Complete Mage product description

[Pbartender]

Yeah. It's not the same thing as Complete Arcane, so get over it.

Perhaps not, but it sure sounds similar. I don't think it's necessarily bad, per se... depends entirely on what they make of the book... Likely it'll be an expansion and elaboration upon what's already been established in Complete Arcane. I'm fine with that, but why pretend that it'll be anything different?

I'm just of the mind that if WotC is going to make a Complete Arcane II, why not just call it Complete Arcane II? It's not like they haven't done it already with the DMG, PHB and MM (three times over).

It just seems a bit silly to me, is all...

"Complete Arcane, A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for All Classes" with a picture on the cover of a dark-skinned wizard with a cat on his shoulder, an ancient tome in his right hand, and a eyeball floating over his left.

As opposed to...

"Complete Mage, A Player's Guide to All Things Arcane" with a picture on the cover of a pale-skinned wizard with rats on his shoulder, a staff in his left hand, and a skull floating over his right. (Oh noes! Teh eval mirrorz twin of teh Complete Arcane! )

Even if they have completely different material inside, it sure looks like a retread at first glance.

What ever... A rose by any other name will have its judgement reserved until I see it on the shelves.

 

[Razz]

Who do I have to kill to make it so?

Otherwise, the new Warlock invocations are the only thing that's calling to me. I'm sure the quality is good -- great authors -- I'm just having enough issues managing current options.

And I'll take some really high quality PrCs over a glut of them. Since 3E came out our group has had a Thief-Acrobat (3.0), a Duelist (3.0), and an Order of the Bow Initiate (3.5). So, we're not really looking for more.

Likewise, our group has used prestige classes for their characters and the number used barely hit double digits.

That doesn't mean more PrC isn't necessary. There're people out there waiting for the right PrC to come along and more PrC means that PrC will come along soon. Also, DMs such as myself like new PrC for the purpose of new and unique challenges to the PCs or to build a more unique campaign.

 

[I'm A Banana]

And along that line of thought, I'd like to see some ways for warlock invocations to become available to other classes without multi-classing. If they're going to devote space exclusively to invocations, at least let us the most out of it.

This would be genius!

Unfortunately, I think it would be TOO genius for Wizards to come up with. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Still...I really like the idea of substitution levels for this purpose. And new invocations and wu jen goodness can't be too shabby of a plan.

 

[the black knight]

It's pretty much all about the invocations. If we see quite a few (and good ones at that), people will turn out in droves for this book. Otherwise, it will sell only reasonably well.

We need a home run since the embarrassment that is MMIV.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Yeah... I'll wait till the book's out before I say that...

Oh, I'm just quoting what Ari said about it. I kind of believe that one of the authors knows what the book is like.

 

[deadboydex]

"Complete Arcane, A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for All Classes" with a picture on the cover of a dark-skinned wizard with a cat on his shoulder, an ancient tome in his right hand, and a eyeball floating over his left.

As opposed to...

"Complete Mage, A Player's Guide to All Things Arcane" with a picture on the cover of a pale-skinned wizard with rats on his shoulder, a staff in his left hand, and a skull floating over his right. (Oh noes! Teh eval mirrorz twin of teh Complete Arcane! )

Even if they have completely different material inside, it sure looks like a retread at first glance.

...did you seriously just judge a book by its cover?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Oh, I'm just quoting what Ari said about it. I kind of believe that one of the authors knows what the book is like.

Well, I know what it was like during the writing phase, anyway. A lot can change in development.

Seriously, though. Yes, it's got some similarities to Complete Arcane. They're both books about arcane magic, after all.

But they are not the same book. CM is not a rehash of CA. CM is not a replacement for CA. CM is not a sequel to CA (though parts of it do indeed expand on CA; I suppose you could call those parts of the book a sequel to CA).

Not sure what else I can say about it that hasn't either already been said, or would violate NDA. But there it is.

 

[Felon]

This would be genius!

Unfortunately, I think it would be TOO genius for Wizards to come up with. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Still...I really like the idea of substitution levels for this purpose. And new invocations and wu jen goodness can't be too shabby of a plan.

I"m hoping for a PrC class or two that grant invocations, maybe mixing in elements of warrior or expert. That would provide career options warlocks and allow other classes to eventually obtain invocations. Two birds, one stone.

 

[Perun]

First we had psionic focus in the XPH. Then - recently - we gained Combat focus that worked in a similar pattern. Now, it seems, we have a magical focus - albeit called 'Reserve'. I wonder where else this will lead? Will we see a Skill Focus that allows one unusual competency in a skill while focused, or perhaps new and more complex uses of the skill while focused, or perhaps allowing more difficult results with lower DCs while focused? These are just the first things that come to mind for such.

An Eberron book dealt with this, but only in a minor way, IIRC. Presumably, it was Magic of Eberron, but I'm too lazy to go and check. There were also a couple of spells that worked on this principle, IIRC.

 

[Nyaricus]

New heritage feats?

A Fey-blooded sorcerer feat, perhaps? Cool