Weapon focus and spell damage feats

[Khanedur]

So from what I can tell

Astral fire
Burning Blizzard
Dark fury

and all their kind are just Weapon focus for spells, but with added suck.

For instance

Why should spellcasters have to spend attributes in non primary stats to get a damage bonus when melee characters don't?

And why should they then only get that bonus to some of their spells?

Is weapon focus (implement) really a bad idea? I can't see how it would be unbalanced to give casters +1/2/3 damage with a single feat.

 

[Bison]

So from what I can tell

Astral fire
Burning Blizzard
Dark fury

and all their kind are just Weapon focus for spells, but with added suck.

For instance

Why should spellcasters have to spend attributes in non primary stats to get a damage bonus when melee characters don't?

And why should they then only get that bonus to some of their spells?

Is weapon focus (implement) really a bad idea? I can't see how it would be unbalanced to give casters +1/2/3 damage with a single feat.

I think that would then be more powerful than a weapon focus feat, since weapon focus applies only to a specific weapon group, but "implement" would mean anything that has the implement keyword (whereas weapon focus needs the weapon keyword, and for you to be using the right weapon group)

I think the way they have it now is balanced just right.

 

[Khanedur]

I'm sorry if that was confusing. I didn't mean to imply all implement, but rather as a placeholder for any individual implement type. So it would be weapon focus (rod) and so forth.

 

[Habco]

So from what I can tell

Astral fire
Burning Blizzard
Dark fury

and all their kind are just Weapon focus for spells, but with added suck.

For instance

Why should spellcasters have to spend attributes in non primary stats to get a damage bonus when melee characters don't?

And why should they then only get that bonus to some of their spells?

Is weapon focus (implement) really a bad idea? I can't see how it would be unbalanced to give casters +1/2/3 damage with a single feat.

My guess would be the DF,AF etc feats are set up that way due to more aoe amongst caster classes. You would get more of a bonus out of hitting 3 people over hitting one.

It's probably the same reason all caster implements have much lower critical bonuses though.

 

[underfoot007]

So from what I can tell

Astral fire
Burning Blizzard
Dark fury

and all their kind are just Weapon focus for spells, but with added suck.

For instance

Why should spellcasters have to spend attributes in non primary stats to get a damage bonus when melee characters don't?

And why should they then only get that bonus to some of their spells?

Is weapon focus (implement) really a bad idea? I can't see how it would be unbalanced to give casters +1/2/3 damage with a single feat.

Are you truely worried about game balance or you feel wizards are being shorted? so if you do not like the feat choices maybe you should play a defender character.

Please explain why they have "added suck"?

 

[Hammerhead]

The spell damage feats suck for two reasons: weapon using characters, if they're smart, pick powers for one weapon, and they generally use that weapon all the time. If they grab Weapon Focus, that bonus applies pretty much all the time. On the other hand, smart wizards/warlocks like powers that do a wide variety of damage types, picking the powers with the best effects of the level, and to avoid getting shut down by a monster's specific resistance (another thing melee characters don't really have to worry much about...I mean, Gricks?). So their bonus damage feats don't apply on nearly as many attacks.

The second reason the spell damage feats suck is that they require an odd mix of ability scores, a requirement that Weapon Focus doesn't have. I mean, Astral Fire requires Charisma, Dark Fury needs Wisdom?

Feats for spellcasters in general just kind of suck compared to all the benefits their melee/archery counterparts get.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Maybe except for fire... none of them is worth getting... and even fire bns damage isn't that frequent.

Overall good feats for wizards are very few. Frustrating. No wonder all of us are gettin leather armor.

 

[Paul Strack]

I agree that the spell damage feats are generally not worth getting. Astral Fire is might be worth it for a cleric, and Dark Fury might be worth it for a warlock, but none are worth the trouble for a wizard.

I think the "right" way to fix the problem, though, is to remove the spell damage feat prerequisites, not to create a new implement-feat. That would change them from "never get" to "almost always get", but since the fighter types always take Weapon Focus, I think that would work out fine, balance-wise.

 

[Habco]

I agree that the spell damage feats are generally not worth getting. Astral Fire is might be worth it for a cleric, and Dark Fury might be worth it for a warlock, but none are worth the trouble for a wizard.

I think the "right" way to fix the problem, though, is to remove the spell damage feat prerequisites, not to create a new implement-feat. That would change them from "never get" to "almost always get", but since the fighter types always take Weapon Focus, I think that would work out fine, balance-wise.

Well it would be better than the current alternative. You can still spend up to 4 feats to match the benefit of the one a martial class has to pick up. I think Implement mastery would be a perfectly decent feat though, if you restricted it damage bonus to single target spells or just non-blast spells.

 

[bganon]

While I don't necessarily think an Implement Focus feat is such a bad idea, here's a counterargument: Wizards, "blaster" clerics, and ranged warlocks already have an advantage because (if the rest of the party is doing its job) they can afford to focus on their prime stat more. I think you see a lot more Int 20 Wizards and Cha 20 feylocks than Str 20 Fighters or Dex 20 Rogues.

Another point: once you get into paragon/epic it seems like things switch to where the desirable melee feats have annoying prereqs (the various weapon masteries and armor specializations), whereas there are some HOT caster feats with no prereq at all (arcane mastery, spell accuracy, twofold curse, second implement, etc...). I don't really think casters are getting gimped.