Essential Mage: The return of schools

[thewok]

poor Bill, he seems a bit frustrated about the internet crowd...

That may come from how WotC's been hyping these books. They've been talking about very fundamental changes to the progression of characters, especially in regards to the acquisition of powers. So far, the main change I'm seen here is that the Mage trades rituals for Magic Missile (though, the Apprentice features may allow for restricted ritual use), and they get multiple encounter powers that they can choose from when they take extended rests at the cost of less "slots." It's not a huge departure from the norm.

I think the thing that blew my mind was the mention of "no daily powers," though I have yet to see that in the previews. Of course, that may be just one of those "it could happen" things that they didn't do for the first round.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Actually i don´t believe it´s the hype, but the lack of ability to understand written texts...
in the PISA test it was one of the most troublesome results...

Actually the mage doesn´t have less slots, but PP and ED slots are not accounted for in the class´s list.
Actually it was never said they remove dailies, but they were looking at where removing dailies could make sense, i.e. most probably martial classes (where a lot of people whined aloud when wizards introduced them at the iitial release)

From what we know about the mage and warpriest, and how they try to emulate 3.5 classes a bit more than wizard and cleric, we can assume, the knight/slayer and thief will also do. And since those are classical beginner classes, eliminating dailies here and thus reducing complexity seems like a smart move.

 

[fanboy2000]

Based on entirely no evidence whatsoever, I speculate that Essentials will herald the return of the flumph.

Well, they are putting out a monster book.

To please those people who only see the bad side of things, it will also contain references to somebody's mother doing something inappropriate to nazis.

Essentials is going to have Mike from Shortpacked!?

 

[Jack99]

Am a bit of a sad panda. I was really hoping for a wizard with no encounter powers, but with that said, the opposite works well for me too. Putting the encounters in the spellbook does add a certain legitimacy to them, especially if that means each mage will pick up 2 each time, just like with the dailies.

 

[FireLance]

Looks like my guess that the schools of magic will be returning was accurate. However, it looks a mage's school of magic will have less of an effect on him than a warpriest's domain: it gives a benefit, but no pre-selected at-will power, suggested encounter power, and no level 1 utility power.

It also seems that a mage will get to choose two at-will powers in addition to magic missile, for a grand total of three at-will powers (presumably four if human).

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Yeah, so far this Wizard just looks more powerful than the PHB Wizard. They get class features as they go up levels, 3 at-wills instead of 2, and the ability to choose different encounter powers from their spellbook each day. All with no loss of power choice.

Doesn't seem to be a downside. Even if their class feature isn't the best, I think all of that stuff more than makes up for the lack of most of the Wizard's class features from the PHB and Arcane Power.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Yeah, so far this Wizard just looks more powerful than the PHB Wizard. They get class features as they go up levels, 3 at-wills instead of 2, and the ability to choose different encounter powers from their spellbook each day. All with no loss of power choice.

Doesn't seem to be a downside. Even if their class feature isn't the best, I think all of that stuff more than makes up for the lack of most of the Wizard's class features from the PHB and Arcane Power.

As I read it, those class features they gain take the place of feats. Which means they gain Magic Missile in place of Orb Mastery/Wand Mastery/Staff Mastery/etc. Not too much power creep there.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

As I read it, those class features they gain take the place of feats. Which means they gain Magic Missile in place of Orb Mastery/Wand Mastery/Staff Mastery/etc. Not too much power creep there.

Nope, they still get feats at all the same levels normal characters do. And someone from WOTC (can't remember who) confirmed that the only reason they include the feat and xp fields in the table at all is to avoid having to flip pages. All classes in the Essentials book use the same XP table as old classes and gain feats at the same rate.

 

[Jack99]

Nope, they still get feats at all the same levels normal characters do. And someone from WOTC (can't remember who) confirmed that the only reason they include the feat and xp fields in the table at all is to avoid having to flip pages. All classes in the Essentials book use the same XP table as old classes and gain feats at the same rate.

Was Mearls

 

[Njall]

Yeah, so far this Wizard just looks more powerful than the PHB Wizard. They get class features as they go up levels, 3 at-wills instead of 2, and the ability to choose different encounter powers from their spellbook each day. All with no loss of power choice.

Doesn't seem to be a downside. Even if their class feature isn't the best, I think all of that stuff more than makes up for the lack of most of the Wizard's class features from the PHB and Arcane Power.

Well, Implement Mastery, especially Orb mastery, is not a trivial loss, IMHO.