Complete Mage - Is it out yet?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Options in an "official" WotC product. That carries more weight than options in any 3rd party book, and they are not even campaign setting specific optional rules (like the Incantrix), or an optional system (like Incarnum), they are meant for generic, baseline D&D campaigns. The fact that WotC is happy with both the Warlock and these feats means that they are changing the direction the game will go for a next edition, and I for one don't think I'm ok with it.

Yeah, look at how the optional stuff in 1E totally changed the direction of 2E! It was cavaliers and gray dwarves everywhere!

And lordy, you can't open a book without tripping over a 2E optional system that's now a core part of 3E! Like ... well, I'm sure there's lots of them!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Good job on the reserve feats Wil.

I see these as great for someone who wants to do something in combat but have most of their focus on nonzap spells.

So a wizard takes this feat, keeps one chain lightning uncast and zaps in every combat. All the rest of their spells can be for divinations and utilities then. They stay active (although not optimized by any stretch) in combat using magic (better flavor than a crossbow) while focusing their resources on other activities. And it is not dependant on charged wands. Great flavor option.

Most of them aren't even zaps. Illusionists who can change what their face looks like for brief periods at will until they blow all their illusion spells will be a lot of fun in intrigue games, and spellcasters who can breathe water (or air, if appropriate for the race) as long as they hold onto the right spell is a powerful, powerful option (that, yes, you have to sink a feat into to use).

In a lot of ways, I think the zap reserve feats are the least interesting ones.

 

[Voadam]

And lordy, you can't open a book without tripping over a 2E optional system that's now a core part of 3E! Like ... well, I'm sure there's lots of them!

kits = prestige classes?

 

[Crothian]

See, if it were the same handful of folks making the complaint, it'd be stale. The fact that different folks keep coming to that conclusion indicates that it remains topical.

Or that people just copy other people's opinions. I see little orginal thought in these current claims. :\

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

kits = prestige classes?

I think kits are probably closer to alternate class features, but even then, a package of flavor tweaks doesn't really map to any existing 3E system perfectly.

 

[Voadam]

I think kits are probably closer to alternate class features, but even then, a package of flavor tweaks doesn't really map to any existing 3E system perfectly.

All right, you'd have to go to Mongoose's Quintessential series to get the 3e equivalents.

 

[Felon]

Or that people just copy other people's opinions. I see little orginal thought in these current claims. :\

It's not original, but arguements don't have to be original to be either valid or topical. In this case, it's the material that's being criticised (reserve feats) which is relatively new.

Also, I note that the coy rebuttals to the claim are pretty much by-the-numbers dismissals as well.

I don't think it's hard to understand why some folks don't like magic being this ever-available super-power. I've adapted, but sometimes it's a shame that nobody uses grappling hooks anymore, they just fly or dimension hop up to the top of the fortress wall and toss down a knotted rope. Nobody forages for food anymore, they just have hundreds of iron rations stuffed in their bags of holding and handy haversacks. And so forth. D&D feels very distanced from the source material that inspired it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, it depends on the campaign. My players think their grappling hook is the greatest item ever invented. Frankly, they're sort of weird about it.

 

[Eridanis]

This discussion is starting to stray into the "questioning the poster's motives" groove that gets threads shut down. Please keep it civil and to the topic at hand.

And I looooove the idea of reserve feats. I hope that design space gets explored more down the road.

 

[ruleslawyer]

No, it's not literature, it was once based upon literature. Now it's based on Gauntlet and Diablo.

Ah, yes. The imaginary past.

Whether or not D&D made claims to be based on fantasy literature, it has never modeled that literature well from Day One, with the possible exception of Vance's stories (and even then, Vance's casters aren't exactly like D&D wizards). Look at how much adaptation was needed to make D&D work with the Hyboria or Lankhmar settings (starting with the 1e modules), despite the fact that those settings are presumably part of its inspiration.

If anything, thanks to the OGL, d20 (if not D&D) is being used to increasingly model S&S and high fantasy much better than previous versions of D&D. The Black Company and Conan magic systems are excellent reflections of their inspirations, and the BCCS system (or Elements of Magic) works pretty well for a Lord of the Rings or Earthsea setting (where magic is physically taxing and must be used with great restraint) as well.

If anything, I'd argue that the warlock, reserve feats, and similar mechanics adhere MORE to classic fantasy paradigms than do the fire-and-forget spell memorization/preparation system. Did Thoth-Amon sit down with the Book of Skelos for an hour every morning getting his demon-summoning rituals imprinted on his mind? Do Gandalf or Galadriel even have spellbooks? Hard to imagine the Lady of Light even being forced to rest eight hours to prepare or restore her powers. OTOH, the ability to exercise a narrow range of powers in a fashion that isn't about a per day mechanic is common to fictional wizards from Morgan Le Fay to Doctor Strange.