Prepare yourself for a lengthy, pedantic rant.
I tried an Eladrin control wizard, but it suffered from lots of things I didn't like. For one, if you take the Orb of Imposition implement mastery (which I did, because I was a controller) your abilities are almost all dependent upon daily spells. Between this and the old "prepare this number of spells today" concept they brought back for the wizard, it seemed like (for a control wizard at least) the majority of its utility was outside of combat. This is further reinforced by the rituals.
However, I like to be a more "versatile" character, and as far as I'm concerned, being a wizard actually hurt that -- or at the very least, it gave the illusion that it did not. I rarely end up preparing a different daily spell day to day... and all of my useful ones, particularly Sleep, are essentially Save or Die. This makes the wizard less of a controller and more of a compulsive gambler: when you use a daily "save ends" power, you are effectively tossing a coin; Heads, you win! Tails, you just wasted your most powerful spell.
Not only that, but everything beyond the wizard powers are a joke -- and while the books say Eladrin are best suited for wizards, I think that's a blatant lie. The fey step ability is cool to get away, I guess, but it would be much more ideal for a striker, and while they get 2 bonuses to abilities that are listed as 2 of the 3 most important abilities for wizards -- INT and DEX -- the DEX is beyond useless unless you go for the Wand mastery, which is less-than-optimal for a controller. The wizard does not use dexterity for anything else, except for maybe one paragon path, and CON would be much more valuable; because your INT should be your best score, your reflex and AC bonus should already be formidable, and CON gives you that desperately needed fortitude and HP bonus.
Anyway, I figured I'd try making an Eladrin Warlock (fey pact) instead and it seems to be a LOT better. I really pumped CHA and INT, and my ability to basically be anywhere and hit anyone on the battlefield with the Eladrin and warlock bonuses working in synergy is extremely attractive. In addition, as a warlock, I get automatic proficiencies for weapons and armor, and access to skills much more useful than knowledge, such as bluff and intimidate (though I do regret my poor perception and insight due to lack of wisdom).
And now I think I should multiclass to Wizard. The con's are that I lose one feat slot, and another feat slot and power for each wizard power I want to take. The pro's are I get automatic access to Arcana (which would at 1st level put my Arcana at 10), I can choose wand mastery and use it for both my warlock AND wizard spells and, with my DEX being reasonable (I have 17 INT, 17 CHA, and 15 DEX) I can add a sizable modifier to my attacks -- ANY attacks -- once an encounter. (As a side-note, I've found the lack of "accuracy" of warlocks to be one of their biggest downsides -- and, since they usually only get one attack role per attack, this can lead to problems.) In addition, I can choose some spells that would be VERY useful to a warlock, including control-type spells like Wall of Fire/Ice/Fog, and Disguise Self (which, when combined with my atmospheric Bluff and charisma, and the Linguist feat I plan to take at 2nd level, I estimate would make me comparable to Ethan Hunt in terms of stealthiness).
Not only that, but I get access to the Wizard of the Spiral Tower paragon path, which not only appears better to my build than the Feytouched path, but appears to be MADE for the warlock. It makes use of INT and CHA, both of which I have in spades, and I think it would work spectacularly with the Eladrin/Fey Pact abilities to leap in and out of combat. In fact, that paragon class looks like it would work a lot better with a warlock than with a wizard anyway -- I don't see why a wizard would pump charisma heavily, and with their lack of armor choices, melee is much more treacherous for wizards than warlocks.
Phew. So in conclusion: I think this is an awesome idea! But I want to know what you think. Is this good or bad? Interesting or boring? Anything specific that I should probably take into consideration but didn't even think of? Any problems/misinterpretations? etc.
I tried an Eladrin control wizard, but it suffered from lots of things I didn't like. For one, if you take the Orb of Imposition implement mastery (which I did, because I was a controller) your abilities are almost all dependent upon daily spells. Between this and the old "prepare this number of spells today" concept they brought back for the wizard, it seemed like (for a control wizard at least) the majority of its utility was outside of combat. This is further reinforced by the rituals.
However, I like to be a more "versatile" character, and as far as I'm concerned, being a wizard actually hurt that -- or at the very least, it gave the illusion that it did not. I rarely end up preparing a different daily spell day to day... and all of my useful ones, particularly Sleep, are essentially Save or Die. This makes the wizard less of a controller and more of a compulsive gambler: when you use a daily "save ends" power, you are effectively tossing a coin; Heads, you win! Tails, you just wasted your most powerful spell.
Not only that, but everything beyond the wizard powers are a joke -- and while the books say Eladrin are best suited for wizards, I think that's a blatant lie. The fey step ability is cool to get away, I guess, but it would be much more ideal for a striker, and while they get 2 bonuses to abilities that are listed as 2 of the 3 most important abilities for wizards -- INT and DEX -- the DEX is beyond useless unless you go for the Wand mastery, which is less-than-optimal for a controller. The wizard does not use dexterity for anything else, except for maybe one paragon path, and CON would be much more valuable; because your INT should be your best score, your reflex and AC bonus should already be formidable, and CON gives you that desperately needed fortitude and HP bonus.
Anyway, I figured I'd try making an Eladrin Warlock (fey pact) instead and it seems to be a LOT better. I really pumped CHA and INT, and my ability to basically be anywhere and hit anyone on the battlefield with the Eladrin and warlock bonuses working in synergy is extremely attractive. In addition, as a warlock, I get automatic proficiencies for weapons and armor, and access to skills much more useful than knowledge, such as bluff and intimidate (though I do regret my poor perception and insight due to lack of wisdom).
And now I think I should multiclass to Wizard. The con's are that I lose one feat slot, and another feat slot and power for each wizard power I want to take. The pro's are I get automatic access to Arcana (which would at 1st level put my Arcana at 10), I can choose wand mastery and use it for both my warlock AND wizard spells and, with my DEX being reasonable (I have 17 INT, 17 CHA, and 15 DEX) I can add a sizable modifier to my attacks -- ANY attacks -- once an encounter. (As a side-note, I've found the lack of "accuracy" of warlocks to be one of their biggest downsides -- and, since they usually only get one attack role per attack, this can lead to problems.) In addition, I can choose some spells that would be VERY useful to a warlock, including control-type spells like Wall of Fire/Ice/Fog, and Disguise Self (which, when combined with my atmospheric Bluff and charisma, and the Linguist feat I plan to take at 2nd level, I estimate would make me comparable to Ethan Hunt in terms of stealthiness).
Not only that, but I get access to the Wizard of the Spiral Tower paragon path, which not only appears better to my build than the Feytouched path, but appears to be MADE for the warlock. It makes use of INT and CHA, both of which I have in spades, and I think it would work spectacularly with the Eladrin/Fey Pact abilities to leap in and out of combat. In fact, that paragon class looks like it would work a lot better with a warlock than with a wizard anyway -- I don't see why a wizard would pump charisma heavily, and with their lack of armor choices, melee is much more treacherous for wizards than warlocks.
Phew. So in conclusion: I think this is an awesome idea! But I want to know what you think. Is this good or bad? Interesting or boring? Anything specific that I should probably take into consideration but didn't even think of? Any problems/misinterpretations? etc.
