So...after my initial reading of the Wild Mage, I absolutely despised it. Hate hate hate, is what I said.
And I realized, it all came down to entry 07-08 on the Wild Surge table: "You cast fireball centered on yourself".
It took me back to the end of my first dnd campaign (2nd edition). One of our players, who likes to be super random, got the DM to roll a very slight random chance that he could get the bog we were in to ignite (and basically burn all of the swamp gas). Two incredibly unlikely rolls later, and the party was TPKed as the bog erupted. I can say it wasn't my favorite moment.
And that's when I realized, its not the randomness I hate about the wild mage. I mean, its not my personal cup of tea, but I don't outright hate that. Its the fact that the player is basically a ticking time bomb, and at some point will cause major damage to his party members. It goes back to the 3e Frenzied Berserker..the party was always just a few steps away from having a party vs FB showdown.
I think that is terrible design for core classes.
But looking over the chart more, I realized that these types of abilities were fairly rare. And with just a small amount of adjustment, I think the class could be perfectly serviceable.
So here are just a few adjustments I would make to eliminate the "timebomb" aspect of the Wild Mage.
07-08 - You are struck for 8d6 fire damage, reflex save for half.
19-20 - Your area is filled with grease, as the grease spell.
73-74 - You become poisoned for the next 1d4 hours.
83-84 - Each enemy takes the necrotic damage.
95-96 - You gain vulnerability to piercing damage for the next minute.
And that's it. Now those effect screw you but not the whole party. If you want to play the wacky wild mage, now the only person you hurt is yourself.
And I realized, it all came down to entry 07-08 on the Wild Surge table: "You cast fireball centered on yourself".
It took me back to the end of my first dnd campaign (2nd edition). One of our players, who likes to be super random, got the DM to roll a very slight random chance that he could get the bog we were in to ignite (and basically burn all of the swamp gas). Two incredibly unlikely rolls later, and the party was TPKed as the bog erupted. I can say it wasn't my favorite moment.
And that's when I realized, its not the randomness I hate about the wild mage. I mean, its not my personal cup of tea, but I don't outright hate that. Its the fact that the player is basically a ticking time bomb, and at some point will cause major damage to his party members. It goes back to the 3e Frenzied Berserker..the party was always just a few steps away from having a party vs FB showdown.
I think that is terrible design for core classes.
But looking over the chart more, I realized that these types of abilities were fairly rare. And with just a small amount of adjustment, I think the class could be perfectly serviceable.
So here are just a few adjustments I would make to eliminate the "timebomb" aspect of the Wild Mage.
07-08 - You are struck for 8d6 fire damage, reflex save for half.
19-20 - Your area is filled with grease, as the grease spell.
73-74 - You become poisoned for the next 1d4 hours.
83-84 - Each enemy takes the necrotic damage.
95-96 - You gain vulnerability to piercing damage for the next minute.
And that's it. Now those effect screw you but not the whole party. If you want to play the wacky wild mage, now the only person you hurt is yourself.
