Warmange from Complete Arcana ... um WOW.

[griff_goodbeard]

I'm playing a Battle Sorcerer in a pbp game and having a lot of fun with him. Yeah, I don't know very many spells, but I like not being hamstrung into evocation only like warmages (for the most part).

 

[Ciaran]

...sound like the Warlock...

Warlocks can be artillery, but they don't have to be. It's just a matter of picking the right invocations.

 

[Mistwell]

Warlocks can be artillery, but they don't have to be. It's just a matter of picking the right invocations.

I agree. So far, our Warlock shatters objects, spider climbs, and can be a face man.

 

[VonRichthofen]

Warmage is a weak class.

It can blast things away - how nice.
Too bad blasting is no longer the done thing in D&D - a good caster can blast as well, but what really matters is that he can throw SoDs left and right.
Apart from that, a blaster that has close to zero protection is simply fodder to any half-decent versatility/defensive caster.

Honestly, what makes wizards/clerics really powerful at high levels?

Spells like Time Stop, Mordy's Disjunction, Wish and Gate make them really powerful.

Especially Gate. You call a CR 23 creature at level 17? That's true power.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I'm running a group with a warmage right now, the class is powerful IF he has good backup.
The group consists of 7 PC's and has a wizard to take care of the non-warmage arcane issues and a warmage to take care of any hit point obstacles in their way.

Though I can see a 4 person group having some rough trouble in certain areas while cleaning house in others.

 

[Victim]

Warmage is a weak class.

It can blast things away - how nice.
Too bad blasting is no longer the done thing in D&D - a good caster can blast as well, but what really matters is that he can throw SoDs left and right.
Apart from that, a blaster that has close to zero protection is simply fodder to any half-decent versatility/defensive caster.

Honestly, what makes wizards/clerics really powerful at high levels?

Spells like Time Stop, Mordy's Disjunction, Wish and Gate make them really powerful.

Especially Gate. You call a CR 23 creature at level 17? That's true power.

Exactly. Even at low levels, spells like Web, Color Spray, and Glitterdust rock. While the warmage has the edge on a sorcerer who takes nothing but blaster spells, most sorcerers are going to be able to take a decent mix of blastiness while having enough room for other attack modes, misc abilties, and defenses.

All told, the warmage has a rather marginal edge in his area of expertise that comes at a rather large cost.

 

[Nail]

Addressing the "Knows his whole class list" objection: This is really a good thing for players that don't normally play spell casters. It allows for experimentation with unfamiliar spells, and removes the chore of having to pick spells. Just pick the best spell you can that fits the moment.

Of all the spell-caster archetypes to allow this flexibility to, the "Blaster-mage" is actually the safest, at least from the DM's perspective. Strange but true.

I currently have a warmage IMC. I sincerely doubt I'll have problems.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I like warmages, and their ability to use nearly every element at will is very nice...

But the extreme focus on evocation frequently is not the best choice at high levels. As levels increase, so do resistances, access to evasion, and just sheer amount of hit points. Evocation starts falling behind at about 7th level, when the battle sorceror,can start grabbing conjuration spells without saves, and otehr save or die/save or be rendered ineffective spells.

Plus with a few invisibilities and such, the battel sorceror can doa lot more.

After all, do you really need 20+ damaging spells at each level?

 

[pawsplay]

Basically, warmages have one spell, it just comes in many different shapes, sizes, and flavors.

 

[Darklone]

Have there been many changes from the MiniHB Warmage?