Frostmarrow
First Post
Pity. I was looking forward to this class but I simply can't convince myself to power-game. Thanks for the info, though.
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Unearthed Arcana Variant Rules - Previews and Questions
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Tarril Wolfeye
First Post
Some more...
Contacts- They are an optional rule that everyone gets. They're not overly powerful. They are assumed to come from your characters backstory. This variant doesn't do anything for NPCs you meet in roleplay, they are in addition to contacts.
Gestalt - There is a number of especially powerful combos recommended
Level based turning check - It's basically a level check + Charisma modifier vs. 10 + HD + turn resistance + Charisma modifier. There's a maximum number of HD you can turn with a check and the effects are not exactly the same.
Racial paragons - There are drow, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-dragon, half-elf, half-orc, halfling, human, orc, and tiefling paragons. No aasimar though.
About the domain wizard: the biggest problem I see with it is that it's strictly better than the standard wizard AND all specialist wizards as it gets no banned schools. You probably wouldn't use other wizards when using domain wizards.
Contacts- They are an optional rule that everyone gets. They're not overly powerful. They are assumed to come from your characters backstory. This variant doesn't do anything for NPCs you meet in roleplay, they are in addition to contacts.
Gestalt - There is a number of especially powerful combos recommended
Level based turning check - It's basically a level check + Charisma modifier vs. 10 + HD + turn resistance + Charisma modifier. There's a maximum number of HD you can turn with a check and the effects are not exactly the same.
Racial paragons - There are drow, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-dragon, half-elf, half-orc, halfling, human, orc, and tiefling paragons. No aasimar though.
About the domain wizard: the biggest problem I see with it is that it's strictly better than the standard wizard AND all specialist wizards as it gets no banned schools. You probably wouldn't use other wizards when using domain wizards.
Li Shenron
Legend
MiB said:
The price of this compared to "normal" specialization is that your bonus slots can be used to prepare only those 9 domain spells (which you cannot choose), not ALL the spells you may know of that school.
You also don't get the bonus to spellcraft to all spells of a school, although you don't either get the penalty because you have no forbidden schools.
On the overall it looks still better. The banned school were a huge disadvantage. I think there is still a reason to be an old specialist, but on the other hand there would be NO more reasons left to be a generalist!
MiB said:
Oh, the horror! The broken horror!
By the way, what does a cleric cough up for his domains? Pretty much zip, huh? Still gets to cast every clerical spell in existence. So what's the big deal with wizards receiving a similar beneift?
As far as I can tell, the notion that wizards should have to pay through the nose for extra spells per day is just something that's been pre-conditioned into folks from time immemorial. Wizards were the big gun back in the day, but now divine and warriors are beefed-up far more than in previous editions, and likewise wizard spells have been reigned in. We can let up a little on the pointy-hats now, I think.
Fact is, for the ability to cast arcane spells, they already pay with the inability to wear armor, a wretched hit die, and a feeble base attack bonus. The pay big-time. And to cast a lousy extra spell per level, they should have to undermine their singular strength? Talk about broken.
Wel, what is so wrong with every wizard having an area of concentration? Is it a bad thing that there are no "generalist" clerics?
Li Shenron said:
Well, with this version, the concept of "specialist" is somewhat like a fighter who uses his bonus feats to become a weapon specialist. There's no "paying". It's a class feature.
Personally, I think I'll tie the wizard domains into familiars, so that they will actually serve some significant purpose now.
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Tarril Wolfeye
First Post
Felon said:
The domains are: Abjuration, Antimagic, Battle, Cold, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Fire, Illusion, Necromancy, Storm, and Transmutation.
Now you can start assigning familiars.
btw, if you need more information about the domains, just ask.
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Frostmarrow
First Post
Could you please tell me what spells constitutes the conjuration domain? MUWHAHAHAHA.
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
In the "players roll all the dice" system, how are monster critical hits adjudicated when the PC is making a defence saving throw against its attack in this book?
Tarril Wolfeye
First Post
Domain Wizard domain spells:
1 bonus spell per spell level, these spells cast at +1 caster level.
Spells (from lvl 0-9):
Abjuration: resistance, shield, resist energy, dispel magic, remove curse, Mordenkainen's private sanctum, greater dispel magic, banishment, mind blank, prismatic sphere
Antimagic: detect magic, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, obscure object, dispel magic, minor globe of invulnerability, break enchantment, antimagic field, spell turning, protection from spells, Mordenkainen's disjunction
Battle: daze, true strike, protection from arrows, greater magic weapon, fire shield, Bigby's interposing hand, Tenser's transformation, power word blind, moment of prescience, time stop
Cold: ray of frost, chill touch, chill metal (as 2nd-level druid spell), sleet storm, wall of ice, cone of cold, Otiluke's freezing sphere, delayed blast frostball (as delayed blast fireball, but cold damage), polar ray, comet swarm (as meteor swarm, but cold damage)
Conjuration: acid splash, mage armor, web, stinking cloud, summon monster IV, wall of stone, acid fog, summon monster VII, maze, gate
Divination: detect magic, detect secret doors, see invisibility, arcane sight, prying eyes, true seeing, greater arcane sight, discern location, foresight
Enchantment: daze, charm person, Tasha's hideous laughter, suggestion, confusion, hold monster, greater heroism, insanity, mass charm monster, dominate monster
Evocation: light, magic missile, flaming sphere, lightning bolt, shout, wall of force, Bigby's forceful hand, Mordenkainen's sword, Otiluke's telekinetic sphere, Bigby's crushing hand
Fire: flare, burning hands, scorching ray, fireball, wall of fire, cone of fire (as cone of cold, but fire damage), summon monster VI (fire creatures only), delayed blast fireball, incendiary cloud, meteor swarm
Illusion: ghost sound, disguise self, invisibility, major image, phantasmal killer, shadow evocation, mislead, mass invisibility, scintillating pattern, shades
Necromancy: disrupt undead, ray of enfeeblement, false life, vampiric touch, fear, waves of fatigue, circle of death, control undead, horrid wilting, energy drain
Storm: ray of frost, obscuring mist (as 1st-level cleric spell), gust of wind, lightning bolt, ice storm, control winds (as 5th-level druid spell), chain lightning, control weather, whirlwind (as 8th-level druid spell), storm of vengeance (as 9th-level cleriv spell)
Transmutation: mage hand, expeditious retreat, levitate, haste, polymorph, baleful polymorph, disintegrate, reverse gravity, iron body, shapechange
Plane Sailing: if the defense comes up a natural 1 it's a threat (if the threat range is greater, it's 1-2 or 1-3)
Frostmarrow:
1 bonus spell per spell level, these spells cast at +1 caster level.
