New Design: Wizards...

[F4NBOY]

Maybe magic staves and wands will give bonuses to certain, specific spells or (narrow) types of spells. So, a +3 Staff of Fire adds +3 to fireball, scorching ray, etc. and little/nothing to cone of cold. I'd be okay with that. It's a bit of both worlds.

I've seen that before. Where could that be?
Hmmm Diablo2!!!
I like it!

 

[Baby Samurai]

1.) Unless that defense bonus per level stacks with armor bonus,

2.) But as you said, characters already gain a defensive bonus each level, called Hit Points.

1.) Of course it should stack.

2.) Don't give me that crap, I said hp are abstract and do not represent X amount of flesh.

Please don't put words in my mouth to try and strengthen your case.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

So you really don't think that experience/training in combat would give you an edge, just what you were born with (ability scores)?

That's where your feats, class abilities and hitpoints will come in. I just don't see soldiers as amazing wushu dodging guys, that's all.

 

[Sun Knight]

I find wand +3, or a tome +4 quite arbitrary and contrived. In fact I find it rather stupid and lame in terms of design.

 

[Rechan]

Isn't that what ability increases and feats are for? Basically if you spent your adventuring time honing your reflexes and getting better at dodging things...then you should raise your Dexterity, take Combat Reflexes, Dodge, etc. Just because a characters a fighter doesn't mean he should automatically get better at dodging blows than a person with higher natural talent.

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.

 

[Wormwood]

I find wand +3, or a tome +4 quite arbitrary and contrived. In fact I find it rather stupid and lame in terms of design.

How do you feel about +1 swords and +2 shields?

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Isn't that what ability increases and feats are for? Basically if you spent your adventuring time honing your reflexes and getting better at dodging things...then you should raise your Dexterity, take Combat Reflexes, Dodge, etc. Just because a characters a fighter doesn't mean he should automatically get better at dodging blows than a person with higher natural talent.

Well, if you put a sword in his hand, he should theoretically be able to parry some of those blows. And I expect that he'll parry them better not because he's become more dexterous, but because he has experience that allows him to predict his opponent's actions and respond to them more quickly than he did when he was just learning his forms. I don't suppose that anyone I know who fences has become a better juggler as a result, but they certainly have improved their ability to not be hit by a sabre when they are themselves armed.

 

[Baby Samurai]

That's where your feats, class abilities and hitpoints will come in. I just don't see soldiers as amazing wushu dodging guys, that's all.

Who said anything about soldiers, or wushu for that matter? I'm talking about any seasoned/experienced adventurer. There is a difference with being skilled at avoiding damage and leap of the clouds etc…

 

[Baby Samurai]

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.

Finally, someone gets me.

 

[Yergi]

I like Rugger's idea as well. This also plays into the idea of "majors and minors" others have been mentioning.

At 1st lvl, maybe I choose Tomes as my Major tool and Orbs as my Minor tool. So I get +2 to Tome spells and +1 to Orb spells (Obviously I'm pulling numbers out of the air), and those numbers go up as I level, while the Staff and Wand spells go up slower, starting at +0 at 1st lvl.

This also fits in with how the article implies you choose pairs of implements. I don't have the article in front of me now, but there was a sentence in there that implied pairing of implements.

And again this dovetails nicely with how fighters will be unique based on their weapon choice; I wouldn't be surprised if fighters have a similar system of choosing a primary and secondary weapon.