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More about wizards by kunadam

Jonkymm

First Post
Wizard
We know the wizard. Their focus is not more an evoker than anything else. They blast enemies while remaining in the back.
Spells are divided among at will (lesser power than a fighter’s melee attack), per encounter, per day (the really powerful stuffs, these are the most powerful abilities in the game) and rituals. Rituals cover magic item creation, and non-combat spell (divinations are prime examples).
Schools are dead, long live the implements: the orb, the staff and the wand (with others, such as the dagger, possible in later supplement). Staffs are for rays and cones, wands for long distance control, while orb stands for blasts, terrain control, and retributive and perception based effects.
Divinations, long range teleport, restorative effects (the cleric’s remove disease for example) are rituals.
Evocation and illusion is there and now they are the focus of wizardry.
Necromancy was nerfed mostly by removing save or die effects.
Transmutation was a haphazard pile of powers (according to them), and some part remains, other do not.
Echantment is nerfed to be saved for other classes (others they state that it will be the psi).
Wizards spell failure due to armor is gone (hurray!). Picking the right feats wizards can go around in heavy armor.
Feats don’t have class as a prerequisite. Race, level or skill training might be needed, but no class. You can steer your character wherever you want.
There are class training feats (Fighter training, Wizard training, Warlock training, etc.) that gives some power of that class to someone not in that class.

Power progression
There is 2 or so pages on tiers of power (heroic, paragon and epic). The important part is the paragon paths and epic destinies. They replace prestige classes. They are additional power/abilities, that you can choose once you hit 11th or 21st level. They are very much like prestige classes and battle captain, mystic theurge, weapon master, prince of knaves and cavalier are mentioned.
Epic destiny gives few but very powerful ability. Also it describes how you exit the world (seem like at level 30 you retire). You can become a demigod for example.
Epic level game is much about slaying gods and clearing the Nine Hell (I made the last up). In the cleric section they muse about gods being redesigned, and one of their goals is, that they can be challenged by epic level characters. I cannot say that I like it.
 

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That looks really nice.

What I liked most:
*The division of spells based on what they are used for (combat and non combat)
*Class training feats (at least the idea; if they aren't designed good I don't like them ;) )
*Wizards being able to cast in armor: Finally!
*The further division between the tiers. I think this sounds better and better the more I think about it.

What I think can be wonky:
*The implements. The estethics of a wizard switching between them might be a bit uncool.
 


Jonkymm said:
Wizard
We know the wizard. Their focus is not more an evoker than anything else. They blast enemies while remaining in the back.
Spells are divided among at will (lesser power than a fighter’s melee attack), per encounter, per day (the really powerful stuffs, these are the most powerful abilities in the game) and rituals. Rituals cover magic item creation, and non-combat spell (divinations are prime examples).
Schools are dead, long live the implements: the orb, the staff and the wand (with others, such as the dagger, possible in later supplement). Staffs are for rays and cones, wands for long distance control, while orb stands for blasts, terrain control, and retributive and perception based effects.
Divinations, long range teleport, restorative effects (the cleric’s remove disease for example) are rituals.
Evocation and illusion is there and now they are the focus of wizardry.
Necromancy was nerfed mostly by removing save or die effects.
Transmutation was a haphazard pile of powers (according to them), and some part remains, other do not.
Echantment is nerfed to be saved for other classes (others they state that it will be the psi).
Wizards spell failure due to armor is gone (hurray!). Picking the right feats wizards can go around in heavy armor.
Feats don’t have class as a prerequisite. Race, level or skill training might be needed, but no class. You can steer your character wherever you want.
There are class training feats (Fighter training, Wizard training, Warlock training, etc.) that gives some power of that class to someone not in that class.

Power progression
There is 2 or so pages on tiers of power (heroic, paragon and epic). The important part is the paragon paths and epic destinies. They replace prestige classes. They are additional power/abilities, that you can choose once you hit 11th or 21st level. They are very much like prestige classes and battle captain, mystic theurge, weapon master, prince of knaves and cavalier are mentioned.
Epic destiny gives few but very powerful ability. Also it describes how you exit the world (seem like at level 30 you retire). You can become a demigod for example.
Epic level game is much about slaying gods and clearing the Nine Hell (I made the last up). In the cleric section they muse about gods being redesigned, and one of their goals is, that they can be challenged by epic level characters. I cannot say that I like it.

Mixed bag....

I like the idea of rituals for divinations, magic item creation, and some healing spells.

I don't like the implements.

Meh on the other stuff.
 

Overall I like it a lot. Splitting powers into combat powers and rituals seems to be what the designers were talking about when they said they were "siloing" powers.

I'm not sure how I feel about restricting the focus of Wizard powers. On one hand, I like wizards to be potentially able to do anything, like a generic master of all powers. On the other hand, it is nice to leave space for other magic-using classes to be specialized in. I just hope that through multiclassing and class training feats its possible for a character

I wonder if those class training feats are the replacement for 3e-style multiclassing. I hope they're very flexible: I would love to play a fighter or ranger who has access to wizard rituals. I have always loved characters who are primarily fighters, but have non-combat magical powers. Characters like Vlad Taltos and any number of Roger Zelazny characters.
 

