Arcane Power Excerpt: Cosmic Magic

[Scholar & Brutalman]

The cosmic phase thing sounds fun, if a bit convoluted. One more thing to keep track of anyway.

Strength as a 2ndary stat, bah! It doesn't make sense except as (yet) another build for dragonborns.

It seems especially odd given that "Storm" is the other new Sorcerer build. I can associate Storm with Strength and Cosmic with Int quite easily.

Edit: I forgot the other sorcerer secondary stat is Dex, not Int. I find it rather hard to associate either Str or Dex with a cosmic power source.

 

[Leatherhead]

Well now a striker gets area burst at-wills. And one with an actual control feature attached, unlike Scorching Burst.

I'm hoping Arcane Power will actually give a mechanical reason to play a Wizard, except for "I have cool daily powers and a broken class ability at Epic levels. Also, I have lower HP than ranged strikers for no good reason whatsoever!"

Signed,

Annoyed Player of a Wizard.

I would be more annoyed if I played a Warlock. The first the Deamonskin Adept, and now this. With both classes being ranged arcane strikers, they have quite a bit of overlap to begin with. I am aware that "Cosmic Power" isn't exactly the same as "From Beyond the Stars," but it's too close for comfort, and reliable radiant damage was what made Warlocks stand out.

 

[Syunsuke]

I would be more annoyed if I played a Warlock. The first the Deamonskin Adept, and now this. With both classes being ranged arcane strikers, they have quite a bit of overlap to begin with. I am aware that "Cosmic Power" isn't exactly the same as "From Beyond the Stars," but it's too close for comfort, and reliable radiant damage was what made Warlocks stand out.

I agree.
Well, but adjusting these cosmic sorcerer's powers to starlock powers could be an easy house rule, for they are arcane, ranged and striker powers.
You need some idea about Cosmic Magic lines, but you might just ignore them.
Or assume them as "Star pact" lines...but then you need some idea about phase thingy.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I was really hoping one of the new sorcerer builds would be con. Actually I still think Dragon magic should have been.

 

[Nymrohd]

The "dragonborn" in the article looks more like a tall kobold to me . . .

 

[Byronic]

I'd change the Strength requirement to Wis.

It makes more sense and fits with the whole cosmic perception. Emphasise the cursing and Cthulhu aspect of the Starlocks and the "intune" aspect of "Cosmic" Sorcerers.

Unless Sorcerers have a "secondary pact" thing like Warlocks have we should be fine.

Edit: Just remembered that Wis and Cha have the same Def. Easily fixed, Wisdom also provides Reflex for Cosmic Sorcerers. I'll call the class feature "Cosmic Oneness"

 

[erf_beto]

Well, I love it.

I wanted this astrologer type of spellcaster. I thought Star-pact was supposed to be this guy, but he's more like praying to the black between the stars than the stars themselves... Too bad the D&D cosmology doesn't use our own solar system - we could have a lot more phases and interesting effects from Mercury to Pluto.

My only problem is tracking the phases: you have to constantly re-phase yourself so your powers work on the next encounter - and use them before getting bloodied, otherwise you loose the phase and the added effect. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to happen often (only two powers shown have extra effects based on wich phase you're on) and the sorcerer was the most simple class from PH2, so it can stand a little complexity.

Edit: Oh, and yes. Strenght?!? What the...?!?

 

[Mengu]

Blazing Star Fall is going to make some wizards scratch their head, break their staff and go home. Radiant AoE at-will with a control effect on a striker class? Really?

Phase of the Stars is one of the few evasion abilities the Sorcerer gets. I think that's the Phase I would start with most any encounter. If I get bloodied, then Phase of the Sun kicks in and I start doing more damage.

Ray of the Moon is another nice control power on a striker.

I think Dazzling Starlight has a typo, it should be Sorcerer Attack 3 (not 13).

Moon Cage is yet another excellent control power on a striker. Restrained is a pretty fantastic condition.

It's certainly a strong build, though some of the resistances aren't likely to come into play as much as say fire resistance would, and the level 1 daily is not very impressive. But there are other good options to consider so that's no big loss.

 

[chaotix42]

I think Dazzling Starlight is correct at 13th lvl - it does more damage than Moon Cage, targets Will, and dazes if you're in the right phase. We'll probably see a few powers of each level that grant a bonus depending on the phase you're in.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

He doesn´t seem to do serious striker damage...

Actually he looks more or less like a controller... yes strntgh is a bit odd... maybe he has Astronomic Teleskope as implement...