Silence 15" Radius, AntiMagic fields effect all ?

[Phasics]

One thing I've recently started considering in 4e is the effect of giving all classes "spellish like" powers.

In 3e and before Mages were very powerful but could be heavily nullified with certain specific spells such as silence , feeblemind and antimagic fields. It was almost the equalizer. Sure you can make an asteroid collide with the planet for 300d6 but in this antimagic room the dire rat in the corner is going to slowly chew you to death.

At times like this the trusty fighter would shove the mage aside and for once get to say, "let me show you hows its done boy".

Now my questions is assuming such antimagic still exists will it extend to the superhuman abilities all classes seem to be getting ?

I mean if a Mage has a per encounter 4d6 insta magic missle strike vs a Rogue who gets gets a per encounter 4d6 insta critical wounding strike and an some antimagic hits the field does the mage lose his abiltiy but not the rogue ?

Thoughts ?

 

[Shroomy]

I would say no. For example, the martial exploits don't seem to be described as supernatural in any rules sort of way.

 

[Phasics]

I would say no. For example, the martial exploits don't seem to be described as supernatural in any rules sort of way.

Well with that said , and classes seemingly balanced in power dose this not put spell casters at a disadvantage ?

I mean their greater power was traded off for limited/per day and able to be nullified. If the are no longer the more powerful of the classes should their weaknesses not be lessened or applied to other classes as well ?

 

[Campbell]

What is this antimagic field you speak of?

 

[fafhrd]

It's a solution without a problem.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I would guess that there may not be antimagic or silence effects in the game until the third or fourth splatbook and thus when they crop up, such problems will be blamed upon the splatbook (and perhaps justly so) rather than game design.

That said, if they do do any kind of magic resistance, they will probably use the power source keywords. Is the power you're using martial? It works in an anti-magic field. Is it arcane? It doesn't work. Is it divine? Depends whether they want a strong divine/arcane distinction.

 

[Shroomy]

Well with that said , and classes seemingly balanced in power dose this not put spell casters at a disadvantage ?

I mean their greater power was traded off for limited/per day and able to be nullified. If the are no longer the more powerful of the classes should their weaknesses not be lessened or applied to other classes as well ?

Perhaps, but I personally don't think that anti-magic will really exist in 4e, at least, not in the form we would expect from earlier editions of the game. Also, magic (at least non ritual magic) does not seem to have verbal components anymore (or somatic and material), so I'm not sure that silence is that much of a problem in regards to using magic.

 

[Sitnaltax]

Imagine an anti-martial field where everything is slippery and people become clumsy and inept. But spells work fine

 

[TwinBahamut]

Antimagic was listed by the WotC designers as a Proud Nail of bad game design in that one article some time ago, and I don't expect it back.

As a whole, 4E does not make the distinction between normal, extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities like 3E did, every power is just a power, so there is no consistent mechanic to base the "magicalness" of an ability off of. Antimagic as it existed in 3E is impossible to implement in 4E.

Anyways, I never liked Antimagic, so I say good riddance to that flawed idea.

 

[Stalker0]

At times like this the trusty fighter would shove the mage aside and for once get to say, "let me show you hows its done boy".

Actually what would happen is the fighter, without any real damage capabilities and no AC since all of his magic items have been turned off, would take one look at the scary dragon and dive behind the wizard.

The reality of high level 3e is that EVERY PC class was hosed by antimagic.