Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5e fireballs
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5803889" data-attributes="member: 53980"><p>I've received xp as well. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Most defenders are better than sticky notes, but their ability to be concrete should be very limited. Enemies should have a choice to attack non-defenders. It just shouldn't be an <em>optimal</em> choice. Otherwise the defender collects all the mobs and holds them with taunts, and we really do start playing Warcraft.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Aegis of Shielding makes the Swordmage a much more appealing option by comparison. Have you even played a defender? Your comments seem uninformed. You can attack the Swordmage and deal full damage if you hit, or attack someone else, who probably has a comparable AC after the -2, and inflict severely reduced amount of damage if you manage to hit. Suddenly the swordmage looks like a much more appealing target. Personally, I try to get enemies to provoke my Aegis. I take as many teleports as possible to keep my marks as far away from me as I can. Because whatever I put my Aegis on will be contributing marginally, at best, so long as I can keep it off of me.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Typically, only dailies do something on a miss. Complaining about that is like complaining that the sky is blue. Booming blade scales fairly nicely, actually. It's 1d6 + Con, so it scales with both attributes and magic weapon bonuses. Particularly at low levels, when you're most likely to use it regularly, it boosts a Swordmage's damage to Striker levels when provoked. Please feel free to walk away from my Booming Blade; you'll won't last long trying that.</p><p></p><p>By the time the damage is useless, you've got enough encounters so that you don't have to worry about it, and can train it out for an at-will of your choice (Lightening Lure is good, though I prefer Sword Burst for the occasional minion swarm). If your point is that it should bump up that damage at 21st level though, I agree. I just don't think it's a big deal since how often do you actually use at-wills at those levels?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's not a 60% hit chance. I take expertise and flank with strikers regularly. Luring Strike helps to guarantee that they stay where I want them. It's very handy for pulling an enemy off of an ally, and the like. I swear by that at-will. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They do plenty <em>for at wills</em>. They're not going to move the earth, but they are quite handy.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's why you position yourselves before using either ability. Seriously, does this really require explaining?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yup, and I see nothing wrong with that. If the DM wants to nerf his damage into the ground while simultaneously giving me striker-like output, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Typically though, the DM weighs his options before provoking my swordmage's wrath. There's nothing intelligent about giving the players extra damage while simultaneously penalizing your own.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes, I have played a wizard against a killer DM. Both of my current DMs are from the no-holds-barred, killing player characters brings a special joy to my world, school of DMing. I took lumps sometimes, but so did everyone else. If anything, I fared better than most. Most of the time I was stepping in (figuratively, of course) to save the strikers. I didn't die, which is more than I can say about the rogue.</p><p></p><p>The wizard takes (or at least should take) a lot less attacks than the defender. If he's not, you're doing something wrong. Hence, his lower AC should not matter that often.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And like I said, if you run an atypical encounter then the encounter guidelines don't work too well. The example you gave was quite atypical, regardless of whether you think of it that way or not. You can claim that mistakes were made, but in my book a mistake is putting your Aegis on a Soldier. Not thinking to bring out a light source when suffering darkness penalties goes way beyond a mistake in my book. Seriously, what kind of N + 0 encounter lasts 12+ rounds at 6th level? </p><p></p><p>(This is why I brought up my 3e example. If you run a non-standard encounter, you should expect non-standard results. You can't give a pair of goblin rogues a ton of consumables to use before the encounter starts, have them win easily, and then point to that as a reason that the WPL guidelines are broken. PCs aren't going to be able to employ such a strategy under typical circumstances.)</p><p></p><p>I don't typically see tiny areas in 4e. Moderate to large size areas are much more common, because they encourage non-static play.</p><p></p><p>What it comes down to is that you have to play intelligently if you want to succeed. The wizard is still a challenging class. You have to identify who your most important targets for control are. Sometimes you have to stand at a distance (such as when slowing targets) and sometimes you should stand near (such as when expecting the defender to take the heat off of you). Never move to where the leader can't heal you unless you're certain you won't need healing. If you play it like a fighter or a rogue, expect to die. You have to play it like a wizard in order to excel.