What should WOTC do about Golden Wyvern Adept? (Keep Friendly)

[Cadfan]

Is this official? Do we know the other golden wyvern feats are also about shaping yet?

The staff is best suited to the disciplines of the Hidden Flame and the Golden Wyvern. Servants of the Hidden Flame wield fierce powers of fire and radiance through their staves. Golden Wyvern initiates are battle-mages who use their staves to shape and sculpt the spells they cast.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20070917a

We don't know any other 4e feats than the four that have been presented to us. But we do know a great deal about the structure of 4e wizard design, and one of the things we know is that there are six disciplines, one of which is "Golden Wyvern," and that the "Golden Wyvern" discipline focuses on shaping spells. I am sure there will be more reference to this in the finalized 4e than a single feat.

 

[Najo]

Purple Dragon Knights don't have abilities like 'purple dragonning.'

They have 'heroic shield,' which boosts Aid Another for AC. That makes sense... shield, AC.
'Rallying cry,' a morale bonus to attacks and speed increase to allies. Again, the term and result make sense.
Inspire courage, Fear, fairly obvious.
Oath of Wrath: an oath to defeat somebody, giving bonuses to the purple knight to pursue his wrath.
Final Stand: temp bonus to a bunch of allies, presumably to face down some great force.

Bad example. The name of the prestige class is arbitrary, but you'll note that all the components of that prestige class have relatively clear names that suggest what they do. And each of those abilities suggest the overall class.

I'd have no problem with Golden Wyvern Adept as a prestige class; names of classes are generally accepted as a bit more descriptive than other things.

I also agree that some 3.5e feats have names that leave something to be desired, like combat expertise. Though I'd argue 'combat expertise,' while a bad name, is closer to its intended meaning to random folks new to the game than 'golden wyvern adept.'

To reiterate, I'd have no problem if it was a term like, say, 'Golden Wyvern Spellshaping' or 'Adept Spellweaver' or something.

I suppose another problem is that when I hear 'Golden Wyvern Adept,' I think 'oh, a prestige class.'

There was a designer article that said they no longer had presitge classes, if I am remembering correctly.

Golden Wyvern Adept is a type of training wizards learn in the D&D mythology now. Just as the feats tied to the other 4 traditions will be. They are not orders or schools etc, just collections of training with a name that groups them together.

 

[Najo]

Gold is malleable.

Ok, if the wyvern has some sort of area effect that it is deadly and accurate with, the golden wyvern tradition makes more sense when you define gold that way. Maybe they will alter its poison to spray or something?

 

[Najo]

Proper noun names for things are not going to work well for a lot of newcomers to the hobby. At all.

I have a group full of them. They can barely remember what 'power attack' does.

Secondly... hold up... Golden Wyvern is a defined term for 'collection of abilities frequently possessed by spellshaping battlemages'? If it's a collection of abilities, what would lead someone to understand what 'Golden Wyvern Adept' signifies?

It'd be like having a feat called 'Monk Adept.'

My impression so far is D&D is going much more story and fluff focused, so the named feats will likely be referenced by class description and flavor text with the feat. That way, a new player is reading the book and it is more like a fantasy story game than a bunch of hard to understand rule that turns them off. They want the new player who doesn't game going, "hey I want to try this, it looks fun"

 

[KingCrab]

When I think of wyverns the main thing I think about is poison. When I think of gold I think of wealth. Perhaps there are better fluffy names (if we need to pick a fluffy name) for this ability?

 

[Cadfan]

When I think of wyverns the main thing I think about is poison. When I think of gold I think of wealth. Perhaps there are better fluffy names (if we need to pick a fluffy name) for this ability?

I agree with that, but can't think of one.

I hate names like "Spellshaper." Its the 3e version of putting the word "War" in front of everything.

 

[GreatLemur]

I believe in the separation of fluff and crunch because, as a general rule, I don't like other people's fluff. I'd rather handle that stuff myself. So when a company mixes their fluff in with their crunch, it bothers me.

...Especially when that fluff includes names like "Golden Wyvern" and "Emerald Frost". For the love of God, people. What the hell were you thinking?

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

...Especially when that fluff includes names like "Golden Wyvern" and "Emerald Frost". For the love of God, people. What the hell were you thinking?

If it was Emerald Flame would there be as much gnashing of teeth?

 

[KingCrab]

My issue with Emerald Frost isn't as much the name (which I dislike) as the grouping of effects (cold and poison). I really don't think cold and poison really fit together. I like the idea of a cryomancer, I even like the idea of a acid mage. I don't like the idea that they go together. I guess you could play one and only focus on half of your abilities, but then there will likely be a substantial power loss. Why not develop the two seperately?

Why does cold fit better with acid than lightning or fire?

 

[Storm-Bringer]

Like D&D magic styles were never arbitrary? Really?

Then explain to me why Heal is Conjuration (Calling or creating matter into our realm) and not either Evocation (dealing with energy) or Necromancy (dealing with life/unlife)?

The SRD Wiki explains this pretty clearly:

Heal enables you to channel positive energy into a creature to wipe away injury and afflictions.

Further:

Each conjuration spell belongs to one of five subschools. Conjurations bring manifestations of objects, creatures, or some form of energy to you

Now, why does 'Golden Wyvern Adept' allow you to exclude certain squares in your spell?