airwalkrr
Adventurer
I was going through Complete Mage and deciding whether I needed to restrict anything for my newest campaign the other day (for those interested, I decided not to restrict anything, with the exception of spells, which I always judge on a case-by-case basis since they take so long to read through). As I came to the reserve feats which I had heard so much about, I took in a deep breath. It was my first chance to actually read how they worked and read the individual descriptions. Boy, was I wowed!
My first reaction was nothing short of jaw-dropping, particularly the polymorph reserve feat with the temporary hp. And to allow all of these an unlimited number of times per day as supernatural abilities? I really thought WotC had dropped the ball this time. Wizards had suddenly become unstoppable menaces with unlimited use abilities like the warlock and the game would never be the same.
Well, I put the book down at some point to take a break, went and played Nintendo Wii for a while, got a snack, and then came back. It was at that point that it hit me. These feats actually really suck. What I realized is that no NPC that the PCs face as an adversary would ever have need of these. The NPC would almost always have higher level spells that would be more beneficial options for getting the NPC closer to victory. Why do a short range 5-foot radius 5d6 fire damage when you can do a long range 20-foot radius 10d6 fire damage? You don't need to conserve resources, you are an NPC! The only use they might have is as a dramatic element when the PCs are facing a powerful villain who is only appearing for plot-related purposes and doesn't feel it necessary to waste resources on the PCs. He could use his wimpy reserve feat abilities just to keep the PCs busy while his minions do the real work.
I also thought a little harder about PCs using them. On one hand, they will give wizards more options in combat (as sorcerers rarely have this problem with their huge number of spells per day) and probably increase the average stamina of a party of adventurers. But it does cost the wizard a feat, one that he could be spending on actually making his spells more powerful (like Spell Focus or Spell Penetration) or making magic items (like craft wondrous item or craft wand) which would essentially do the same kind of thing for him. So they come at a big opportunity cost. A wizard with a bag of tricks is a lot like a wizard with the summoning reserve feat after all. None of these feats create huge power disparities like those witnessed in the Miniatures Handbook when sudden metamagic feats debuted. They don't give spellcasters virtual spells of a higher level than they would otherwise be capable of casting like sudden metamagic. They do in fact the opposite by giving spellcasters virtual spells of a lower level than they would otherwise be capable of casting (much like a wand if you think about it). These feats accomplish one thing and one thing only. They give spellcasters tools to get through a villain's or boss monster's minions, but provide little to nothing useful for actually beating the villain or boss monster himself.
In summary, these feats aren't actually that awesome. They are useful tools for PCs because they will help them survive dungeons longer. But they do very little towards making overpowering encounters easier. And on top of that they are virtually worthless for NPCs. A simple sorcerer will usually be a better challenge than a character with reserve feats.
My first reaction was nothing short of jaw-dropping, particularly the polymorph reserve feat with the temporary hp. And to allow all of these an unlimited number of times per day as supernatural abilities? I really thought WotC had dropped the ball this time. Wizards had suddenly become unstoppable menaces with unlimited use abilities like the warlock and the game would never be the same.
Well, I put the book down at some point to take a break, went and played Nintendo Wii for a while, got a snack, and then came back. It was at that point that it hit me. These feats actually really suck. What I realized is that no NPC that the PCs face as an adversary would ever have need of these. The NPC would almost always have higher level spells that would be more beneficial options for getting the NPC closer to victory. Why do a short range 5-foot radius 5d6 fire damage when you can do a long range 20-foot radius 10d6 fire damage? You don't need to conserve resources, you are an NPC! The only use they might have is as a dramatic element when the PCs are facing a powerful villain who is only appearing for plot-related purposes and doesn't feel it necessary to waste resources on the PCs. He could use his wimpy reserve feat abilities just to keep the PCs busy while his minions do the real work.
I also thought a little harder about PCs using them. On one hand, they will give wizards more options in combat (as sorcerers rarely have this problem with their huge number of spells per day) and probably increase the average stamina of a party of adventurers. But it does cost the wizard a feat, one that he could be spending on actually making his spells more powerful (like Spell Focus or Spell Penetration) or making magic items (like craft wondrous item or craft wand) which would essentially do the same kind of thing for him. So they come at a big opportunity cost. A wizard with a bag of tricks is a lot like a wizard with the summoning reserve feat after all. None of these feats create huge power disparities like those witnessed in the Miniatures Handbook when sudden metamagic feats debuted. They don't give spellcasters virtual spells of a higher level than they would otherwise be capable of casting like sudden metamagic. They do in fact the opposite by giving spellcasters virtual spells of a lower level than they would otherwise be capable of casting (much like a wand if you think about it). These feats accomplish one thing and one thing only. They give spellcasters tools to get through a villain's or boss monster's minions, but provide little to nothing useful for actually beating the villain or boss monster himself.
In summary, these feats aren't actually that awesome. They are useful tools for PCs because they will help them survive dungeons longer. But they do very little towards making overpowering encounters easier. And on top of that they are virtually worthless for NPCs. A simple sorcerer will usually be a better challenge than a character with reserve feats.
