Complete Arcane - What's in it!!

[philreed]

Black Lore of Moil (Metamagic). It adds xd6 damage to Necromancy spells, where X is determined by the spell's level. Instead of using up a higher level spellslot, it uses up an expensive material component that costs 25gp per d6 of added damage. It seems like a neat approach to metamagic.

I got pretty much the same effect in my PDFs of spell components -- and without using a feat slot. About how many feats in the book are variants of this idea?

I'll have to pick this up tomorrow while I'm out.

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101 Arcane Spell Components

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[Chun-tzu]

With the DMG reprinting the Arcane Trickster, and the Spellsword and Bladesinger in Complete Warrior, and the classes from Magic of Faerûn being redone in the Player's Guide to Faerûn, it didn't leave much room for reprints.

PGF had updated PrCs from FRCS, but most of the Magic of Faerun prestige classes have not been updated to 3.5.

From Magic of Faerun:
- Gnome Artificer
- Guild Wizard of Waterdeep
- Harper Mage (arguably extraneous, as the updated Harper Scout advances in spellcasting instead of having its own spell list, and so is more suitable for spellasters)
- Harper Priest (also arguably extraneous)
- Incantatrix - this one is updated in PGF
- Mage Killer
- Master Alchemist
- Mystic Wanderer
- Spelldancer
- Spellfire Channeler
- War Wizard of Cormyr

I think if they wanted to put in more PrCs, they could have easily (barring space considerations, of course). It looks like they chose to put in other material instead.

 

[ivocaliban]

Definitely looks like CA has the least number of PrCls in the Complete line.

This is probably to make room for a massive spell list.

 

[fredramsey]

So far I like 2 things from CA:

1. The Warlock - Still not sure if this is balanced as a PC class, but, man, what a good villian!

2. The enormous number of spells. Lots of gems there.

 

[Psion]

I was impatient so bought it at MSRP at the FLGS (along with Sharn.)

The warlock - not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though I must say, the archetype I most immediately associate it with may not be the most flattering -- the blast tossing wizards from cartoons (like Swan Princess) and Barbie movies (Swan Lake and Rapunzel) (Parents of young girls will know of what I speak.) For me it shares the same difficulty that the hexblade does - nice class, worth playing or running, but might take some trouble to fit in unless you are very haphazard with classes.)

The misnamed the energy savant again, I see (translation: I have always thought the energy/element correspondance with equivalences like earth=acid was bent.)

Nice to see for the most part most PrC pay for their special abilities with spellcasting levels now. Sad to see that some slipped throgh the cracks.

Wild mage has the flavor of the old class, but wild magic effects are still best handled by Wild Spellcraft IMO.

I was hopeful, after seeing the initiate of the Sevenfold Veil and seeing the Spells & Magic book that spells like Seven Eyes would make it back. No such luck.

Matthew Cavatta as the "chapter header" artist works for me, but Lukacs works as well. Whoever they had who did some earlier works (Exalted Deeds, etc.) wasn't working for me. Still miss Swekel.

In the realms of color art, I still wouldn't miss Crabapple.

It's nice to see Phillipi made it to the WotC stable of freelancers. His stuff in AEG's Mercenaries and Green Ronin's Assassin's Handbook was awesome.

I see the orb spells lost their multiple target functionality. Probably so they could justify the higher cap, but since they split the damage, I don't see the point. I'll probably stick with the dividable aspect of the old spells.

Nice to see that overwrought pleas of boosting the spell level on Energy Substition fell on deaf ears.

Giant size. Cool. Too bad it's not a wizard spell. It may become one IMC...

Um, my baby just took a bite out of one page. Gotta go.

 

[JPL]

I was impatient so bought it at MSRP at the FLGS (along with Sharn.)

The warlock - not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though I must say, the archetype I most immediately associate it with may not be the most flattering -- the blast tossing wizards from cartoons (like Swan Princess) and Barbie movies (Swan Lake and Rapunzel) (Parents of young girls will know of what I speak.) For me it shares the same difficulty that the hexblade does - nice class, worth playing or running, but might take some trouble to fit in unless you are very haphazard with classes.)

I'm still a little confused about what archetype they're trying to emulate here. Someone who gets powers from his bloodline? Isn't that a sorceror? How does the flavor text explain this guy?

 

[JPL]

I was impatient so bought it at MSRP at the FLGS (along with Sharn.)

The warlock - not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though I must say, the archetype I most immediately associate it with may not be the most flattering -- the blast tossing wizards from cartoons (like Swan Princess) and Barbie movies (Swan Lake and Rapunzel) (Parents of young girls will know of what I speak.) For me it shares the same difficulty that the hexblade does - nice class, worth playing or running, but might take some trouble to fit in unless you are very haphazard with classes.)

I'm still a little confused about what archetype they're trying to emulate here. Someone who gets powers from his bloodline? Isn't that a sorceror? How does the flavor text explain this guy?

 

[Nightchilde-2]

OMG, warlocks are teh r00l. I'm a bit worried about the eldritch bolt ability though, but I haven't read the abilities word for word yet, just speed-read 'em.

As for how the warlock is different than the sorcerer...

"Born of a supernatural bloodline, a warlock seeks to master the perilous magic that suffuses his soul. Unlike sorcerers or wizards, who approach arane magic through the medium of spells, a warlock invokes powerful magic through nothing more than an effort of will."

In other words, warlocks don't cast spells; they have spell-like abilities. This is importaint because it means they can't apply metamagic feats to their invocations (though they can use feats like Quicken Spell-Like Ability and the such).

What I haven't seen mentioned yet is the fact that they gain damage resistance (x/cold iron, 1/cold iron starting at level 3 and going up to 5/cold iron at level 19) and they eventually get a short-duration fast healing (1, 2 and 4 at levels 8, 13 and 18, respectively).

WIthout taking a feat to give them more Invocations (there's one right here in Complete Arcane that lets them do just that), they max out at 12 tricks at level 20.

They have a very darkish tone to them. Definitely give off a "bad guy" vibe.

Eldritch Blast, the power I'm kinda worried about, is apparently useable at will and, at level 20, deals 9d6 damage. As a ranged touch attack. Some of the invocations modify this blast (such as Eldritch Cone, which turns it into a cone attack).

 

[JPL]

Well, it's mechanically different from the sorcerer, but seems almost identical conceptually.

Having said that...it sounds cool, especially if you can customize to account for different bloodlines.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Do you actually mean the book says this? Must be a typo, because it really makes little sense. Both the feats.

That's how they're written in The Miniatures Handbook. Didn't make a lot of sense to me, either.