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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 4377325" data-attributes="member: 2011">No good reason? Hardly. The +Con Mod boost to Defense for a Staff Wizard once per encounter is extremely weak unless one has a really good Con. There are many other good reasons to boost other stats instead, especially for a 20 Int Wizard that has few other decent stats.You are mistaken here. One does not need to boost a secondary stat every single time. There are builds where that works well, but not all good builds are that restricted.There is no such thing as "leading" in the game system. Apparently, you made that term up out of whole cloth.The four basic functions in combat are (PHB page 15):When a Wizard uses Magic Missile, he is doing focused offense. He is not doing either his control or his area offense.And, there is overlap in the roles (page 52). As a general rule of thumb:Anytime an enemy is hindered including Debuffs, that's Control.Offensive AoEs are Area Offense.Defense Buffs and Tempory Hit Point Buffs are Defense.Healing is Healing.Other Buffs are Support.Single Target damaging attacks are Focused Offense.Debuff is given to Leader PCs, but it is still control. It hinders the enemies To Hit or Damage or whatever.Marking is control because it hinders enemy movement (or damages the enemy).Again with the "in their right mind" comment. Are you really so confident that your way is the only right way?The trick here is at range. Thunderwave and Thunderlance cannot be used at decent range and affect allies (a big downside to this tactic because it will seriously harm any allies in the blast). Bigby's Grasping hand does not push, so does not have good synergy here. It also cannot be done until level 15. Elemental Maw is great for this, but cannot be used until level 25 (instead of 11). By level 25, it makes sense to use Elemental Maw and to retrain the second feat. Confusion is level 27, the movement does not occur until the next round (which means the Wizard may or may not be able to do it). By then, there are many other good options.Sure, all of these can be used. None of them do this good of damage against the main target at level 11 and at range which is the purpose of the trick and worth the feats.A Bolstering Blood Pulse and a Blood Action Action Point Cause Fear causing one enemy in the area that gets hit with both attacks taking (8+Cha)D6 + (6+Cha)*2D10 + Int + 10 + damage and the rest that get hit taking 2D6+2D10+Int damage. So, ~109 to maybe ~128 (Cha depending) on one target (plus potential opportunity attacks and other issues like marked) and ~23 on the rest. The idea is to seriously damage one stronger target and damage a bunch of others and the one that is seriously damaged is at least 6+Cha squares away.All at level 11.I do not think that a player of a Blood Mage using two feats to acquire this ability plus the ability to do Healing Word once per day plus the Religion Skill is necessarily "out of his mind".Own the Battlefield is a great option here. However, it has some issues. First, it cannot be acquired until level 22. The synergy above can be done at level 11. Second, it requires a Str of 13. Although definitely doable, that adds a little MAD to most Wizards (many of whom might dump Str down to 8 otherwise). Third, it shifts targets which means that allies do not get Opportunity Attacks.All in all, a viable option. It just means that this particular tactic of doing this type of attack at range is delayed 11 levels. I do not think that a player who does not want to delay 11 levels (25 to 30 or more gaming sessions for many groups) is necessarily "out of his mind".And, your explanation is incomplete and hence incorrect yet again.You mean that all enemies do not have ranged attacks?Enthrall both immobilizes and prevents attacks against the caster if it hits. Crushing Titan's Fist merely immobilizes if it hits.Enthrall can be used around other PCs. Titan's Fist cannot without hitting them (until the proper feat at higher level).Enthralled enemies cannot move or attack the caster. Having enemies who cannot move or attack one of the PCs is just as much control as having enemies with restricted movement, especially at higher levels where enemies tend to have more options.One might prevent attacks on a miss. It won't prevent ranged attacks within range. It might not prevent attacks if an opponent is at near edge and can charge out of it. It might not prevent attacks if enemies can Teleport (of which there are a fair number in the MM). And, it will prevent PC melee attackers from getting to enemies as much as it prevents enemies from getting to PCs.One of the issues with difficult terrain is that it sometimes hinders PCs as much as it does NPCs. Plus, you are thinking two dimensionally. There are many flying foes at 17th level who might be able to fly over it.HAHAHAHAPushing allies might be more beneficial in some rare circumstances than sliding them, but that means that the allies also took 4D6 plus Int damage as well and they cannot be slided towards the caster. The Cleric power is huge compared to the Wizard one because it pushes enemies a further distance, it slides allies, and it does not damage allies.Any argument that pushing allies while damaging them at the same time is preferable most of the time is just flat out bogus.Are you purposely being argumentative and obtuse when you are wrong?Cause your logic is totally whacky.</blockquote>

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