Excerpt: powers (merged)

[FourthBear]

I'm curious about how the powers as spells thing will work out. You only have a limited number of powers, depending on your level, right? How does this compare to a wizard with many tens of spells to choose from every day?

Or did I miss something and am I now foolish?

I don't think you've missed anything. We know that the first level wizard presented for demo play had only one daily power per day, but could use his spellbook to choose at the start of the day from two different dailies. We don't yet know how many daily spells a wizard can have in their spellbook as they go up in level. It could always be "Two choices per daily slot" with an option to use a feat to get another daily choice.

Also remember that characters can have access to ritual casting, which is planned to include a significant amount of what was once out of combat spellcasting. So divination, resurrection, long range teleportation will be rituals. From what has been said, there are no hard limits on the number of rituals a character can know. We don't yet know if there are standard costs to rituals and what the typical ritual will look like. We do know that they will take too long to cast to be used in combat. I suspect that they will also discourage rituals that grant significant combat bonuses and recreate the buffing issues from previous editions.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Yes, well, it was a surprise to me too, and it's an error. It's clear under the discussion of proficiency bonuses elsewhere that they don't apply to damage.

A DM who allows the bag of rats hasn't read page 40 of the DMG, where that example is specifically invoked under the discussion of (non)legitimate targets.

On the one hand, that's funny.

On the other hand, I'm sad it had to be spelled out.

 

[Alkiera]

The guy who flipped through the PHB/DMG at GAMA said that ritual casting times start at 10 minutes and go up from there; and that there are material components, possibly expensive ones. They come in book and scroll form; scroll are one-use, a book has enough information to teach you the ritual so you know it forever.

 

[Wormwood]

A DM who allows the bag of rats hasn't read page 40 of the DMG, where that example is specifically invoked under the discussion of (non)legitimate targets.

Okay, that right there is bringing the 4wesome.

 

[JohnSnow]

On a more serious note, I believe we have at least some information relevant to our Half-elf Warlock friend Tira.

Good ol' Tira has the following ability:

Ray of Frost Wizard Attack 1
A blisteringly cold ray of white frost streaks to your target.
At-Will • Arcane, Cold, Implement
Standard Action Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: +2 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d6 + 2 cold damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.

According to the most recent excerpt, "The first line of a power description gives the name of the power, the class it’s associated with, the kind of power it is (attack or utility), and the power’s level (or the fact that it’s a class feature)."

Interestingly, this means that the power above is an attack power that a wizard can choose at 1st-level. Tira, however, is a warlock which means this is obviously some form of multiclassing. My guess, as before, is that half-elves get a free multiclass ability of their choice.

(As an aside, does anyone know the code for putting longer spaces into the middle of a line? I can't seem to recall what it is.)

 

[Voss]

Hmm. I don't consider it a big deal, but if she's actually serious, I'm glad they put some thought into it.

 

[Fifth Element]

That being said, an entire game isn't broken, nor are designers incompetent just because there is a badly conceived rule somewhere in the game system.

True. But the thing is, we're not actually talking about badly-designed rules. We're talking about instances of tortured reading of the written rules to arrive at a ridiculous result. We're talking about cases of arguing against the natural, obvious meaning of phrases in order to achieve something that was clearly not intended. That's what the bag o' rats is about - not a badly-designed or even a badly-described rule, but a ridiculous interpretation of said rule.

 

[JohnSnow]

I don't think you've missed anything. We know that the first level wizard presented for demo play had only one daily power per day, but could use his spellbook to choose at the start of the day from two different dailies. We don't yet know how many daily spells a wizard can have in their spellbook as they go up in level. It could always be "Two choices per daily slot" with an option to use a feat to get another daily choice.

Also remember that characters can have access to ritual casting, which is planned to include a significant amount of what was once out of combat spellcasting. So divination, resurrection, long range teleportation will be rituals. From what has been said, there are no hard limits on the number of rituals a character can know. We don't yet know if there are standard costs to rituals and what the typical ritual will look like. We do know that they will take too long to cast to be used in combat. I suspect that they will also discourage rituals that grant significant combat bonuses and recreate the buffing issues from previous editions.

We can only hope. I believe (hope?) that high-level wizards may have access to more minor cantrip type magic that they can use freely. Otherwise, the notion of a wizard with a few basic spells that they turn to frequently and a host of more complex rituals that they can invoke by spending some time is very much the way magic works in The Dresden Files. Which I've mentioned before is one of my favorite presentations of magic.

Essentially, the wizard's "default" spells are his evocations (offensive and defensive), charms, and maybe some minor illusions and transformations. Basically, combat and utility magic are readily at-hand. Long-term or very complex things like divination, summoning, and more complex wards, enchantments and transformations would all involve rituals.

If that's the case, I think the system will work fine for me.

 

[Cadfan]

In either case, that ought to make gizmo33 happy.

Bag of cats.

 

[drjones]

It seems Warlords can't forcefully move their allies around the battlemat, after all.

Who would have guessed that they would not intentionally make every foolish design decision some griper straw-manned up.