Complete Arcane - What's in it!!

[Doug McCrae]

I agree with everyone who's said Collegiate Wizard is a good feat but not overpowered. It's one I'd think of taking but it isn't essential. Not in the same league as Improved Initiative, Empower Spell or Craft Wondrous Item IMO.

Of course its usefulness varies a lot depending on the availability of scrolls and opportunities to copy new spells in your game. The stingier the GM, the better the feat is.

I'm playing a wizard in our current game. The GM is quite stingy so CW would probably have been worth taking over a couple of the feats I did choose.

As others have said a wizard will go for the two best spells at every level anyway, so getting four just means you get your 3rd and 4th picks too. Though that decision can sometimes be pretty tight (especially for the 4th level spells).

 

[coyote6]

But the feat alone let you have basically double the normal amount of spells for free and as soon as you level up. Even if your DM lets you buy scrolls of any possible spell for copying, it still seems a very good advantage to me!

There are new rules in Complete Adventurer; one particular rule is titled "Mastering a Foreign Spellbook" -- take one week +1 day/spell, and make a Spellcraft check (DC 25+highest level spell), and you master that spellbook -- you know all the spells in it, you don't have to copy them into another book (if you do, it's presumably the same as copying from your book -- half cost), and you can prepare from that book without any problems.

So, as soon as a wizard gets a good enough Spellcraft check, and gets some other wizard's spellbook, he'll get all sorts of spells, for free. No gold, no feat -- just time and a skill check.

Also, regarding scrolls -- don't forget that, per the PH, most "wizards charge a fee for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to the spell’s level x50 gp." That's cheaper (a lot cheaper, at higher levels) than buying scrolls, and you just have to make friends with some NPC wizards.

I may be wrong but to me it sounds like spontaneous casters keep getting more and more the shorter stick (see metamagic)... and it didn't seem to me that people thought wizards were worse than sorcerers, right? Or are the new sorcerer-only feats very good? What is there in Complete Arcane to help the Sorcerer get more known spells for instance?

The Extra Spell feat is in CA, too.

 

[Nightfall]

Nightfall, what's that book like? It's one I've wanted to check out, but all they ever have at my hobby store is the one for fighters/barbarians etc., and the one for paladins/clerics/monks.

Any good spells, prestige classes, etc.?

Banshee

Well two I wrote for it (spell wise) are nice. Anteas' Whip of Devastation (SL answer to Khelban's Warding whip. But with more damage potential), and Durlock's Withering Pox. (My own favorite, as I've loved the idea of Lich Ogre Magi, and this spell is great for taking down low con score individuals with poor Fort saves and making some very nasty undead in the process (ghouls but hey 4th level! )

Pr-class wise, Blessed of Mesos is by far the best sorcerer pr-class, as it will turn your "hey look at the spells I cast" sorcerer into "I am the POWER!" Blessed of Mesos. The Bardic Pr-classes are decent, Keeper of the Epics is nice. Wizard wise, I favor Moonwitch but it's also a decent Cleric Pr-class.

Feats, well you got a lot of general feats, but for sorcerers, there's Scion feats (not exactly uber powerful but for a handful of spells that you can have a +1 caster level increase, it's not bad. Plus it's darn flavorful in my view.)

You also get indepth look at how wizardy is viewed by wizards and their "art", Socery and their "craft" and the Bards and their ability to sing. (Oh yeah, 3.5 bards, don't generate heat either as one option.)

 

[Li Shenron]

If you, and they, place such a low value on spells known that you can't be bothered to scribe new ones, then why is the feat of any value at all?

Actually, it's not what I was meaning to say... I meant to say that we scribe quite few spells because we find few spells to copy to the spellbook (and when I'm a Wizard, I copy all scrolls I can find). We have played many published adventures however, so it's not just our homebrew ones with this low rate.

 

[Li Shenron]

This is very interesting:

There are new rules in Complete Adventurer; one particular rule is titled "Mastering a Foreign Spellbook" -- take one week +1 day/spell, and make a Spellcraft check (DC 25+highest level spell), and you master that spellbook -- you know all the spells in it, you don't have to copy them into another book (if you do, it's presumably the same as copying from your book -- half cost), and you can prepare from that book without any problems.

So, as soon as a wizard gets a good enough Spellcraft check, and gets some other wizard's spellbook, he'll get all sorts of spells, for free. No gold, no feat -- just time and a skill check.

So it sounds like these are intended changes around the Wizard class. Altogether with the 3.5 reduced cost to scribe, it significantly changes the wizard class (doesn't completely change it, I just mean it's a sensible change, not a detail IMHO). I wonder why this wasn't in the revised PHB tho, it seems very important to me...

[QUOTE/]The Extra Spell feat is in CA, too.[/QUOTE]

Any change? Since it's for Sorcerers, I guess it still has the limit of up to one level less the maximum you can cast.

 

[Staffan]

The Extra Spell feat is in CA, too.

Any change? Since it's for Sorcerers, I guess it still has the limit of up to one level less the maximum you can cast.

Dunno about CA, but the psionic version (Expanded Knowledge) has the "one level less" limit. However, it also has the advantage that you can get powers normally unavailable to you - it would be cool if the sorcerer version allowed you to get cleric/druid spells.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Actually, it's not what I was meaning to say... I meant to say that we scribe quite few spells because we find few spells to copy to the spellbook (and when I'm a Wizard, I copy all scrolls I can find).

Ahhh, I see.

We have played many published adventures however, so it's not just our homebrew ones with this low rate.

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.

 

[Anabstercorian]

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

Pr-class wise, Blessed of Mesos is by far the best sorcerer pr-class, as it will turn your "hey look at the spells I cast" sorcerer into "I am the POWER!" Blessed of Mesos.

The Blessed of Mesos is the most broken prestige class I have ever seen. Yes, I've seen it in play. I PLAYED it. I eventually discarded the class out of sheer disgust and guilt, even at the cost of being declared a hated enemy of all worshippers of Mesos.

Not only that, there's no theme to it beyond, "I'm so powerful!" There's no way to balance it without removing everything that makes it a Blessed of Mesos. It is broken, marrow-deep. It's twinkery pollutes it like Mesos' essense pollutes Sharn. It. Is. Unbalanced.

PLEASE STOP SINGING ITS PRAISES!

 

[Nightfall]

Wow...some one needs a time out.

(Has played one too and allowed one.) I even got a Ring of Mesos when I played. But believe me I wasn't as cheesed running a Blessed of Mesos than I was running it.

Guilt is bad but not as bad to using BoM as a plot device.

 

[Koewn]

Actually, I think about the only thing Delay spell is good for is the scry-buff-teleport routine.

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