Re: Re: [Rant] On Spell Focus...
Psion said:
Are you suggesting that I didn't come to my conclusion with an open mind?
Nah, I just wanted you to hear me out without looking at your list. It was a bit tongue-in-cheek.
The only thing that would salvage the feat, IMO, is the suggested +1 DC and +1 caster level.
I thought that this might be an overreaction to uber spell-DCs from combos with the archmage. But we see the latter is not a problem anymore, so what's the point?
Even with archmage "nerfed", it was fairly easy to get uber hard to beat DCs. I saw it done.
Um, my firewall won't let me at the compilation thread, but wasn't it upgraded to +2?
Nope. +1.
So, weapons have pretty much one purpose in the game: deal damage. Unless you have your weapon taken from you, you pretty much have two weapon choices: your meleee weapon and your missile weapon (if any).
This is unlike spell focus. You might deal damage. Or you might scry someone (now on save DC, remember), or read their mind, or whatever. You only get to pick one blade of your magic swiss army knife to treat as your special one.
You lost me here. Are you saying weapon focus is less useful than spell focus or more useful?
You mean like dodge and power attack that have been improved? They seem to be moving away from this "base feats must be useless" philosophy.
That said, what feat chain follows on spell focus?
Dodge didn't get a power-up IIRC. Power Attack has a bonus/trade off ratio (same with Combat Expertise). Base feats shouldn't be useless, just LESS useful than Whirlwind attack, Many-Shot or Spring Attack.
By The Way, the Chain goes Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Arcane Defense (TnB), Epic Spell Focus (ELH).
Which all have their own advantages and disads compared to Spell Focus.
Exactly, but they do raise those prescious DCs. They all Stack. And before they stacked on a +4, now its only a +2.
And why is this a good thing?
If save boosters are weak, make them better, not other feats worse (unless they deserve to be, and I am not convinced that spell focus is).
It makes them worth taking. The current ratio is 4:2 in favor of casters, now its 2:2 for the same amount of feats as before. characters with multiple poor saves (fighters, wizards/Sorcerers, rogues) now have a chance to make DCs. This is a bit of a player bias (since PCs take more feats the monsters on average, or at least are more number crunched.)
I've seen casters have their spells roll of the enemies like water off of a duck's back, because at high levels their save mods are so high. It is usually much easier to garner save bonuses from items and spells than it is to get save DC bonuses.
I've seen just the opposite. A Psychic Warrior, Bard, Rogue/Fighter and henchman DRAGON was taken out in a TPK by said wizard after a domination spell by a dragon. No one could make his saves (gold elf transmuter/loremaster, 22 nat in, +5 maximized Fox Cunning, GSF Trans, Disintergrate and Prismatic Spray.) Total rounds taken, 2.
To fix a problem we are introducing in this edition as well? Let's just say I am not finding this your most compelling point.
Nah, just gravy baby, just gravy.
If everyone thought so, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Which would you have, +1 or +0?
This is my central point. AFAIAC, they have already fixed the big offender on save DCs: Archmages. I think that they are overcompensating if that is all there is to this feat. If it allows +1 caster level as some had mentioned, that would word (and would also make it so I don't have to fix lots of stat blocks...)
the big offender was GSF. +4 was too useful for transmuters, necromancers, evokers, and enchanters to EVER pass up. Even if a DM didn't allow Archmage, I saw those feats multiple times. However, I'm not completely sure it needed to go as low as it did (save my symmetry theory.)
I'll wait and see if there is something that we aren't seeing in the book, but based on my experience in play, this feat really needs more than a +1 save DC to one school to be worthwhile.
Fair enough, I was just raising the point.
No harm intended.
