Complete Arcane base classes

[Woas]

Warlocks are very cool. I didn't play one, but my friend in a mutual game did. I think it would be great if the name Warlock was dropped, and what is now the warlock was called a Sorcerer. Along with the name, the self-loathing "I'm a former bad dude, but I'm not!" chaotic alignment and purple/black color scheme should be dropped too and given a more open ended-ness that could really represent any type of sorcerer. Along with new/differently worded invocations.

I have limited experience with warmages. Someone played one for a few sessions at lower levels in a campaign I was in and then decided to switch to another character while the party was generally still low level. I mostly play Arcana Evolved now-a-days though. And one of the classes from that is called a Mage Blade which I feel does the "Spellsword/Eldritch Knight/Warmage/Fighter-mage" niche the best. Basically, my opinion of the Warmages is that they are warriors (as the NPC class) with a neckalce of fireballs...I really don't find warmages to be a worth while class.

Now Wu Jen are pretty neat. I like the style and the elemental casting. Even though they are the "Oriental" inspired class, they still can fit into a European medieval style campaign if you are the type that do not like to mix east and west. They make a nice alternate to wizards if you want less of an "Academia" style wizard and more "Mystic Arts" wizard.

 

[Beckett]

In the 12th level game I play in, there's a Warmage. In combat, he can be pretty effective, with a wide variety of damaging spells, and lots of uses of them. However, there are many times I wish he was playing a standard wizard; with the warmage, if it doesn't do damage, he can't cast it (practically). It would be nice to get a haste once in a while, or invisibility, or another buff, and teleport would be very welcome. Also, unlike a sorcerer, he can't automatically use any arcane wands we find.

He can put out a lot of damage, that's for sure, but damage can always be done by the warriors. Having a warmage in the party has given me a new found appreciation for utility spells.

 

[der_kluge]

I have a warmage and a warlock in my current campaign. They are 6th level. The players introduced both of them at 4th, I think.


I hate them both, but for different reasons.

Firstly, I think the warmage is fairly balanced overall. I haven't seen the warmage do much that has totally caught me off guard. Yea, he casts lots of magic missiles, and whatnot, but it's not too severe. Well, I should qualify this by saying that he's multi-classed to a couple of fighter levels. So, he's not as powerful as he could be in terms in warmage levels. But, I think it's fairly balanced, if not a tad on the weak side.

Thing is, the party barbarian (of all things) is constantly making fun of both of them because they are "wizards" yet neither of them can actually read magic. Which is the failing of both classes. They are serving in the role of arcane spellcaster, but yet neither of them can actually fulfill that role. In terms of a warmage, if you want to deal lots of damage, you're better off making a barbarian, or fighter.

The Warlock, OTOH, is a tad over-powered, I think. In terms of actual game play, it strikes me as a tad on the boring side. From a class standpoint, it strikes me as being sort of goofy. I mean, Sorcerers are descendant from "who knows what" and yet they don't get DR. So, the addition of DR just strikes me as being a tad over the top. If you compare sorcerer to the warlock, warlock just reads as being more powerful. But they are certainly far less versatile. But, as someone who has written d20 products in the past, I would have had major heartburn over this if it were in a book I were involved with. Thematically, it doesn't make much sense, and is just sort of a hodge-podge of crap thrown together.

Some of the warlock abilities are also very powerful - see invisibility constantly, fly constantly, see in magic darkness constantly, create globes of darkness at will. It's enough to make a GM pull his hair out.

In my next campaign, I intend to allow warmages (though with a strong caution of warning to the player), but I will not allow Warlocks. Personally, I think it's kind of a stupid, munchkiny class.

I don't have any experience with Wu Jen, but on paper they seem fairly balanced.

 

[Seeten]

As a level 11 Wizard, my Wizard has See invisible constantly, Darkvision constantly, Arcane Sight constantly...thanks to the permanency spell. I didnt even have to give up 4 of my 7 invocations for it.

 

[Aus_Snow]

The Warlock doesn't appeal to me in terms of mechanics, nor in terms of 'flavour', so I don't allow it in campaigns. The Warmage - boring as it is - is open to be taken, but hasn't been. The Wu Jen looks very much like a Wizard. Boring, too.

As you can probably tell, I was totally unimpressed by the base classes in CA. Actually, most of the book left me cold. To each their own though.

 

[der_kluge]

As a level 11 Wizard, my Wizard has See invisible constantly, Darkvision constantly, Arcane Sight constantly...thanks to the permanency spell. I didnt even have to give up 4 of my 7 invocations for it.

You're also 5 levels higher than the Warlock in my group, and you had to pay XP for those abilities.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Warmages are "artillery", basically. As long as a party that includes a Warmage has some other source of utiity spells, such as a Wizard or Cleric, the party will do fine. They are very limited, however. In games that feature more than just dungeons, they won't have much of a role, although you could stress the military aspect from the flavour text. There's potential for military relationships and contacts that can help the party there.

Warlocks have a lot of flavour, and their ability to churn out eldritch bast all day can come in handy. As said above, their role can change immensely depending on their chosen invocations. I haven't seen on in play apart from having a few as NPCs. This class can work well coupled with rogue levels. RP opportunities abound from the implied revulsion aimed at Warlocks.

Nobody in my group has been interested in the Wu Jen class, although I have played a few myself. It pretty much is a wizard with a few bells and whistles. The Taboo aspect plays up the other-ness of this class. Such PCs will always be different, unlike the potential of "everyman" archetypes sorcerers and wizards can occupy.
The inclusion of Wood and Metal themed spells also adds to their other-ness.

If there is another primary arcane caster, there could be clashes of style with the Warmage and Wu Jen, depending on spell selection. Again, this could be an interesting RP opportunity.


Edit: Fixed warmage in first para. Oops!

 

[Crothian]

The war mage I found fun. Just wave after wave of destruction. I don't like the sudden feats and would perfer they get real meta magic feats. But it was enjoyiable to play and role play a character with that kind of ability.

The Warlock on the other hand I found boring. Ya, it was fun for a while role playing the character with the dark ancestery, but in the end I had far more fun with Use MAgic Device then I ever did with anything that class gave me to play with. Once the thrill of the new toy is over, the class really doesn't shine.

 

[Victim]

Wu Jen: as written, this doesn't need to be its own class, just play a wizard with some quirks. Or make it more distinct. And all the wu jen specific spells ate up space (and often sucked).

One of the characters in my game has just become a Warlock, and everything seems okay so far. The class seems pretty solid, except for its lack of variability. Of course, Warlock's still have more options than most melee classes, so it's one trick pony status is probably a bit overstated. Not having limits on their powers per day might allow for some unusual tactics, but the party would probably have to be pretty unconventional in makeup to take full advantage (warlock+dragon shaman?).

I'm not sure the warmage has enough of an edge in blasting to make up for its crippled spell list. Even playing a wizard who's mostly an artillery, I still like the strategic threat that the non blasty spells provide. Blowing up all kinds of stuff on the battlefield (or whereever) is nice, but it's even better when you can port into your foe's home and blow stuff up there too. But the class has some cool hooks to hang a character on, and looks like it could be a good multiclass (warmage EKs can wear armor). Again, while they lack the utility effects of other casters, their non combat abilities are probably better than most fighters. Not that that's saying much.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

My thoughts

One, I do not like the Warlock. He is rightly banned from my table. No need to go into why here.

Two, I really like the Warmage, as it is a good fighter, and ahs a lot of energy backing him up. I am currently playing one and I like it a lot. Limits, but still fun.

Third: Wu-Jen I like the class, I really do, and they have some cool spells no other caster ahs, but i have not played one and probably never will