Implements as "weapons"

[Garthanos]

Implements
Improvised 1d4, one handed, Proficiency +0

The above is interestingly a new feature snuck in... currently wizards and company are very nearly identically effective armed as unarmed ;-).... now a Warlock sans rod is d4 instead of d10 - this is a big difference.

Some of my other house rules are directed towards the other direction, making everyone a little less dependent on their gadgets.

But wizards/warlocks etc being a bit more disarm-able could be seen as good or bad it might affect the world culture...

With disarming effects in D&D being far more rare than you would expect (if you are playing cinematically) and overly powered due to object dependence, this hr makes them equally over powered against implement users

For me that is actually a flavor loss.

My game world has cuffs which bind wizards psychically, because much wizardry in my game don't require gestures and drugs which suppress the magical gifts of the taker.... and others which just keep somebody woozy enough to disrupt spell working. But in general they have to go out of their way for a wizard to be stopped like a martial artist many wizards (but not all as some are dependent on expendable components) are frequently always armed to the teeth at least that is the populous view of the matter making them dangerous.

 

[BobTheNob]

I see where you are coming from. At first I didnt mind the fact that "spells" had set dice and "weapon powers" had dice based on weapon. I actually thought it worked. Then as we have started playing what I have seen is weapon based classes autoclassing non weapon based because it is so easy for them to get this dice type up.

That said, what you have submitted here is pretty controversial, and would take you a vast amount of effort to properly balance it up. I would like to do something similar, but for my game its a case of the "horse has already bolted".

What I am contemplating as an alternate is to cancel superior weapons (never could balance them properly) and replace with a new feat "Superior weapon training" which just ups the dice on a selected simple or martial weapon. With that done, the door is open for "Superior implement training" which allows players to up dice on powers when a selected implement is used. (Not in yet, I am still investigating game impact)

 

[Garthanos]

A feat sure could give an additional implement mastery which enhances die size.. for flavor purposes it might even be tied to implement dependence (where you now focus so completely on working your magery through your wand, through your whatever... that without it you have a penalty on your die size).

Is that a paragon level feat?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Interesting way to approach this. The range property does not work imho because some powers are very close range and some are far range and the +5 disproportional affects the lower range powers. You could fix it by scaling it range 5 or +1, range 10 +2, range 20 +5 etc. The others effects feel bland, another +1 to damage...

I don't think +1 to damage (die) is much more blander than varying the size of the damage die. It is just a lot easier to do, since the step you do is very similar for every spell you modify - add +1 per die. You don't need to think about advancing the dice.

When you use power cards you fill out yourself, either method probably would work. If you don't use them, or if you use the character builder, the +1 per die method is a lot easier to add in.

But un the end, we are still mostly playing around with numbers. There is not much non-blandness to be gained there.