal a rod or implement from a player. Imagine the horror of the PC that sees his favorite implement converted to a fetish, never to be used again.

 

[Archus]

Implements
So, implements make for an interesting question. In an ideal world, I would probably want the mask and something else, like a medicine bag, to be the implements for the witch doctor. It's non-standard, but I could completely support it, and it's strongly thematic and it would just be fun. Plus, from a cynical marketing perspective, it means sometime down the line we could produce a 2 buck pdf of magic items just to support it

I think masks and medicine bags would be much cooler. Easily enough noted that masks are a form of rods and medicine bags a form of wand (or whatever) - it could even just be a sidebar on "Reskinning Implements". So no support is needed. Since 4E is based around the assumption the DM will put in items just for your characters reskinning is pretty easy.

Much like I plan on reskinning swordmages to be hammermages, staff mages, etc.