Arcana Evolved

[Plane Sailing]

That sounds funny when I remember the complaints from people about how easy it was for 1st level magisters who had specialised in fire do a 4d6 fire burst (I think it was a fire template and a 25gp gem component or something). People were saying "magisters are broken, they are way more powerful at 1st level than wizards can ever be" etc.

So it apparently just depends upon how familiar you are with the system I guess. Nonetheless I'd bet a standard fire burst against ray of frost any day of the week!

 

[Dagger75]

So it apparently just depends upon how familiar you are with the system I guess. Nonetheless I'd bet a standard fire burst against ray of frost any day of the week!

Like I said I was looking for help with this. I will try one more time to see if its any good. I don't have the fire subtype, I have the Eldrich one but still will give it a try. Everyone else is enjoying the game so I will stick with it.

 

[Blastin]

As I was talking to members of my group, trying to convince them to play again, and one made an observation. He said "wow...classes sound a lot like EarthDawn." And that's a good thing as this guys loves EarthDawn. I was thinking that it would be EASY to use the AE rules to play in the Earthdawn world.....

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I am the master of an AU (now slowly "evolving" to AE ) campaign from level 3 to now level 15, and it will probably go up to level 19 to 20 before I end the campaign, probably with the Return of the Dragons.

The only thing I don´t like about is that I can´t play in it.
I would love to see an adventure line for Arcana Evolved, so one of my fellow gamers could pick it up and lead his own game, so I get to play.

Unfortunately, since the player of the Runethane is no longer a regular member (and usually is not there when I take the role of the DM) we have only one "half" spellcaster in the group (Giant/Champion of Life/Greenbond/Giant Paragon), so the benefits of the magic system are all upon the NPCs. (Which unfortunately, don´t have much time to benefit from them, since they are killed quickly once the Sibeccai/Warmain/TotemWarrior or the Giant manage to hit them...)
The Unfettered is difficult to hit, and uses a lot of combat options (tripping, disarming), though he can´t deal a lot of damage directly - compared to the Warmain and Giant, at least. (Though the Giant has trouble hitting at all due to his extensive multiclassing and the resulting low BAB)
Recently, an Akashic joined the group, and he seemed to enjoy the character, too - maybe dones´t have a lot of hp, but with Battle Memory and his Weapon & Armor Profiencies he can enter melee combat and be a dangerous aid, similar to the Unfettered...
The Giant is extremely good in social situations thanks to his impressive Diplomacy and Sense Motive skills (though unfortunately, the last adventure didn´t really allow to use these skills, which is clearly my mistake...)

 

[Plane Sailing]

Like I said I was looking for help with this. I will try one more time to see if its any good. I don't have the fire subtype, I have the Eldrich one but still will give it a try. Everyone else is enjoying the game so I will stick with it.

I haven't looked at AU for a while, I'll admit. I seem to recall thinking that the eldritch template/feat looked potentially neat but turned out to be a lot less effective. The extra 'boom' of the elemental and energy templates is particularly noticeable at low levels IMO.

What level character do you have, and what typical spells do you prepare? If you post that here I'm sure that someone with lots of AU/AE experience would be happy to suggest useful things.

Cheers

 

[Varianor Abroad]

And you'll be glad you did. Bill's games rawk!

Thanks! I must say it really is because of good players too.

I also find it very interesting to see complaints about magisters being able to heal. At 1st and 2nd level, it can be frustrating due to losing your offensive spells to healing magic. When I played at that level, our DM gave us an item that allowed some daily healing, so it made a big difference. Which is to say that I think the issue isn't with the way magic works in AE, it is much more to do with the level and the way healing works in D&D.

As to fireburst though, if you're a magister, you have access to all complex spells. Meaning you can ready a fireburst without the fire templae. It hits a 10 foot square area. That's nothing to sneeze at because it's more effective than a single magic missile or ray of frost. Once you gain in levels the damage improves too. I've had hordes of low-level casters throwing fireburst at a party of 7th level PCs and just start wearing them down. It's that good.

 

[GlassJaw]

Thanks! I must say it really is because of good players too.

Well I hope that means me because I signed up for one of your games at GenCon.

 

[Dagger75]

Well I am level 3 but 2 levels of Mohj and 1 of magister so basically a 2nd level caster. The racial levels are a scam and a waste but we wanted to try them out.

Spells I remember
Can mem 4 I think.

1st: Transfer Wounds
Mudball
Mind Blade
Touch of Nasue

I have the Eldrich template, you know cause saves are what you want to maximize. For my second feat I took Combat casting cause I was tired of getting AoO while casting my Transfer wounds.

We actually never carried torches our anything like that cause we all had Darkvision.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Well I am level 3 but 2 levels of Mohj and 1 of magister so basically a 2nd level caster. The racial levels are a scam and a waste but we wanted to try them out.

I have the Eldrich template, you know cause saves are what you want to maximize. For my second feat I took Combat casting cause I was tired of getting AoO while casting my Transfer wounds.

We actually never carried torches our anything like that cause we all had Darkvision.

Whoa! A scam and a waste? Not really. They just give you different abilities. Mojh levels give you stat boosts, some caster level increases,and natural armor. That's nothing to sneez at. If you wanted just pure caster power, then yes, a third level of magister would help a lot.

But I have a question. Do you have a copy of AU or AE? With so little knowledge of the game, I'm concerned that you don't have enough information to know how to build your character to be as effective as you want.

The spell choices all look like those for a mageblade or a runethane and not a magister. You have access to other 1st level complex spells. Mind stab is a good choice for nailing thinking, living critters with subdual damage. But in AE you can also swap out your readied spell slots pretty easily too, which is a kind of power right there.

You might want to ask your DM if you can swap out the Eldritch Casting feat for Elemental Mage (fire) on the condition that you pick up the EC feat later. That will get you more bang for the buck right now.

 

[Dagger75]

Whoa! A scam and a waste? Not really. They just give you different abilities. Mojh levels give you stat boosts, some caster level increases,and natural armor. That's nothing to sneez at. If you wanted just pure caster power, then yes, a third level of magister would help a lot.

But I have a question. Do you have a copy of AU or AE? With so little knowledge of the game, I'm concerned that you don't have enough information to know how to build your character to be as effective as you want.

The spell choices all look like those for a mageblade or a runethane and not a magister. You have access to other 1st level complex spells. Mind stab is a good choice for nailing thinking, living critters with subdual damage. But in AE you can also swap out your readied spell slots pretty easily too, which is a kind of power right there.

You might want to ask your DM if you can swap out the Eldritch Casting feat for Elemental Mage (fire) on the condition that you pick up the EC feat later. That will get you more bang for the buck right now.

No don't own the book, just what I get a hold of at the game.

As for Stat boosts, you sure you are looking at the right book. From what I saw there was no stat boosts till you had like 4 or so levels of a race. I got Detect magic Will for 1st level Mohj and a +1 to natural armor

At 2nd level I got Levitate,Touch of Fear and lesser Beastskin plus a spellcasting level. Thats it. I didn't see any stat boosts.

I didn't know about swapping spell slots, I thought I had to wait till the next day to do that.