SPECULATION: Wizard vs. Warlock

[The Merciful]

I'd prefer:

"Sigh... Yes, I'm Fizbin the Wizard. Now go away. Your incessant yapping makes my head hurt."

 

[hopeless]

Oh dear...

So, now that we've seen previews of both classes...how do they stack up?

The wizard preview, I thought, left a bad taste in my mouth. I like the idea of implements...but the "traditions" (Emerald Frost, anyone?) and such were not too great. Also, from most of the playtests, it looks like the wizard will be shoehorned into an evoker role. What was wrong with generalists in 3.5? While I realize they will still be getting disguise self, sleep, and some minor invisibility, it's still not as cool as the 3.5 generalist wizard. Is summoning still in? I know it was in the original article.

On the other hand, the warlock looks GREAT! Curses, summoning, and pacts with supernatural powers are pretty cool. It appears to have a substantial amount of controller power, and will be a cool and flavorful class.

On a final note, which introduction sounds cooler?

"Greetings. I am a wizard of the Emerald Frost."

OR

"Greetings. I am a warlock in the service of the Shadow."

I think they've been watching the Lord of the Rings too much given without his staff Gandalf is pretty much stuffed against Saruman but if he does get to wield that ancient elvish sword someone's going to get hurt!

Me I look at this and see;

A tall man dressed in full armour walks up the road and see the signs of a fierce battle with numerious casualties on both sides, only one is still standing on either side on the right a grey haired old man leaning heavily on his staff his face drawn with sweat and the strain of the battle he alone still remains of his comrades all look stricken by some foul pestilence.

On the other side a single man dressed in a rick black cloak laughs back even as his former comrades fallen beside him rise up once more as animated dead...

No hesitation the armoured figure draws forth his holy symbol and sends the undead back to their rightful rest with a single loud shout calling forth to his deity.

The cloaked man curses aloud and turns to fce this new interloper.
The mage doesn't hesitate in striking down his foe with a last blast of energy from his staff before keeling over.
The cloaked man stifles his cry of pain and stnding upright once more only has time to gasp as the armoured figure draws forth his sword and cuts him down the last word the fiend hears is some absurd fighting move as he keel over onto his back in the mud.

Moments later after the cleric has done what he can for the fallen adventurers' he turns to the mage and asks.
"Is he a warlock or a necromancer?"
"Haven't a clue," the mage replies.
"The cursing was a bit of a clue though but he didn't give a chance to ask..." another prty member mentions.

My point is that until they release the core phb we won't know for sure either...

 

[Henrix]

"Greetings. I am a warlock in the service of the Shadow."

"The SHADOW!"

 

[Slife]

"The SHADOW!"

So, do warlocks know what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

 

[Lanefan]

So, do warlocks know what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

A competent warlock would not only know, but would be the reason the evil was lurking there in the first place.

Lanefan

 

[SSquirrel]

So wizards become evokers-with-extras, and warlocks become Necromancers-lite. OK; got it.

But what happens to Illusionists?

Lanefan

The same thing that always happens to illusionists. They get beat up, but no one takes their stuff b/c they already have better.

 

[thundershot]

What's the big deal about illusion magic, anyway? Most people I know avoid it like the plague because it's hard to role play.

DM "You see a lush forest speckled with bright red apples."
Player 1: I choose to disbelieve!
Players 2-4: Yeah, we do too.
DM: Roll a will save. (players roll) Okay, Players 1, 2, and 4 see a desolate swamp with man-eating trees. Player 3... you still see the lush forest.
P3: *rolls eyes*
P124: We tell him it's just an illusion.


Seriously, how to people actually deal with that?



Chris

 

[mach1.9pants]

I think the names of the traditions is fluff, you don't like Emerald Frost call it 'Brass Monkeys' or whatever you fancy. Fluff names annoy me ALOT (Dragon Tail Cut anybody) but at least they are easily changed- as long as there are not too many of them! I would prefer a simple name for the rules (Cold or Frost tradition) then a list of options that are used in game, e.g. 'in FR it is called Emerald Frost, in GH ....., for your homebrew campaign you could try........' Then you get crunch which is short and sweet and easy to fit on your character sheet and lots of options in the fluff for however you play it

 

[FourthBear]

It definitely sounds as though the designers want to narrow the scope of the "generalist" wizard. They've already mentioned that there will be a dedicated Necromancer class and an Illusionist class, each of which will have spells not available to standard wizards. I think this is a step in the right direction, as in 2e-3.5e specialist wizards are pretty feebly distinguished from generalists. Since all of the spells for these arcane classes fall into the same Wiz/Sor pot, the generalist can simply pick all of the best spells from any of the specialities. Heck, since he can switch around his spell preparation, he can be a necromancer one day and an illusionist the next. The +1 spell per day and even feat selection tended to be pretty weak ways to create a specialist wizardly tradition. The price of being a generalist should be that you don't get the best spells of every specialist, but more limited, weaker versions from each.

 

[Plane Sailing]

"Greetings. I am a wizard of the Emerald Frost."

Hey, at least they didn't go for "Yellow Snow"