Reserve feats from the complete mage

[pressedcat]

Ok, this might have been discussed already, but how many people actually use them, which ones do people like best, and at what level do you tend to take them?
I ask this because i'm trying to decide on a feat for a 5th level wizard and like some of the reserve ray like spells, but am concerned by the 5ft/lvl range limitation.

 

[Bagpuss]

Currently not used in our group since they seem to make the Warlock redundant.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I have used Fiery Burst, and the polymorph one, that can give you temporary hit points. The polymorph one may be too good. Getting Character level in temporary hit points as a swift action is awful good.

They are nice additions to the game, still not totally sure about thier effect though. Many times, I prefer to cast powerful spells rather than hit people with a lesser reserve spell.

Which probably means they are balanced

I wonder if the healing one form Complete Champion will be though?????????

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'd love to use them, but our current campaign has only core feats + a few campaign specific ones.

 

[Deset Gled]

I was originally under the impression that WotC learned that the "reserve" concept was a bad mechanic in 3.0 psionics. I guess not.

It turns casters into an all-or-nothing enemy; either they have the power to do something powerful once and something weaker all day, or they have the ability to do squat. It creates an unstable balance.

 

[Darklone]

I have a Reserve feat build and a warlock in one game right now and it's ok. The additional invocations of the warlock balance the reserve feat advantage (and the range!).

 

[pawsplay]

I don't allow them in my games.

 

[lukelightning]

Currently not used in our group since they seem to make the Warlock redundant.

I think they are quite the opposite: they are there to make "all day classes" such a the warlock less hampered by spellcasters who are always "ok, guys, we gotta rest now!"

It gives wizards something to do other than using up their big guns (which they'd like to save for optimal situations), and doing basically nothing (shooting a crossbow, casting a low-level spell which will likely not do anything...)

When the fighters are dealing out massive damage repeatedly without limit, my mage sometimes feels a bit gimped. With the way hit points of monsters skyrocket, along with saves and SR, wizards need something to contribute to combat that doesn't make them less powerful as the combat continues.

 

[Deset Gled]

When the fighters are dealing out massive damage repeatedly without limit, my mage sometimes feels a bit gimped. With the way hit points of monsters skyrocket, along with saves and SR, wizards need something to contribute to combat that doesn't make them less powerful as the combat continues.

When the mage is casting Wish to change the fabric of reality, causing massive amounts of damage to an area from a long distance, and using spells like fly and teleport to move anywhere they want, my fighter feels a bit gimped. With the advent of the Orb spells and other spells that bypass saves and SR, wizards absolutely need something to limit their combat power that makes the less powerful as combat continues.

 

[lukelightning]

Wish is pretty much just an "anyspell" and consumes considerable resources. Or it's "screw the PC" depending on the DM. I'm not

Fly and teleport? Easily emulated by magic items or class features.

Fighters being limited? Sure, but that's a problem with fighters; most "fighters" I've seen quickly take some wild and crazy PrC that lets them lay down substantial smackdown.

Warlocks introduced the concept of "all day" special abilities, which signalled a major shift in WotC's philosophy of character power. First they decide in 3.5 that long-term flight is powerful enough to be made in to a 5th level spell...then they make a class that can fly?

Then out comes Book of Nine Swords. I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it seems that it has special powers that are substantially powerful that can be used basically perpetually...you use them up, then you recouperate them..then you use them...

Wizards need something to keep up.