A Question Concerning Certain Essentials Red Box Mage Spells

[cavalier973]

In the Red Box, the Mage can choose certain Transmutation Spells: Stone Blood, Leaden Transformation, and Slimy Transmutation. These are "optional" in the Character Builder, and I noticed that there were similar spells listed in Heroes of the Feywild. Were these spells considered either too underpowered or too overpowered to include as-written in the newer books? Has anyone run a campaign with a player using these spells and found them to be problematic?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Polymorph spells had been controversial in the past. The only one of those that rings a bell with me is Slimy Transmutation, which didn't seem too broken (maybe I missed something). It was from HotFw, though, for the Witch sub-class. Maybe there's some technicality that makes it 'optional' to extend to other wizards, like Mages?

 

[cavalier973]

Well, the powers were optional because they came from the Red Box. Some of the other class powers in the Red Box were changed or exchanged. The Red Box thief's "Bump and Run" was replaced by the superior "Escape Artist" in Heroes of the Fallen Lands. The Transmutation powers from the Red Box were "Stone Blood", which was an at-will burst power that did some damage and slowed the targets, and Leaden Transformation which was an encounter spell that did did some damage to and slowed one target.

The Witch's version of "Slimy Transmutation" is a Fifth Level spell, the Red Box Mage's is a First Level spell, so I got the impression that the designers considered the Red Mage version a little too powerful for a First Level character. A level 1 mage could turn Orcus himself into a toad (the effect was automatic even if the mage missed).