Lord Pendragon
First Post
I agree. For a fighter, an extra 10% chance to avoid a Dominate Person is priceless. For a wizard, an extra 10% chance of avoiding 3d6 Con damage from black lotus extract is equally dear.kreynolds said:
Spell Caster Initiative
- Thread starter wolfen
- Start date
bret said:
Thanks for your post!
I'm not a big fan of "Please provide social approval and/or completely rework my character to your preferences" threads. That's why I tried to keep focused on the Initiative/Spellcaster relationship in general.
My thinking is this: Until around level 8 or so, a by-the-book sorceror is not going to benefit that much from Metamagic feats as much as he will from things that help him REACH 8th level. Giving up his few high spell slots for a coupla incremental bonuses is not usually a good tradeoff.
The higher initiative accomplishes this while making the character more useful overall. At 3rd-6th level, not many meta-magic feats can swing the tide of a battle. But higher initiative can put you in better control of the battle before it begins. It's easier to grant a monk or thief Invisibility BEFORE he runs off. For example, I think hitting a more powerful mage or cleric with blindness before he gets a chance to act gives me a great advantage. A Glitter-dusting or two of some warriors about to charge my party may give my heavy hitters a much greater advantage than the 2 Magic Missiles I might fire off in the middle of melee.
I think these advantages are only greater at the higher levels! Would you rather act before or after the opposing 14th level Wizard?
With my existing +3 Dex bonus a +4 Initiative would really help me against opposing mages and warriors, I think.
Thanks for all replies.
wolfen
Lord Pendragon said:
Actually, poison is the least of your worries, at least once the cleric gets heroes' feast. No, Great Fortitude is priceless because every instakill spell and effect out there (bar a couple) has a Fort save to negate.
Heck, I'm playing a fighter type in a 20th level campaign and I've got three feats to boost my Fort. You can never have too high a Fort save.
Bauglir
First Post
I once played a chaotic evil goblin sorcerer. It wasn't so much that he actively went out to be evil, just that he would pretty much do what he wanted to do (usually involving blowing things up) regardless of who was in the way at the time.
Party members had it explained to them that anything that got identified as 'target' was getting the biggest baddest evocation at his fingertips, and learned to work around it (attack from range, protecion from elements) or just suck it up (rogues were usually happy enough to run the gauntlet..).
The character was only meant for a quick one-off adventure but he ended up persisting and his alignment gradually shifted towards chaotic good as he adventured with the party and learned some restraint (and some single-target spells
)
Party members had it explained to them that anything that got identified as 'target' was getting the biggest baddest evocation at his fingertips, and learned to work around it (attack from range, protecion from elements) or just suck it up (rogues were usually happy enough to run the gauntlet..).
The character was only meant for a quick one-off adventure but he ended up persisting and his alignment gradually shifted towards chaotic good as he adventured with the party and learned some restraint (and some single-target spells
)
kreynolds
First Post
wolfen said:
IME, at high levels, the trade-off for Improved Initiative taken by a spellcaster to face off against another spellcaster becomes rather marginal. Basically, at high levels, you fear the 20th-level fighter bad buy getting initiative over you more than you would fear the 20th-level wizard bad guy getting initiative over you. Likewise, a 20th-level wizard bad guy will be more worried about your 20th-level fighter pal standing next to you than he'll be about your spellcasting character.
Lord Pendragon
First Post
An Empowered Heightened Disintegrate might change his mind.kreynolds said:
Number47
First Post
If you face things with class level, definitely take Imp. Init. Anything with sneak attack wants to attack you while you are still flat-footed. Don't let him! People so often say that Improve Initiative is only important for rogues, because they need to get high initiatives. Well, that makes it important for everyone else, too, because you need to get initiative over that enemy rogue!
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