Spells (from lvl 0-9):
Abjuration: resistance, shield, resist energy, dispel magic, remove curse, Mordenkainen's private sanctum, greater dispel magic, banishment, mind blank, prismatic sphere
Antimagic: detect magic, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, obscure object, dispel magic, minor globe of invulnerability, break enchantment, antimagic field, spell turning, protection from spells, Mordenkainen's disjunction
Battle: daze, true strike, protection from arrows, greater magic weapon, fire shield, Bigby's interposing hand, Tenser's transformation, power word blind, moment of prescience, time stop
Cold: ray of frost, chill touch, chill metal (as 2nd-level druid spell), sleet storm, wall of ice, cone of cold, Otiluke's freezing sphere, delayed blast frostball (as delayed blast fireball, but cold damage), polar ray, comet swarm (as meteor swarm, but cold damage)
Conjuration: acid splash, mage armor, web, stinking cloud, summon monster IV, wall of stone, acid fog, summon monster VII, maze, gate
Divination: detect magic, detect secret doors, see invisibility, arcane sight, prying eyes, true seeing, greater arcane sight, discern location, foresight
Enchantment: daze, charm person, Tasha's hideous laughter, suggestion, confusion, hold monster, greater heroism, insanity, mass charm monster, dominate monster
Evocation: light, magic missile, flaming sphere, lightning bolt, shout, wall of force, Bigby's forceful hand, Mordenkainen's sword, Otiluke's telekinetic sphere, Bigby's crushing hand
Fire: flare, burning hands, scorching ray, fireball, wall of fire, cone of fire (as cone of cold, but fire damage), summon monster VI (fire creatures only), delayed blast fireball, incendiary cloud, meteor swarm
Illusion: ghost sound, disguise self, invisibility, major image, phantasmal killer, shadow evocation, mislead, mass invisibility, scintillating pattern, shades
Necromancy: disrupt undead, ray of enfeeblement, false life, vampiric touch, fear, waves of fatigue, circle of death, control undead, horrid wilting, energy drain
Storm: ray of frost, obscuring mist (as 1st-level cleric spell), gust of wind, lightning bolt, ice storm, control winds (as 5th-level druid spell), chain lightning, control weather, whirlwind (as 8th-level druid spell), storm of vengeance (as 9th-level cleriv spell)
Transmutation: mage hand, expeditious retreat, levitate, haste, polymorph, baleful polymorph, disintegrate, reverse gravity, iron body, shapechange
Plane Sailing: if the defense comes up a natural 1 it's a threat (if the threat range is greater, it's 1-2 or 1-3)
Frostmarrow:
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Felon said:Oh, the horror! The broken horror!
By the way, what does a cleric cough up for his domains? Pretty much zip, huh? Still gets to cast every clerical spell in existence. So what's the big deal with wizards receiving a similar beneift?
As far as I can tell, the notion that wizards should have to pay through the nose for extra spells per day is just something that's been pre-conditioned into folks from time immemorial. Wizards were the big gun back in the day, but now divine and warriors are beefed-up far more than in previous editions, and likewise wizard spells have been reigned in. We can let up a little on the pointy-hats now, I think.
Fact is, for the ability to cast arcane spells, they already pay with the inability to wear armor, a wretched hit die, and a feeble base attack bonus. The pay big-time. And to cast a lousy extra spell per level, they should have to undermine their singular strength? Talk about broken.
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For me, the whole concept of rule being broken or not refers to it being balanced or not. Obviously, the game desingners and a couple of players think that both the standard wizard and the standard cleric are balanced character classes. The cleric took a bit of downsizing in 3.5 IMHO, reacting to the overcompensation he got from 2nd to 3E. The wizard didn't change much, and I personally like to play wizards and most of the time prefer them to sorcerers. It's a tough choice between generalist and
specialist, which shows that they are close to being balanced as well.
The domain wizard, however, is just better then the generalist, so it's hardly balanced.
If you feel that the standard wizard is unbalanced, then a domain wizard would be the solution. I would even tend to agree, because I think that 3.5 tipped the scales to the warrior classes favor. (esp. because of the new Power Attack ruling).
But still, allowing domain wizards makes generalists obsolete. That's all I meant by calling them broken.
Pax
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