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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
How to do a 4e Spellthief?
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<blockquote data-quote="Starfox" data-source="post: 4668905" data-attributes="member: 2303"><p><strong>Problem with the concept of the Spellthief in 4E.</strong></p><p></p><p>There is a problem with the whole concept of the Spellthief in 4E. </p><p></p><p>In 3.5, we all knew spellcasters were overpowered. Spells had their own mechanism. They worked essentially different from everything else. In 4E, every power not of the martial origin is magic - but they are no longer as special or powerful as they were earlier. The idea of stealing spells to balance out the power of spellcasters is simply not viable in 4E.</p><p></p><p>I can see a class that focuses on mimicking and perhaps even neutralizing the powers of his opponents- but he would be using magic, not stealing magic. Such a power would reasonably work just as well against all origins, or we suddenly give the Martial origin an advantage. And who can really say if the power a monster uses is martial or not, anyway?</p><p></p><p>Another problem is that this gets into the polymorph quagmire of 3.5. A power that might be reasonable and balanced when a creature sues it might be wildly overpowered in the hands of a PC.</p><p></p><p>I'm not saying a 4E spellthief cannot be done - I'm saying you have to start from scratch, have to rename it (Power Mimic, perhaps) and focus it on stealing/imitating specific daily and encounter powers. Also, as I see you've noted above, it needs a sold base of its own to stand on, with powers it can always use.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Starfox, post: 4668905, member: 2303"] [b]Problem with the concept of the Spellthief in 4E.[/b] There is a problem with the whole concept of the Spellthief in 4E. In 3.5, we all knew spellcasters were overpowered. Spells had their own mechanism. They worked essentially different from everything else. In 4E, every power not of the martial origin is magic - but they are no longer as special or powerful as they were earlier. The idea of stealing spells to balance out the power of spellcasters is simply not viable in 4E. I can see a class that focuses on mimicking and perhaps even neutralizing the powers of his opponents- but he would be using magic, not stealing magic. Such a power would reasonably work just as well against all origins, or we suddenly give the Martial origin an advantage. And who can really say if the power a monster uses is martial or not, anyway? Another problem is that this gets into the polymorph quagmire of 3.5. A power that might be reasonable and balanced when a creature sues it might be wildly overpowered in the hands of a PC. I'm not saying a 4E spellthief cannot be done - I'm saying you have to start from scratch, have to rename it (Power Mimic, perhaps) and focus it on stealing/imitating specific daily and encounter powers. Also, as I see you've noted above, it needs a sold base of its own to stand on, with powers it can always use. [/QUOTE]
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