VirgilCaine said:
Your motivation to force friendly fire issues on the PCs is mystifying to me.
It's not that, really. It's more of my having issues with the realism of mages, in the heat of combat, setting things up perfectly. You don't see soldiers throwing grenades so that the enemies are *exactly* in the blast radius, while their allies are fine.
And, with this in mind, players often scrutinize the board like it's some sort of puzzle, to figure out the best way to place their spells. I don't like that - just me, I suppose.
Last week, we had two PCs fighting three NPCs in close combat. One PC had a line attack. He spent about a minute thinking how to position his attack in such a way that all three NPCs in close combat would get hit, and the PCs would not.
They're all in the same 10 by 10 foot square, pretty much. And only NPCs got hurt. Seems a bit... off... to me.
So, yeah, that's why I like the variant rule. I think my Players would like it, too. Different groups, and all that jazz.
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Particle_Man said:
Could you elaborate more on why you find it fun, as compared to other arcane casters? And would that be "fun in spite of being a bit weak" or "fun and by the way it is not weak"?
Yeah, I probably should have done that, eh?
I'm a 4th level Wu Jen right now, and in our game, it's "PHB Spells, Spell Compendium, and Spells from Complete Arcane" - and that last book was added so that the Wu Jen had a decent spell list (Since Compendium doesn't support Wu Jen).
Because Wu Jen doesn't always receive support, it naturally works out that Wizards have access to more spells. Hell, even using just PHB + CA, there are a lot of areas that the Wizard covers that the Wu Jen does not. Spells that I think are quite important to any Arcane Caster that the Wu Jen doesn't get (And I'm just going to 3rd level here, because that's my main area of involvement with the class right now):
Mage Armour (they do get a Nat AC boost, and Shield, but neither works as well as Mage Armour), Identify, Ray of Enfeeblement (Wu Jen seem to lack debuffs in general), Enlarge Person (they do get a spell that makes the caster huge size, but at a later level, which is unfortunate), Web, Darkness, Scorching Ray, Some of the 2nd level buff spells (Why they get Bull's Strength, but not Eagle's Splendor, is beyond me), Clairaudience/Clairbvoyance (and scrying spells in general), Hold Person, Fly, Lightning Bolt (don't know why; they get lightning spells, and they get fireball, after all)...
I mean, I can understand not wanting to duplicate the wizard's spell list, and they do have their own flavour, but a few times already I've found myself wishing for Web, Scorching Ray, or Ray of Enfeeblement. And there aren't too many spells in CA that are Wu Jen only - and those that are pretty much just replicate a wizard spell that's probably better (compare Fire Wings to Fly, for example).
So, that's why I think they're "kind of weak".
But, that being said, I love the class a lot more than your typical wizard, and here's why:
1) Specialization is built in. At 6th level, you *have* to specialize, which is something I like. But that specialization isn't like the wizard's, which blocks off access to other schools of casting. Instead, there's no penalty on casting from other schools - you just cast a few spells from your usual spell list better. Which is, to me, a better way of doing things.
2) No Familiar - Who even remembers they have a familiar? Our sorcerer has one, and he only brings it out in RP situations, and even then, he forgets about it. The joke is written into his character, too - his PC hasn't even named the lizard that follows him!
3) WAtchful Spirit - Great little class feature. Re-rolling initiative (and keeping the better result!) means that the Wu Jen can make a great buffer or summoner (which are my character's main areas of expertise!). Four fights out of five, I'm the first to act, thanks to this class feature (and Improved Initiative), meaning I can either Bull's Strength our fighter, or go invisible so I'm not nuked by ranged fire. Factor in the Watchful Spirit feats from CA and Complete Mage, and it's even better (for example, my character took the Defending Spirit feat, meaning every time he uses Watchful Spirit, his AC increases by +2 for the entire encounter - and he gets an extra use of it. Next feat, he's taking Hasty Spirit, meaning each time he uses his spirit, he gets the AC Boost, as well as a free move action once per encounter - and he can use the ability three times per day!).
4) Taboos - I know that a drawback that is limited by RP isn't really much of a drawback. After all, you can pick some pretty lame ones that will never show up in play - "Character Cannot Eat Meat", for example. But if you pick some fun ones, you can really have a blast trying to bypass your taboos in play. For example, my two taboos -
* Can't Leave a building the same way he entered it
* Can't sleep during a storm.
Both have come up in play, and they're just incredibly fun.
5) Spell Secrets - free metamagic, built into spells? Great fun, that. Really helps your character develop "signature spells", which I think is kind of neat.
