Major wizard upgrade

[kerbarian]

"Wizard Spells of the Feywild" in Dragon 381 looks to be a major power increase for wizards.

The most significant addition is a new at-will, Winged Horde. It's Scorching Burst, except it's better in several ways: Targets enemies, vs. Will, psychic damage, and it has a minor status effect -- the target can't take opportunity actions until the end of your next turn.

The fact that it targets only enemies is huge, especially when combined with Enlarge Spell and/or Arcane Admixture + Resounding Thunder. Since it's psychic damage that targets Will, it can also be combined with Resplendent Gloves and Psychic Lock.

There's also a nice encounter 1 (Charm of Misplaced Wrath) that dazes and slides the target and then forces it to use a basic attack against a target of your choice, with bonuses. It's like Command only lower-level and better.

There are a few upgraded versions of that power, but the level 17 one (Charm of False Glory) seems especially good. You slide and immobilize the target, and then it can potentially attack several other enemies. It attacks each enemy that starts or moves adjacent to it, and you can slide the original target around more after each hit, so you can keep placing it adjacent to the next enemy that's about to activate.

 

[Ryujin]

Maybe a little TOO good. Sounds like a level 8+ Feylock power.

 

[keterys]

Yeah, I read that at-will and immediately went 'Ah, so now almost every wizard gets to have this.

 

[lexoanvil]

it does make gnomes more viable as illusionists i think too.

 

[Nifft]

Yep. This power is SO MUCH BETTER than the one published just one issue previously.

IMHO it shouldn't do Psychic damage -- pick something lame, like Poison or Necrotic, since the targeting & rider effect are both so good.

Cheers, -- N

 

[the8bitdeity]

I don't think it's significantly better.

I think more creatures are vulnerable to fire than psychic.

Direct comparison says it's better, but I could see some of the ancillary factors balancing it out.

 

[eamon]

Insert required compiled-version-still-coming post: It might still change.

 

[JoeNotCharles]

There are a lot of creatures that are resistant to fire too, though. (Maybe not as many as resist psychic?)

 

[the8bitdeity]

There are a lot of creatures that are resistant to fire too, though. (Maybe not as many as resist psychic?)

Agreed, upon reflection I change my stance.

That said I don't think Winged Horde is broken, more than Scorching Burst is weak sauce.

How would you guys tweak SB?

Bump it to 1d8?

 

[Nifft]

That said I don't think Winged Horde is broken, more than Scorching Burst is weak sauce.

IMHO they're not comparable. Winged Horde steps too hard on the Psion's toes IMHO. It shouldn't deal enemy-only area psychic damage. It should deal some other kind of damage. I suggest Necrotic or Poison, because they're very commonly resisted, and the Wizard who wants this power to work with cold/fire/whatever can take a feat to make it do just that at Paragon. Then it could be Thunder and Poison, which is still usable, but not as cool as Thunder and Psychic.

Scorching Burst sure does need improvement, but IMHO that is a separate issue: it should have an enemy-only rider effect. Increased damage isn't necessarily a good thing, unless your allies are very fire-proof. The best suggestion I've read is: Scorching Burst creates a Zone, and enemies who end their turn in the zone suffer Fire damage equal to your Int bonus.

Cheers, -- N