Complete Arcane - What's in it!!

[Gez]

Its twinkery pollutes it like Mesos' essense pollutes Sharn.

Wow! This time, they were serious about banishing the Titans, if they sent Mesos' essence to Eberron!

Maybe it explains the prevalence of magic in that world, though...

 

[Geoff Watson]

Somewhere in the darkness, a tiny twig snaps and Anabstercorian throws a hissy fit.

PLEASE STOP SINGING ITS PRAISES!

It's from Scarred Lands. Nightfall is unreasonably biased, so ignore him.

Geoff.

 

[WizarDru]

That's because most adventures assume that when you're out of the dungeon, it's an easy thing to find spells to scribe. You want a spell? You pays yer money and gets it.

Giving them out in treasure is just a way of saying "look guys, this is wizard only treasure, alright?". So it's not commonly done without good reason.

I think you meant to say "Wizard, Sorceror, Rogue and Bard and some clerics (depending) treasure" right?

I mean, it isn't really much different from saying that a magic bastard sword is "fighter, paladin, barbarian and ranger only treasure", potentially. Not all treasure is going to be equally useful....which is why lots of it often gets sold.

 

[ARandomGod]

...If its no better than a spell from the level its adjusted to just cast a spell of that level instead of wasting a feat and preparing a weaker spell modified to a new level. ...

This I have to agree with... Of course, I generally agree with it the opposite way, in that I think that metamagic feats as written are good only for the sorc's out there. As, for a sorc, each metamagic feat (that adds at least one level) effectively doubles the sorc's spells known, which is pretty good for a sorc. However a mage simply shouldn't use metamagic feats. It's not worth it. You want an empowered fireball? Research a fireball of that higher level. Easily does the same amount of damage AND is a higher level.

However 2d4 level drain is already a spell... a ninth level spell. Interesting.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

What about for Time Stop? I didn't catch the actual effect of the feat anywhere, but if it turns anything into a Delayed Blast Fireball, basically...depending on what the level adjustment is.

Koewn

yeah cause a feat whoose only purpose is to work well with time stop is such a great feat.

The LA is +3 spell levels which makes it useless. Lets look at the only delayed spell I can think of as an example delayed balst fireball 7th level powerful spell and all. What's its damage cap 20d6, whats the damage cap for a 7th level area of effect spell hey 20d6. Noe elts see I want to delay a spell lets make its end result a 7th level spell that makes it a 4th level spell hm damage cap on a area of effect 4th level spell 10d6 oooh scary at those levels. Even at a +0 level adjustment it wouldn't be that great of a feat. Useful sure but last time I checked feats were supposed to be useful.

Chain spell for damaging spells falls into the same trap. For damaging spells a +3 la kicks it up too many levels so because of damage caps and weaker DCs it turns the spell into a weak spell and a feat shouldn't turn your spells into weak spells it was supposed to be a benefit to take it. Chain spell luckily has a saving grace of working on spells like greater magic weapon all the more important with todays golf bag syndrome being so prevailent. If they had got off their butts and redisgned it instead of cut and pasting it, they would of either split in into 2 feats or had differing La based on the type of spell. Damaging effects+1La, all other effects+3 spell levels. Still a decent feat just for the save or dies and GMW but the fact that they didn't fix the damage part means they served us up a heaping bowl of crap with a side order of sucker(otherwise known as why did you trust us to do our jobs instead of just taking the easy way out)

 

[Pbartender]

It sounds like you don't value the 'cast on the fly' ability as much as I tend to. The wizard suffers from a classic dilemma...."Do I need it, today?" When plenty of prep time is available, the wizard has a distinct advantage. In an unknown situation, he has associated meta-game costs with selecting the right spell at the right time. Will he need that Feather Fall, or will it turn out to be a wasted spell? The sorceror has no such problems...he either has the spell appropriate to the situation or he doesn't.

This becomes more pronounced at higher levels.

If spells/day were really a sorc's job, that would be a sorry job indeed, since as has been pointed out with the warlock rationale, that becomes progressively less and less of a factor. A sorc's job is flexibility on the spur of the moment through spontaneous casting, whereas a wizard's is flexibility when preparing ahead of time, thanks to his vast repetoire.

I'm not sure what you're saying here...that you would create a feat that turned a sorceror into a wizard? Sorcerors get more spell slots in return for their lack of spell choice. A feat like you describe, forcing them to memorize their spells would essentially make them wizards with a slightly different skill list and more spell slots.

Allow me to pass along one of my favorite and most useful arcane spellcaster combinations (assuming the prerequisites stayed the same in Complete Arcane)...

Build a 5th level (or 6th level for non-humans) Sorcerer with 8 ranks in Knowledge (arcana), the Arcane Preparation feat, Cooperative Spell feat and any other Metamagic feat. Now take the Mage of the Arcane Order prestige class.

