HUGE SCOOP! Chris Perkins confirms my suspicions on unlimited Rituals

[Lonely Tylenol]

Evil angels are going to take some getting used to. I'm trying to picture Tiamat sitting in the Abyss surrounded by ... angels with their fluffy white wings playing harps.

The precursors of the Judeo-Christian angels from the ancient Middle East were often described as being pretty darn scary. Seven faces, multiple arms, flaming swords, etc. They were supposed to be as completely alien and incomprehensible as the gods themselves. Mere mortals could die or be driven mad by the presence of such powerful beings.

 

[AZRogue]

It is a different breed of wizard, true, but I'll be disappointed if there's not at least an option to keep your lower level Powers along with your new, better, ones as you level. Do you "overwrite" the old ones, as in a new version of Spell Memorization? Would it be game breaking to keep your older Encounter Powers? Maybe it would be more complicated, but it would be more fun.

 

[Falling Icicle]

It is a different breed of wizard, true, but I'll be disappointed if there's not at least an option to keep your lower level Powers along with your new, better, ones as you level. Do you "overwrite" the old ones, as in a new version of Spell Memorization? Would it be game breaking to keep your older Encounter Powers? Maybe it would be more complicated, but it would be more fun.

Yeah, this pretty much confirms my fear that many spells don't scale adequately or at all with level, so they become obsolete and just get replaced. Yet Sleep seems to be just as good at level 30 as it is at level 1. Hmm.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well, I dunno... It sounded like to me that you had the OPTION to retrain your Powers/Spells for a new Spell/Power not that you had too.

 

[Falling Icicle]

But back to the topic at hand, I'm pretty happy to hear that rituals don't have a known/daily limit. For those who think that this would be unbalanced, I think the real limitations in rituals will be time and cost. I'm betting that most, if not all rituals will require expensive or rare components. I am also betting that they take anywhere from several minutes to hours to cast. Those two things alone will keep them from being abused.

Me likes.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

But back to the topic at hand, I'm pretty happy to hear that rituals don't have a known/daily limit.

We don't know if that's true. Using them without any drain on their power resources seemed to mean that you don't have to sacrifice powers known or used in order to cast a ritual. There may very well be restrictions on the number of rituals you can cast in a day, or the number you can have active at any one time.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Evil angels are going to take some getting used to. I'm trying to picture Tiamat sitting in the Abyss surrounded by ... angels with their fluffy white wings playing harps.

I imagine them more like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX3V4yla7gc

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Now that is creepy.

 

[Eyada]

Personally, I'm glad I can have a Wizard who uses quirky spells to define his personality (eg, always keeping himself impeccably groomed via prestigiditation, or always using mage hand to do menial tasks that are "unbefitting a person of his talent") without having to sacrifice any of my combat effectiveness, something that was especially problematic at low levels. Jaeren Therosalv the Level 1 Wizard may have looked impressive for his appointment with the city governor, but when those Goblins attacked his dashing good looks did little to help carry the day. If 4E helps Jaeren out, I'll be happy.

As to the perception of "losing" lower level powers, I suppose we'll have to wait until the system is released. Bear in mind that you'll have combat spells, utility spells, Rituals, and tactical combos with allies to manage, so it sounds like the average spell caster will have plenty to keep them busy. How it will compare to scouring through the staggeringly complex list of spells available in 3.5 remains to be seen, but it's probably best to remember that the current mass of 3.5 is due to several years of accumulation. I'm sure 4E will have it's own fairly massive list of abilities after a few years in print.

 

[D.Shaffer]

Well the Angels don't have to look like classic Angels, hell the Angels we have seen already don't look like classic Angels.

Heck, certain angels, as described, can be fairly nightmarish in appearance, they're not all 'beautiful humans with wings'. The ophanim, for example, are giant glowing wheels covered with eyes. One of the descriptions of a cherub involve having 4 faces (man, lion, ox, and eagle), 8 wings covered with eyes, and the feet of an ox.