New Design: Wizards...

[Stone Dog]

Also if Orb, Staff, Tome and Wand are the Wizard items, what could be the Clerical equivalents?

I'm backing you on the Holy Symbol for direct projection of divine power. Turning undead, healing, circles of protection and that sort of thing. Brandishing holy might style of magic.

I also think that a favored weapon might have a place for offensive castings.

Liturgy would be appropriate for augmenting allies and castigating enemies, but a physical book would be a little too similar to a wizard visually.

I think that Vestments would be appropriate for protective castings and anything that can be potentially based on the authority of the church.

I hope divine magic isn't too far down the list of articles!

 

[Wormwood]

Its just that the whole concept for +1 tomes is just silly. Tomes are where spells are stored, instructions for creating golems are written down to be read, and other sundry things.

And in 4e, certain books may contain ancient formulae and eldritch diagrams which the clever wizard can reference, aiding him in summoning and conrollling extraplanar creatures (for example).

Some books are more potent than others, of course. Monsters and Their Kynde may only be an essay into the field (+1 summoning), while the hideous De Vermis Mysteriis of the archmage Prinn is a masterwork of forbidden secrets (+6 to summoning spells plus a half dozen additional effects)

You don;t like it, fine. That's your right. But your blanket dismissal of the concept as 'silly' is a conversational dead-end.

 

[GlassJaw]

It is where spells are penned down by the wizard. It shouldn't give any more insight in casting magic than what the wizard already knows!

Says who? You? Well it looks like 4E is *gasp* different.

All your negative comments since this board starter are extremely annoying. You obviously don't like what you've heard about 4e. Why post here if you don't have anything useful to contribute?

 

[Aust Diamondew]

It is silly to create new +X items, when one of your design goals is to make magic items less important in 4e.

 

[Imp]

"You finish your incantation, and three walking skeletons rise from their graves, ready to do your bidding."

"Dude. Hey. Remember the +2 virgin I sacrificed a couple days ago? That still counts, right?"

"Oh. Right. Good job then. Five walking skeletons rise from their graves, ready to do your bidding."

Maybe I can have fun with this.

 

[Sun Knight]

Says who? You? Well it looks like 4E is *gasp* different.

All your negative comments since this board starter are extremely annoying. You obviously don't like what you've heard about 4e. Why post here if you don't have anything useful to contribute?

Because I am desperately trying to find something... ANYTHING... about 4e that I can like.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Howdy Aust Diamondew!

It is silly to create new +X items, when one of your design goals is to make magic items less important in 4e.

See my previous post for why it isn't silly.

Shorthand: Maybe you can utilise less items simultaneously than 3/3.5. Thus getting rid of, or at the very least, reducing the Christmas Tree effect at high levels.

 

[fuindordm]

I can see both sides of the argument for tomes.

On the one hand, books have enormous symbolic weight and are certainly iconic tools.

On the other hand, the primary function of a book is never to be a symbol, but to hold knowledge.

So at a minimum, I would hope that tomes always give bonuses only to specific spells. But the question is always this:

"If what's written in a book gives me +2 to spell X, then why do I have to keep carrying the book around to get that +2 after I've read it?"

Ben

 

[Imaro]

Then explain this to me: Why does a fighter's saves improve?

How is it the 20th level fighter can dodge a Fireball better than a 1st level fighter, but he still can't move out of the way of that orc's sword any better? If he can do a backflip over that fireball, then he should be able to get out of the way of the sword.

That's where Hit Points come in. They don't translate directly to life bar.

 

[Stone Dog]

It is silly to create new +X items, when one of your design goals is to make magic items less important in 4e.

It is very likely that there is an aspect to classes that makes +X items less of a big deal. It is also likely that there is a core assumtion that items are going to be harder to come by, making +x items MORE of a big deal, but characters won't be dripping with them. A +X item might actually MATTER instead of being an assumed piece of equipment and worth adventuring for!