D&D 4E Arcane Spell Failure in 4E
- Thread starter Dice4Hire
- Start date
The Human Target
Adventurer
I hope nay.
As many others have already said, its just not needed.
I've even removed it from 3E games and low and behold the world didn't end.
As many others have already said, its just not needed.
I've even removed it from 3E games and low and behold the world didn't end.
GodOfCheese
First Post
If saving throw bonuses are now more like an Armor Class for spells, then it implies that the attacker rolls against them. If so, then casting in armor could just offset your effectiveness with the spell. For a non-offensive spell (such as Fly), arcane spell failure might be rightly irrelevant. Offensive spells that don't have saves but do have attack rolls (Melf's Acid Arrow, Stars of Arvindor...) might be problematic, but then those spells are seldom more potent than a fighter's equivalent, and the mage is unlikely to hit as often.
One thing that always bugged me about arcane spell failure was the fluff rationale for it. Why should arcane spells be more precise than divine spells? Why do divine spells have somatic components at all? And so forth.
It makes sense for D&D to have some hedge against platemail wizards, but it stands to reason that if a Warmage can learn to be good enough in that department, shouldn't a Wizard?
One thing that always bugged me about arcane spell failure was the fluff rationale for it. Why should arcane spells be more precise than divine spells? Why do divine spells have somatic components at all? And so forth.
It makes sense for D&D to have some hedge against platemail wizards, but it stands to reason that if a Warmage can learn to be good enough in that department, shouldn't a Wizard?
fuindordm
Adventurer
Absolutely not, assuming the nature of armor hasn't changed much. ASF penalizes characters more than necessarily for adopting an suboptimal character design.
Light armor is clearly not a big deal, since 1st level spells simulate it and bracers of armor +2-+3 are pretty cheap. If a character is proficient in light armor, they should be able to wear it.
Medium and heavy armors come with their own penalties: great weight, ACP, reduced movement. If you're slowing yourself down on the battlefield, you had better have the HP to survive getting hit in melee. You also need a high strength to wear it, but if a Wizard puts their second high score in Str then they're probably sacrificing Dex or Con.
Finally, the character that really need it--fighter/wizards--are taking enough of a power hit in their spells to balance the armor. The only thing the ASF does in this case is to force characters to spend big bucks on twilight mithril chain shirts instead of a normal breastplate. How does that help the game?
IMC, having proficiency in armor is enough to remove ASF. I don't have any armored wizards running around!
Light armor is clearly not a big deal, since 1st level spells simulate it and bracers of armor +2-+3 are pretty cheap. If a character is proficient in light armor, they should be able to wear it.
Medium and heavy armors come with their own penalties: great weight, ACP, reduced movement. If you're slowing yourself down on the battlefield, you had better have the HP to survive getting hit in melee. You also need a high strength to wear it, but if a Wizard puts their second high score in Str then they're probably sacrificing Dex or Con.
Finally, the character that really need it--fighter/wizards--are taking enough of a power hit in their spells to balance the armor. The only thing the ASF does in this case is to force characters to spend big bucks on twilight mithril chain shirts instead of a normal breastplate. How does that help the game?
IMC, having proficiency in armor is enough to remove ASF. I don't have any armored wizards running around!
Lonely Tylenol
First Post
I think all my posts are great posts, but I don`t feel the need to repost them in a quote block further down in the same thread.Rakin said:
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