You pick your most useful combat spells for your Sorcerer's known spells. Since all your daily slots are spontaneous slots and are always 'unprepared', you can take a full-round action to drop a utility spell (assuming it's available in the pool) from the Spellpool into them at anytime. You gain the utmost in versatility, and become perhaps the best universal wizard available, while retaining combat capability.

The disadvantage is that, with this combination, the two feats required to meet the prerequisites for the prestige class, Arcane Preparation nd Cooperative Spell, are nearly useless. Is it worth it? Under most circumstances, I think so.

 

[WizarDru]

Allow me to pass along one of my favorite and most useful arcane spellcaster combinations (assuming the prerequisites stayed the same in Complete Arcane)...

They didn't, but the MoAo is actually easier to access, now.

Build a 5th level (or 6th level for non-humans) Sorcerer with 8 ranks in Knowledge (arcana), the Arcane Preparation feat, Cooperative Spell feat and any other Metamagic feat. Now take the Mage of the Arcane Order prestige class.

You pick your most useful combat spells for your Sorcerer's known spells. Since all your daily slots are spontaneous slots and are always 'unprepared', you can take a full-round action to drop a utility spell (assuming it's available in the pool) from the Spellpool into them at anytime. You gain the utmost in versatility, and become perhaps the best universal wizard available, while retaining combat capability.

The disadvantage is that, with this combination, the two feats required to meet the prerequisites for the prestige class, Arcane Preparation nd Cooperative Spell, are nearly useless. Is it worth it? Under most circumstances, I think so.

The best universal wizard available? A good one, yes, but the best? Not really. The wizard still has a better spell selection and gets higher levels spells, sooner. Getting 1/2 your levels in spell capacity is not exactly giant. It's a good combination, though.

However, if you're trying to say that he dedicates all his slots to the spellpool...well, it didn't work that way before, and it doesn't work that way, now. He's still limited by his class level and MoAo level. A 9th level sorceror/3 level MoAo still only gets 6 spell levels out of the pool. At 12th level, a bonus 6th level spell is nice, but not amazing. The big bonus for the sorceror is that he can pull from ANY spell in the pool, not just his meager collection. However, he's also got to pay it back, but that's easier for a sorceror than a wizard.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Actually, Arcane Prep is a very good feat for sorcerers as long as they also get Quicken Spell somewhere down the line. Being able to actually use Quicken Spell is very very good for sorcerers.

The disadvantage is that, with this combination, the two feats required to meet the prerequisites for the prestige class, Arcane Preparation nd Cooperative Spell, are nearly useless. Is it worth it? Under most circumstances, I think so.

 

[Pbartender]

However, if you're trying to say that he dedicates all his slots to the spellpool...well, it didn't work that way before, and it doesn't work that way, now. He's still limited by his class level and MoAo level. A 9th level sorceror/3 level MoAo still only gets 6 spell levels out of the pool. At 12th level, a bonus 6th level spell is nice, but not amazing.

But I thought that limit only applied to how far into debt you could go...

I'd have to double check my T&B, which I have available at the moment, but I thought you could run up Spellpool credit by dumping spells into the Spellpool after your dept is paid off. Just toss a few spells in everyday to get a buffer of Spellpool levels.

Anyway...

The big bonus for the sorceror is that he can pull from ANY spell in the pool, not just his meager collection. However, he's also got to pay it back, but that's easier for a sorceror than a wizard.

This was precisely the point I was trying to make. The combination let you cast all those powerful spells you need lots of during combat, but stills gives you the option to use the occasional, but very useful, non-combat spell that many wizards are loath to 'waste' a prepared spell slot on.

Back to the topic...

I'm really looking forward to picking up this book, and I'm glad to see some of my favorite PrCs, feats and spells made the cut alongside the new material.

 

[WizarDru]

I'd have to double check my T&B, which I have available at the moment, but I thought you could run up Spellpool credit by dumping spells into the Spellpool after your dept is paid off. Just toss a few spells in everyday to get a buffer of Spellpool levels.

I could easily be wrong, but I thought there was a limit to how much you could pull out of the spell pool. I have the CA right here, and the spell pool section there is explicit in the limits of taking out. You have a limit equal to half your total root arcane+MOAO levels. You need to pay it back within a short fixed time, or lose all priveleges entirely.

This was precisely the point I was trying to make. The combination let you cast all those powerful spells you need lots of during combat, but stills gives you the option to use the occasional, but very useful, non-combat spell that many wizards are loath to 'waste' a prepared spell slot on.

Oh, don't get me wrong: it's a good combo. It's just not the ultimate spellcaster, is all. It's actually a pretty clever idea.

Either way, I'm quite fond of the book. I think it, like T&B before it, is the best of the class books, so far. Hopefully WotC doesn't follow the same pattern with the following books, though.