Wand of Accuracy question

[CovertOps]

Wand of Accuracy: Once per encounter as a free
action, you gain a bonus to a single attack roll equal to
your Dexterity modifier. You must wield your wand to
benefit from this feature. This form of mastery is good
for war wizards because it helps increase their accuracy
with damaging powers.

*gets out house rules and starts making notes*

 

[-Avalon-]

Problem is, that to alter a die roll after it has been rolled, you need an immediate interrupt, and last I checked you cannot perform an immediate action during your own turn... even the elven accuracy ability is a free action...

 

[Syrsuro]

As I read it, it is a free action, not an interrupt (because, of course, it cannot be an interrupt). However, unlike Elven Accuracy, it does not specify that you can add it to the roll after the fact. So I think it is intended to be declared before the attack.

However, does anyone not think that Wand Mastery is the most useless of the implement abilities?

Given the relative weakness of this mastery (unless someone can convince me otherwise) I think that ruling that it can be used after is one step towards correcting this weakness (although not, imho, what they intended).

But I think that, compared to the others, even with that it is too weak and should be changed in the errata to always grant a +1 to attack, with the option of declaring that one attack per encounter has a scaled bonus to hit. This makes it directly comparable to the staff which always grants a +1 to AC and an ability-scored scaled bonus to defense (immediate interrupt, after the attack) once per encounter.


Carl

 

[Falling Icicle]

However, does anyone not think that Wand Mastery is the most useless of the implement abilities?

While it isn't useless, I do agree that it is the weakest of the three. I would find it much more appealing if it applied to all attack rolls made with a single spell, rather than just one. Since a big part of the controller role is area attacks, I find it odd that the war wizard's favored implement feature only helps in hitting one of the many targets you are attacking with a fireball or other spell.

 

[Gruns]

Well...

While it isn't useless, I do agree that it is the weakest of the three. I would find it much more appealing if it applied to all attack rolls made with a single spell, rather than just one. Since a big part of the controller role is area attacks, I find it odd that the war wizard's favored implement feature only helps in hitting one of the many targets you are attacking with a fireball or other spell.

Chances are, unless you happen to be targetting more than 10 creatures with the same AoE power, it's only going to turn 1 of the misses into a hit anyway. (Assuming a +2 Dex bonus)

Later!
Gruns

 

[GorTeX]

I'd say that you can do it after rolling, but before you know the result. If you could do it after the result, it would be an immediate interrupt. As a free action, it's like putting a bit of a curve on the ball after the fact, using the wand to direct the attack, not unlike a Wii remote.

It can't be an immediate interrupt...if it was, the you could never use it on your turn

It's a free action that can be used at any time. To have any value at all, you should be able to use it after you roll and know if you hit or not (and in my games you'd know by how much you missed so you wouldn't waste the encounter power). Much like the staff of defense or the 'Shield' spell.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The wand mastery benefit does look pretty inferior.

Both the Orb and Staff get /two/ effects, not one. Orbs can extend an at will, or aply a save penalty, while the Staff gives a continuous +1 AC /and/ an encounter 'get out of being hit by /anything/ by a small margin' card.

At minimum, allowing the wand encounter effect to be expended /only/ if it turns a miss into a hit would make it more nearly competative with the other two. To bring it to true parity, though, you'd have to give it a straight +1 to hit whenever you use a wand. Maybe it could be limitted to a keyword or defense of your choice or something.

FREX:

Wand of Accuracy: Spells you cast through your wand are more likely to hit thier target. You gain a +1 to attack rolls made with implement-keyword powers that target REF, when you use a wand as the implement. Once per encounter, if an attack roll you make with a wizard power using a wand misses by less than your DEX bonus, you can turn that miss into a hit.

 

[-Avalon-]

FREX:

Wand of Accuracy: Spells you cast through your wand are more likely to hit thier target. You gain a +1 to attack rolls made with implement-keyword powers that target REF, when you use a wand as the implement. Once per encounter, if an attack roll you make with a wizard power using a wand misses by less than your DEX bonus, you can turn that miss into a hit.

How about instead, make it the wizard equivalent of the fighter bonus, which imo would make sense...

Wand of Accuracy: Spells you cast through your wand are more likely to hit their target. You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls made with powers including the implement keyword while channeling your spell through the wand. Once per encounter, as a free action, you may alter the result of a die roll by an amount equal to your dex bonus. This alteration can be made after the result of the die roll is known, but before damage is assigned.

how is that?

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I would say that a good compromise would the be the one mentioned above about allowing it after the roll, but before the DM says it's a hit or not. So, for example, you know that you missed an enemy with a 15 before, but you hit with an 19. So you know his defense is between a 16 and a 19. So if I roll a modified 15 with a big spell, I might say "Okay, I rolled a 15, but I'm using Wand of Accuracy to add my Dex of +2. So does a 17 hit?" I don't think that's too overpowered, and you still won't know for sure that the addition will result in a hit. All it allows you to do is not blow it on a 1 or a 20 roll, since it wouldn't help either of those anyway.

 

[Mengu]

Doesn't the wand's usefulness depend on the build? A +1 or +2 attack bonus once per encounter does seem weak compared to the other builds.

But if I'm building a wand wizard, I'm not going to focus on wisdom at all, and avoid powers that use wisdom (which is very easy). For an Eladrin, I might lay out my stats to be Str 10, Con 12, Dex 18, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 8. I'll likely grab stealth as a bonus skill to get combat advantage when I can. In this case, as long as I can find cover, my Force Orb or Acid Arrow attacks will essentially have +6 attack bonus with wand and combat advantage. As important as it is to hit with those powers, +4 from wand accuracy is nothing to sneeze at. Since this build is trying to be pseudo striker, Ranger or Rogue multiclass for extra damage and an extra dexterity skill (acrobatics or thievery) will be quite handy. And Improved Initiative will give frequent opportunities for the alpha strike.