</p><p></p><p>In any case, I have a small mountain of school work and work projects to get through before the weekend, since I've got game (D&D) and the game (Superbowl). So you can consider me out of this discussion, as I don't expect I'll have much time for debate in the next few days.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 5803889, member: 53980"] I've received xp as well. ;) Most defenders are better than sticky notes, but their ability to be concrete should be very limited. Enemies should have a choice to attack non-defenders. It just shouldn't be an [i]optimal[/i] choice. Otherwise the defender collects all the mobs and holds them with taunts, and we really do start playing Warcraft. Aegis of Shielding makes the Swordmage a much more appealing option by comparison. Have you even played a defender? Your comments seem uninformed. You can attack the Swordmage and deal full damage if you hit, or attack someone else, who probably has a comparable AC after the -2, and inflict severely reduced amount of damage if you manage to hit. Suddenly the swordmage looks like a much more appealing target. Personally, I try to get enemies to provoke my Aegis. I take as many teleports as possible to keep my marks as far away from me as I can. Because whatever I put my Aegis on will be contributing marginally, at best, so long as I can keep it off of me. Typically, only dailies do something on a miss. Complaining about that is like complaining that the sky is blue. Booming blade scales fairly nicely, actually. It's 1d6 + Con, so it scales with both attributes and magic weapon bonuses. Particularly at low levels, when you're most likely to use it regularly, it boosts a Swordmage's damage to Striker levels when provoked. Please feel free to walk away from my Booming Blade; you'll won't last long trying that. By the time the damage is useless, you've got enough encounters so that you don't have to worry about it, and can train it out for an at-will of your choice (Lightening Lure is good, though I prefer Sword Burst for the occasional minion swarm). If your point is that it should bump up that damage at 21st level though, I agree. I just don't think it's a big deal since how often do you actually use at-wills at those levels? It's not a 60% hit chance. I take expertise and flank with strikers regularly. Luring Strike helps to guarantee that they stay where I want them. It's very handy for pulling an enemy off of an ally, and the like. I swear by that at-will. They do plenty [i]for at wills[/i]. They're not going to move the earth, but they are quite handy. That's why you position yourselves before using either ability. Seriously, does this really require explaining? Yup, and I see nothing wrong with that. If the DM wants to nerf his damage into the ground while simultaneously giving me striker-like output, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Typically though, the DM weighs his options before provoking my swordmage's wrath. There's nothing intelligent about giving the players extra damage while simultaneously penalizing your own. Yes, I have played a wizard against a killer DM. Both of my current DMs are from the no-holds-barred, killing player characters brings a special joy to my world, school of DMing. I took lumps sometimes, but so did everyone else. If anything, I fared better than most. Most of the time I was stepping in (figuratively, of course) to save the strikers. I didn't die, which is more than I can say about the rogue. The wizard takes (or at least should take) a lot less attacks than the defender. If he's not, you're doing something wrong. Hence, his lower AC should not matter that often. And like I said, if you run an atypical encounter then the encounter guidelines don't work too well. The example you gave was quite atypical, regardless of whether you think of it that way or not. You can claim that mistakes were made, but in my book a mistake is putting your Aegis on a Soldier. Not thinking to bring out a light source when suffering darkness penalties goes way beyond a mistake in my book. Seriously, what kind of N + 0 encounter lasts 12+ rounds at 6th level? (This is why I brought up my 3e example. If you run a non-standard encounter, you should expect non-standard results. You can't give a pair of goblin rogues a ton of consumables to use before the encounter starts, have them win easily, and then point to that as a reason that the WPL guidelines are broken. PCs aren't going to be able to employ such a strategy under typical circumstances.) I don't typically see tiny areas in 4e. Moderate to large size areas are much more common, because they encourage non-static play. What it comes down to is that you have to play intelligently if you want to succeed. The wizard is still a challenging class. You have to identify who your most important targets for control are. Sometimes you have to stand at a distance (such as when slowing targets) and sometimes you should stand near (such as when expecting the defender to take the heat off of you). Never move to where the leader can't heal you unless you're certain you won't need healing. If you play it like a fighter or a rogue, expect to die. You have to play it like a wizard in order to excel. In any case, I have a small mountain of school work and work projects to get through before the weekend, since I've got game (D&D) and the game (Superbowl). So you can consider me out of this discussion, as I don't expect I'll have much time for debate in the next few days. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5e fireballs
Top