Ugh! The death of magic schools is the first major 4E crimp in my exisitng homebrew. I had a zodiac-like set of demigods, each representing one of the schools. Back to the drawing board on that one...

I do like implements though. And wizards in armor as an option (though not the standard). Curious about how rituals are different than normal spells.
 

I dunno. I'm not opposed to alternatives to vancian magic or "tradition" D&D magic concepts (I love Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, for example), but this just doesn't look like "my" wizard, and I love playing wizards.

Still think I'll be sticking with 3.5.
 

I suspect that the coolness of implements will depend entirely on how they're used. If all spells are divivided into staff spells, orb spells, etc., or the implement is required to cast the spell at all, that would be a bit dorky. But if the implements are essentially feats or talents that give bonuses when casting certain spells, that wouldn't be a bad thing.

I'm curious how the rituals are going to be restricted. Will they be usable per day, like some powers? Will they be usable at will? Perhaps some combination of the two. I also wonder if all rituals have a significantly longer casting time, to fit the name.
 

Rituals for what used to be adventure-breaking spells sounds like a good idea. Everything else has me shrugging my shoulders in indifference.

I really don't like the idea of even epic-level characters fighting gods. I'd prefer deities that are more mysterious, not known quantities that can be taken on in a fight. But perhaps this is the first step to bringing divine ascension back into the game as a post-30th level offering to adventurers.
 

Jonkymm said:
Spells are divided among at will (lesser power than a fighter’s melee attack), per encounter, per day (the really powerful stuffs, these are the most powerful abilities in the game) and rituals.
Sounds good. It still preserves the flavour of spellcasters with a natural limit on magic, but without crippling the flow of play (I know that we knew that before, but since the at will-abilities are weaker than attacks and the per day-abilities are the most powerful stuff in game, we know that the focus is on the "limited magic"-idea, not on magic-all-the-time).

Jonkymm said:
Rituals cover magic item creation, and non-combat spell (divinations are prime examples).
Good. That's good.
Jonkymm said:
Schools are dead, long live the implements: the orb, the staff and the wand (with others, such as the dagger, possible in later supplement). Staffs are for rays and cones, wands for long distance control, while orb stands for blasts, terrain control, and retributive and perception based effects.
Sadly, this rather sounds like the original Wizard Implements article, pre-Golden Wyvern. I guess that distinction has been changed in the meantime to the traditions.
Jonkymm said:
Divinations, long range teleport, restorative effects (the cleric’s remove disease for example) are rituals.
See above (i.e. good).
Jonkymm said:
Evocation and illusion is there and now they are the focus of wizardry.
Strange, after hearing that Illusions are rather for illusionists. And evocation... was predictable.
Jonkymm said:
Necromancy was nerfed mostly by removing save or die effects.
Well, I wouldn't say Necromancy consists of save-or-die, rather save-or-suck. Well, we'll see the results.
Jonkymm said:
Transmutation was a haphazard pile of powers (according to them), and some part remains, other do not.
Oh yes! Transmutation WAS a mess - because - like Conjuration - it could do almost everything (apropos Conjuration... why isn't that mentioned).
Jonkymm said:
Echantment is nerfed to be saved for other classes (others they state that it will be the psi).
I'm a bit sad to see the traditional mind mage/enchanter/enchantress/bewitching whatever gone... but I like the idea of thinking ahead and niche protection.
Jonkymm said:
Wizards spell failure due to armor is gone (hurray!). Picking the right feats wizards can go around in heavy armor.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Jonkymm said:
Feats don’t have class as a prerequisite. Race, level or skill training might be needed, but no class. You can steer your character wherever you want.
That's nothing new, but it was one of the good part of the feats.
Jonkymm said:
There are class training feats (Fighter training, Wizard training, Warlock training, etc.) that gives some power of that class to someone not in that class.
Seems like the new multiclassing. Or (as I hope) a way to make multiclassing less painful. Definitively good.

Jonkymm said:
Power progression
There is 2 or so pages on tiers of power (heroic, paragon and epic). The important part is the paragon paths and epic destinies. They replace prestige classes. They are additional power/abilities, that you can choose once you hit 11th or 21st level. They are very much like prestige classes and battle captain, mystic theurge, weapon master, prince of knaves and cavalier are mentioned.
Nice idea... I hope for a good implementation, though I dislike the mentioning of a "mystic theurge" - that was a multiclassing-fix, not a true PrC. But the rest sounds good.
Jonkymm said:
Epic destiny gives few but very powerful ability. Also it describes how you exit the world (seem like at level 30 you retire). You can become a demigod for example.
Interesting. Nice. And gives the high-powered-Exalted-players a place where they can play their D&D. It's as if they had invented E6 again... :D
Jonkymm said:
Epic level game is much about slaying gods and clearing the Nine Hell (I made the last up). In the cleric section they muse about gods being redesigned, and one of their goals is, that they can be challenged by epic level characters. I cannot say that I like it.
Well, I like it, because with this paradigm, DMs now know where to cut off the game to maintain their "fantasy", see the principles of E6.

Cheers, LT.
 

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