Complete Mage - Is it out yet?

[chaotix42]

So far, in my roommate's Shackled City campaign the elven enchanter/master specialist has taken Fiery Burst (I think that's the name). He's been riding a Scorching Ray to get a 5-ft. radius burst of flame at will for 2d6 damage. We just hit 5th level at the end of the last adventure and he added fireball to his spellbook to get a 3d6 burst with the reserve feat. He's a Focused Specialist, so he gets a ton of enchantment spells and fits in a few straight offensive spells and the biggest fire spell he can get, which he sits on until casting it is absolutely necessary. The always available burst of fire damage is handy indeed, and helps out in combat quite a bit with his narrow selection of spells.

Overpowered though? I would disagree with such a notion. Reserve feats are an inexhaustible resource, true, but after the Tome of Battle nothing is quite the same in our D&D games anymore. I'm quite enjoying the changes.

 

[BryonD]

The general consensus of the group, BTW, is that the feats are really cool, but given the opportunity cost of using them, and the fact that each given feat requires you have spells of a specific type prepared, nobody wants to have more than one or two, at most.

(Those costs being, to keep the feats at effective levels, you cannot cast your most potent spells.)

Side question: Do you have any idea if Storm Bolt was intended to have a save? That one thing just seems out of character with the other feats, as well as with of effects of that nature in general.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Side question: Do you have any idea if Storm Bolt was intended to have a save? That one thing just seems out of character with the other feats, as well as with of effects of that nature in general.

I know I'm giving it a Reflex Save for half. It seems just a bit much without it.

 

[BryonD]

I know I'm giving it a Reflex Save for half. It seems just a bit much without it.

Agreed. I just wanna know if I'm house ruling or one step ahead of errata.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Agreed. I just wanna know if I'm house ruling or one step ahead of errata.

One step ahead of errata can mean years--like when I houseruled down the DCs on the Psionic powers that randomly scaled +1 per PP, for instance.

 

[Knight Otu]

I will agree, it's early to tell, but here you say no one wants more than one or two? It's gone from "must have" to "must have only one or two"?

To me, it reads as if Ari says "Our group thinks that the feats are far from a must have for our casters, and those casters who are interested to take such a feat aren't interested to take multiple of these feats - at most one or two."

 

[Mouseferatu]

To me, it reads as if Ari says "Our group thinks that the feats are far from a must have for our casters, and those casters who are interested to take such a feat aren't interested to take multiple of these feats - at most one or two."

Yep. I never said that everyone "must have one or two." I said that people think the concept is nifty, and those who take them haven't taken more than one or two.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Side question: Do you have any idea if Storm Bolt was intended to have a save? That one thing just seems out of character with the other feats, as well as with of effects of that nature in general.

Well, when I initially wrote the feat, it had a 30 foot range, but was usable against only one target and required a ranged touch. When it was changed to a 20-foot line, my guess is that it should have had a saving throw added in, but this was missed.

So while I don't know if it was intended to have a save, it seems to me that it should, and that this would put it in line with the other, similar reserve feats.

 

[BryonD]

Thanks, that makes sense.
A ranged touch with no save is ok and it would be fairly easy to see how that could get missed in a switch from touch to a line.

 

[BryonD]

Yep. I never said that everyone "must have one or two." I said that people think the concept is nifty, and those who take them haven't taken more than one or two.

I think they will be fairly common. But to me it is because they are good feats AND give a nice bit of flavor to a mage that goes beyond X slots of spells.

That said, feats are still pretty precious and I've no doubt that there will be a fair number of builds without them also. My group also tends to stay with one campaign for more than a year so new characters mainly come for the occasional death. So it takes a long time to even establish the idea of a "must have", much less have it cause any real impact. I'd (seriously) expect 4th Ed to be around by the time I see more than 3 or 4 PCs with any of these feats and it would not at all suprise me to see fewer or even none.

Master Specialist I see coming into play A LOT, but I like that because it actually ties the specialist to their chosen school in a way I've always found lacking in core.

Again, I'm just really happy with this book.