Skamos Redmoon, the Pathetic Tiefling Wizard

[Emirikol]

From a character design standpoint, he's completely min-maxed and thus least well-rounded. His mini-fireball (force orb or acid arrow) look to be his "big thing" otherwise he's devoid of role-playing opportunities (as most of the characters do..was this game entirely designed on minatures rules for wargaming only or what?)

In playtest on MAPTOOLS, I took some of the kids from the wotc boards and had them try out the classes. Skamos get's mopped up on pretty quick if he's not careful.

What have your assessments been of the strengths of each of the pre-gen characters.

jh

 

[Kordeth]

From a character design standpoint, he's completely min-maxed and thus least well-rounded. His mini-fireball (force orb or acid arrow) look to be his "big thing" otherwise he's completely devoid of role-playing opportunities (as most of the characters do..was this game COMPLETELY designed on minatures rules for wargaming only or what?)

Umm...they're pre-generated characters. For a convention demo game. A convention demo game that focused on showing off the new combat rules. You were expecting Dostoyevsky?

In playtest on MAPTOOLS, I took some of the kids from the wotc boards and had them try out the classes. Skamos get's mopped up on pretty quick if he's not careful.

Given that Skamos is a controller, and a controller's job is to stay in the back and manipulate the battlefield, I'm not surprised he got clobbered when put into general combat.

What have your assessments been of the strengths of each of the pre-gen characters.

jh

They all look to fill their roles pretty well, and I like the fact that multiple classes in the same role feel distinctly different and unique from one another. The defenders are sticky, but in different and equally-good ways, the rogue and ranger have very clear schticks--I like what I'm seeing.

 

[Andor]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'role playing opportunities' he has two 'impress the yokels' type utility spells that he can use all day long. Mage hand and Light are iconic low level spells, supassed only by prestidigitation in the utility category.

Also, the the wizard continues to be squishy and needs guarding, that's a feature, not a bug.

 

[fafhrd]

I have to agree. Aside from sleep his spells don't have any interesting side effects. It seems that it was due to spell selection. We can see from the warlocks ray of frost that he could have been made a little more interesting. They wanted a warmage for the demo and they got one.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

the wizard seems not so pathetic to me...

he has cantrips - at will! He has rituals, and he has quite some ranged firpower.

But: he should be mopped up by all other classes in a fair close 1 vs 1.

Try him in a 3 vs 3 behind a cleric and a fighter or start the combat at higher range... and don´t forget the main benefit of his race is giving him +2 bonus to sneaking... and he gave up a feat to learn it... so use it!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I find it funny how many people think the new wizard can't do much. In most past versions of the game he'd be lucky if he could cast three magic missiles a day, which is likely all he'd do and then hide with a knife or crossbow.

I'm sure I'd make a few different decisions if I made this character, but I don't see how he "doesn't have any role-play" Since when did his POWERS (spells) EVER define his role-playing potential?

Based on the 11 disparity between his INT and his WIS he's a know-it-all, but in spite of that he's got a presence and wit (12 cha) to make people not hate his guts.

An admirable arrogant ponce. He'd be fun to play.

Fitz

 

[Colmarr]

Based on the 11 disparity between his INT and his WIS he's a know-it-all, but in spite of that he's got a presence and wit (12 cha) to make people not hate his guts.

An admirable arrogant ponce. He'd be fun to play.Fitz

That's an excellent summary.

Another way to go would be that the low Wis represents him being introverted, more prone to introspection than interaction with the world around him, but when he does come "out of his shell" (usually when he has strong feelings about an issue or when he considers it to be something he is an expert in - such as arcana) he has the force of character to make his point heard.

 

[Cadfan]

Ironically, there's another thread where many people believe that the Sleep spell is the best per day ability of any character. So I guess mileage varies.

In terms of his roleplaying potential, what's the problem? Its a character sheet without a character background. So I assume that you're talking about roleplaying potential that's based on one's statblock. I see ability scores, which hint of his personality, I see several skills that are relevant to roleplaying (Arcana, History, Nature and Stealth all look to be trained skills), I see three languages, and I see three cantrips with roleplaying potential. Ghost Light allows short range ventriloquism in 4e, Light is always useful, and Mage Hand is light telekinesis.

He seems to have as much roleplaying potential to me as is possible for a character statblock with no backstory or personality. And given his purpose, he shouldn't have a backstory or personality. He's entirely adequate for his task.

 

[mhensley]

I ran an example combat for myself between the wizard and the dwarf fighter. The wizard won initiative, used an action point to gain an additional action, and promptly killed the fighter in one round.

 

[Emirikol]

I've heard that from many with each of the classes. I wonder if action points will allow you to get off an extra spell.

In any case, they've really pigeon-holed the wizard into simple artillery.

jh