Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 4291080" data-attributes="member: 32164">Well, if you read my post, I specifically mentioned specialist wizards, druids and bards as an exception, but, in order:Summoner - It's true that they've taken summoning out of the game. There's been some fairly extensive articles explaining the reasons why ("economy of actions" and all that). When they have it worked out, summoning will make an appearance (my guess is the arcane splatbook).Necromancer - This one is a pretty fringe concept for a "heroic" character. There's plenty of rules for making NPCs that can fill this role. I admit it's missing, but due to its largely "evil" nature, I expect it was deliberately pushed back to PHB II.Illusionist - Both the wizard and the warlock have their fair share of illusions. Ghost sound is a cantrip, disguise self is an illusion, as is invisibility. The dedicated "illusionist" from most stories is usually a fey type who specializes in enchantments AND illusions. However, I admit it's missing, but I expect you'll see many more illusions in PHB II, if not before in the form of arcane powers.Diviner - What's a "diviner?" Conceptually? Are you saying you want to play the sage who can unearth secrets but is useless in combat? Most people don't.Transmuter - Without giving me a laundry list of D&D spells, what IS a "transmuter?" What do they DO, exactly?Enchanter - Charm specialist. For now, there's the Fey Pact Warlock. There's also some charms in the wizard, but the fey warlock gets a lot more. A fey warlock arcane initiate would probably be a pretty good way to model the classic beguiler character.Shapechanger - I admit this one is missing. I expect it'll be covered (and covered well) in either the Arcane book and PHB II. From what they've said, the new druid is going to be primarily a shapechanger.Unarmed Mystic Martial Artist (Monk) - The unarmed martial artist is another type that was cut. Any character can fight unarmed, but the specialist isn't ready. I'd expect some good unarmed feats and powers to be a shoe-in for the martial power book. As for the monk...well...PHB II probably.Minstrel (Bard) - Make a rogue or warlord, and say he carries a lute. If you want him to be okay at lots of skills, take the "Jack of All Trades" feat. If you want him to dabble in magic, take the appropriate multiclassing feats (wizard or fey pact warlock sounds pretty good). The religious bard can be done with a cleric, especially one of Corellon. The lore-obsessed bard is probably better represented as a wizard.Druid - If by "Druid," you mean "cleric of a nature god," that's easy. If you mean the shapeshifter druid, I admit there's no shapeshifting powers. Look for them in either the Arcana splat or PHB II.That's a fine balance feature when all games (and all characters) have to start at 1st-level.When you can play a fighter (or whatever) at the low levels and then switch out for a wizard  whenever you feel like it, you're hardly "paying your dues."To quote (IIRC) freelancer Will Upchurch: "designing a class so that it's underpowered at low levels and overpowered at high levels is one way to achieve game balance. It's not a good way, mind you, but it's one way."That's how the wizard has traditionally been designed - crappy at the start, makes everyone else feel crappy later.Sorry. In my opinion, that's a feature of Fourth Edition, not a bug.The character that can do all of these things is not balanced, can't be balanced, and is unsuitable for group play. Even if it's a question of guessing the right powers on a given day, it's still not balanced, because most of the time you don't suffer from not having the right spells prepared.Most of the earlier editions were designed by spellcaster fans (like Gary Gygax and Monte Cook), who felt that the wizard should be the be-all, end-all of the group. Gary's campaign logs over the years point this out to an almost comedic degree. Everyone is a spellcaster. The fighters, thieves and clerics are henchmen.There's a way to balance that game so everyone can enjoy it - let everyone play a spellcaster when they're cool and play another character when the spellcaster is a wuss. That's how, for example, Ars Magica does it.The so-called "sweet spot" of Third Edition was the point where everyone got to have fun. Given that there is a balance point where wizards get to be cool without everyone else being "worthless," why shouldn't that be the assumed default?I guess I just don't see how the paradigm of the wizard going from "worthless nerd that everyone has to protect" to "god that everyone depends on" is good for the game.But if someone can explain the value (without referencing "tradition"), I'm all ears.</blockquote>

Verification