Given that a crowbar will open most locks, probably.
Then Open Locks was useless before the Wizard came along, wasn’t it? Ban Crowbars – no more Tier 1 equipment!
It depends on the campaign. The wizard makes certain to keep a handful of useful scrolls at all times and then buys replacements. If it's locks-from-hell he might even invest in *gasp* a wand. But I've never seen that wanted.
Scroll of Knock: L2 x CL3 x 25gp = 150 gp x 1/2 = 75 gp x 50 = 3,750 gp
Wand of Knock: L2 x CL3 x 750gp = 4,500 gp
Unless you take Craft Wand, scrolls are cheaper anyway. You do save 30 gp per casting if you use Craft Wand, though.
So how many spells, at each level, is the wizard keeping a few copies of at all times? How often does he use them? If he uses them a lot, it’s expensive. If he only needs one once in a while, how is it breaking the game? Either this is a huge issue (and he runs through a lot of scrolls) or it isn’t.
And I’m assuming you weren’t the one saying “use scrolls for 10 minute/level and higher buffs as well” as those would get used pretty quick, so a chunk of your daily spells, I assume, go for buffs.
He can do it at twice the price, less reliably, without offensive spells (other than the few like Evard's that don't really care about stats), and by not putting his money into things like weapons.
I thought the Wizard used his own offensive spells, not scrolls, and the ability to have “a scroll for every occasion” which could be accessed out of combat, when time is not an issue, was the problem. The Wizard used up less than 10% of his wealth, which then jumped to 30%+ when your math was challenged. The Rogue certainly uses up more (but then, he doesn’t need as many Knock scrolls, does he?), but for a vastly overpowered ability, it should be worth it, right?
UMB at L7 can have 10 ranks, + CHA modifier. He needs 20 + caster level, so the 3
rd level spell (as high as your wizard went) requires a roll of 13 (less if he has more than 10 CHA). Since time is not an issue, who cares that he must typically roll 3 times or so, or even that he could roll a 1 and have to wait a day (if he doesn’t have a second copy)?
He has all that leftover wealth for weapons, so that should be good, right?
Poor adventure design – we always know who the BBEG is, and that nothing of note will happen when he’s down.
(b) When he has enough spells that he can Nova and have some spare. A full nova is probably only five spells.
It’s the higher level ones. For that L9 wizard, it’s his one 5
th and most 4
th, likely with a 2/3 or two in there.
(c) When he intends to teleport back to base anyway.
In the games I play or run, Intent and Achievement are not always synonyms.
Then he's stupid. Why do you insist on putting a D on the front of the wizard's pointy hat?
I used the example of one wilderness encounter a day. The response was “he can just nova”. So I asked how he knows there will never be a second encounter. Now he’s an idiot if he novas. Which is it? Who keeps casting Animate Goalposts?
Assuming (a) 100% success and (b) you never need to create one. So no. The rogue can't. Which doesn't mean the best option for a rogue is to pretend to be a wizard because UMD is one of the two best skills in the game
Failure = try again. Why is that delay a big deal for the rogue, but time is no issue for the wizard rummaging for that one appropriate scroll?
Because the Wizard also brings spells of his own.
And the rogue brings his other abilities. So what? Is the ability to have a utility spell for every occasion a huge power boost (as argued for the wizard) or not (rogue argument)? The rogue doesn’t pay the up front investment of learning the spell, but gets sandbagged with the doubled ongoing cost.
L3 spells? Like Stinking Cloud or Slow? Good enough to deal with chaff on their own. Hell, even Glitterdust and Web deal well enough with wandering monsters and the random wilderness encounters.
I don’t use wandering monsters. A second planned encounter at the party’s CR (maybe higher if the plan is only two encounters in the day).
Good job the archetypal party is 4 people. And You don't want horses or pack animals - you're going home every night.
That much longer for overland travel, then. And we can’t escort anyone, guard a caravan or have a Druid with an animal companion, can we?
Indeed. You certainly study carefully wherever you had your lunch.
Certainly. Provided you study it carefully for an hour after you eat. But since time is never an issue in your games, no big deal, right?
Which is why you have one scroll of teleport. It'll be needed eventually.
More money spent. Hopefully, nothing happens while you figure out what went wrong and retrieve it.
You mean the Kraken isn't dragging people underwater anyway?
He’s not immediately submerging, jetting and ink clouding – if he is, you can’t target those spells.
Indeed. He's just made the job much easier.
Good – that’s his role on the team, isn’t it? If we go back to those three wizards, what do they do with a blinded, slowed and “another effect” Kraken (likely one effect – he made the other two saves)? Poke it with daggers?
I'm not sure by level 13 your level 1 and 2 spells matter too much. And a Solar Simulacrum can do most of what Unseen Servant can do and is incredibly useful. I prefer characters to caricatures myself, which is why I don't assum the wizard is stupid.
Jumped up another four levels, I see. And “every wizard is the same” is a caricature. And Glitterdust and Web mattered quite a bit earlier in your post – did they get revised in level since then?
Once again your wizards are stupid. If it's on the ground, pick it up and throw it away if the goblins are that close. And then the other two wizards turn round and nuke the goblins. They know where the centre of the silence is and you've bought them the space to walk out of it. Why do you assume an Int 18+ wizard is stupid?
Pick up an item – move action which provokes an AoO. “Pull item out of wood it is embedded in” isn’t listed, but I’m thinking that’s not as fast. Throw the item? What stops a Goblin catching it? For that matter, the Silence can also be cast on a point in space, one of several crossbow bolts fired or the doorframe itself. How does the Wizard know what it’s cast on?
Rope trick in the dungeon is IMO asking for trouble.
Agreed – but that means the party can’t, as seems consistently argued, avoid the risk of more encounters before resting by using Rope Trick wherever they are.
Nice to know that you are deliberately going to a judge who agrees with you because he's your friend rather than because he's looking at the case.
More because he’s sane, but suit yourself.
Magic swords are often treasure. Sold for half value or given away for favours.
If I’m a fighter focused on a specific weapon type, my approach is to buy a weapon of that type, have it enchanted and have it upgraded over time. If I don’t focus on a specific weapon type, I commonly use the best weapon(s) found as loot. Either way, I’m not paying full price and getting half price every time I upgrade or change the weapon.
It's only a straight trade if the crafter is letting himself be abused. Rather than being compensated for XP.
Why is the xp a big deal now, but wasn’t for scrolls to learn spells, wands, etc.? 1/25 of 6,000 in scrolls, wands or whatever is the same 240 xp.
And yes, it's a team game. But if we want to talk about a team game, we need to make the case that upgrading the fighter's sword from +1 to +2 is worth more than 6000GP worth of scrolls.
Because that's the other problem with the 3.X fighter archetype. In order to do anything they leech resources from the party. They need items - and can't pitch in. They need healing - and can't pitch in. They need buffs - and can't pitch in. The only time they pitch in as more than a warm body is standing in the way of the bad guy. Which is important - but the cleric does this too. As does the druid and the druid's animal companion.
YOU kill the Slowed Kraken, then. And we left that animal companion behind when the four humanoids Teleported home. Remember, we only needed to transport four creatures? Funny…the fighter/rogue/warrior is pretty much useless, but the party is never all wizards…
