Suggest a mage school

[Nikosandros]

Next week, a player that missed the first two sessions is going to join my new 4e game. The player has expressed his interest in playing a mage and I'm going to build the character for him. The other PCs are: a longbow hunter, a scout using axes, a cavalier of sacrifice and a spring sentinel.

Since there is already another controller in the group, I was thinking that a more striker oriented mage might work better, so that would point to either evocation or pyromancy...

However, I have no experience with those Essentials builds and, when playing a "classical" wizard it was often sub-par to try to maximize damage. So, how do this builds work in practice? Are they viable?

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I had a Pyromancer in a game I am running, and she didn't do too badly at all. Not as 'controllery' as an Orb wizard, but packed as much punch as your typical Sorcerer. It seemed like a fun archetype and character to play, from where I was sitting.

Might want to consider taking powers that are ally-friendly or at least one less "splashy" at-will, considering that most of this player's allies will be in melee.

Cinder wands, and other superior implements (if you allow them) can really help boost the damage as well.

 

[Klaus]

To be honest, the hunter is already a controller-leaning-on-striker, due to the longbow's unmatched qualities.

I'd go for an Enchanter mage. The sheer joy of making enemies attack each other is great. The character can take Evocation or Pyromancy as a secondary school for some damage potential.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

To be honest, the hunter is already a controller-leaning-on-striker, due to the longbow's unmatched qualities.

I'd go for an Enchanter mage. The sheer joy of making enemies attack each other is great. The character can take Evocation or Pyromancy as a secondary school for some damage potential.

Oh, I fully agree with you. An Enchanter would probably work best, especially in his melee-heavy party (and the possibility that his Hunter is human and took Twin Strike).

Though he asked for experience with the builds, and whether or not they are 'viable'. So far, that's the only one I've seen in play.

 

[I'm A Banana]

There is nothing as fun as making enemies whack each other.

Illusion is quite entertaining as well!

But evocation and pyromancy are lots of exploding fun.

I have played a pyromancer, and it is lots of fun. If I was a mage again, I'd probably go the illusion route primarily -- lies upon lies upon lies!

 

[Tony Vargas]

Since the Hunter has striker-secondary control covered, I think an Enchanter would be the best choice. With Beguiling Strands you can take spread-out enemies, interpsersed with allies, and shove them into a neat burst 1 for the Hunter to unload on - one of you just has to delay so the monsters don't act between you. (Honestly, Beguiling Strands is a serious top-tier at-will, and not taking it is almost silly - boosting it by also being an Enchanter is hard to pass up).

Don't be shy about taking other school's powers, though, they can be handy. Hypnosis, for instance, isn't all it's cracked up to be, but lightning arc can be handy after the enemies have been whittled down. Once you're down to one foe, Magic Missle is an acceptable standby.

 

[Nikosandros]

Hypnosis, for instance, isn't all it's cracked up to be

Why? Too situational in requiring two adjacent foes?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I decided to go with an enchanter, but taking also some damage-dealing spells.

BTW, while looking thorough the spells, I noticed that there are several powers that came out before Essentials that would reasonably fall under one of the schools. I wonder if, when the 'updated' wizard is published through the Class Compendium in Dragon, they will be changed...

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yep. If you have two adjacent foes, you can generally hit them both with something else, and do more damage on average.

Hypnosis targets WILL, so say it hits 70% of the time vs 50% (quite generous, really), and it causes the victim to attack with a +4 to hit, so, again, about 70%. That means it inflicts damage about 49% of the time.

Lightning Arc attacks two targets, so it hits about 50% of the time - so it misses 25%, hits once 50%, and hits both 25%. If you're doing 1d6+5 damage with it, that's an average of 8.5 damage/round, overall, counting both targets.

Beguiling Strands tagets WILL, like Hypnosis, so hits say, 70% of the time. So it hits both enemies 49% of the time, one of them 42%, and misses both 9%. Asuming 5 damage, that's an average damage 7.

For Hypnosis to deliver the same kind of damage, the target's MBA should be doing 14-17 points of damage on a hit.


Of course, it can also slide, if it's really important to slide one target 3, as opposed to pushing several targets 3, and hurting them a little.


So, worth it vs adjacent monsters that do just heinous damage (that their allies don't resist), or have some nasty effect on a basic attack (that actually does something to their allies), or that you /reeeeeeallly/ want to slide.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Merlin's Mighty Mage-a-Torium and Laundromat.






... what?

 

[Incenjucar]

Transmuter, clearly. We will finally have a proper defender/striker mage showing the fighter and rogue how to melee people into paste.