Witch preview is up

[WalterKovacs]

I support my local charity by donating $1.00. That's pretty much what Wizards means by support of the older stuff and the only reason is because the Bard and Barbarian are in those books. If those two classes had been in the Heroes books then they probably wouldn't have mentioned the PHB2.

Creating a few powers that some other classes just happen to be able to use isn't supporting AEDU.

The new build for the barbarian has been confirmed to conform to the original AEDU form. The Witch seems like it may be AEDU, although it may have some, or all, of it's encounters on rails. The bard is likely also AEDU, with perhaps some rails on it, unless they want to create an essential class version. The druid, is not a new season, so it's another subclass compared to essential one (which had dailies, at-wills, and utilities, providing more support than fighters, rangers or rogues got), so it will be interesting to see what this is. Protector seems like a defender thing ... could it be some sort of warden version of the druid (just like the sentinel was the 'shaman' version of the druid)? So, an essential shapeshifter that protects the party as various scary animals? Sort of the other side of the coin for the witch that is transforming other people?

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I support my local charity by donating $1.00. That's pretty much what Wizards means by support of the older stuff and the only reason is because the Bard and Barbarian are in those books. If those two classes had been in the Heroes books then they probably wouldn't have mentioned the PHB2.

Creating a few powers that some other classes just happen to be able to use isn't supporting AEDU.

I guess you didn't get the memo:

2. Will Heroes of the Feywild use the class structure of the Essentials books, or will it include classes that conform to the format from the original Player's Handbook?
Heroes of the Feywild includes a mix of both class design styles. Here's a preview power from the Berserker Barbarian, one of the classes that exclusively uses the original 4th edition At-Will/Encounter/Daily/Utility model:

FAQ for Heroes of the Feywild!

 

[Incenjucar]

Yeah, except it doesn't even compete with the existing Mage at-will Beguiling Strands. In fact it isn't even in the same LEAGUE with Beguiling Strands. Or how about Scare, which prevents OAs against you in a blast 3 and does about the same damage but attacks vs Will? Really, wizard at-will powers have gone up in effectiveness, this one is only at best par for the course. Probably not even a top pick, though it is at least worth considering.

Yep. Any other class, it would be a pretty big deal, but it's standard for a wizard.

*cough*

 

[Siberys]

This does make me wonder if there will be a transmuter wizard. Witch won't be the only thing, but... :/

 

[I'm A Banana]

The Witch is nice, but sweet hippie jeebus, why is this thing not a Warlock subclass? What, Wizards needed moar? Charm and dread and pacts with otherworldly powers is not a Warlock thing? They don't use Charisma? Methinks I need to rectify that IMC, let Witches choose Warlock powers (especially Feylock powers! Pact-sworn to hags!) instead of Wizard powers. I get that will probably make them less controller-y and more striker-y, but I also don't so much care. Especially if the powers included in the book are controllery, it shouldn't be hard for them to fill a controller role with a striker sub. From the three preview powers, they do look like quite nice controller powers. Give the witch those, + let it choose Warlock powers to fill the gaps, and let it run.

Aside from that tremendous annoyance, they look pretty OK, if mechanically indistinct from a Wizard (which makes swapping them out for Warlock stuff all the easier: "You gain every thing a warlock gains, but instead of a pact, you choose a Full Moon Coven or a New Moon Coven"). Good fluff. And I do like that they gave Augury as a power you can use during an extended rest, rather than a ritual, because that is the fix I've been proposing for years for rituals.

 

[keterys]

Foe to Frog used to be a level 1 Daily called Slimy Transmutation (from the Red Box). I'll keep the old version, TYVM.

Hey, you can use both... and now you can turn people into squirrels and stuff too.

I have been kinda wondering how much any of the red book stuff was actually real. I mean, magic missile clearly changed

But, eh, it's in the Compendium, guess there's lot of transmuting into harmless animals briefly.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The Witch is nice, but sweet hippie jeebus, why is this thing not a Warlock subclass? What, Wizards needed moar? Charm and dread and pacts with otherworldly powers is not a Warlock thing? They don't use Charisma? Methinks I need to rectify that IMC, let Witches choose Warlock powers (especially Feylock powers! Pact-sworn to hags!) instead of Wizard powers. I get that will probably make them less controller-y and more striker-y, but I also don't so much care. Especially if the powers included in the book are controllery, it shouldn't be hard for them to fill a controller role with a striker sub. From the three preview powers, they do look like quite nice controller powers. Give the witch those, + let it choose Warlock powers to fill the gaps, and let it run.

Aside from that tremendous annoyance, they look pretty OK. Good fluff. And I do like that they gave Augury as a power you can use during an extended rest, rather than a ritual, because that is the fix I've been proposing for years for rituals.

Yeah, I kind of wondered why they thought it was necessary to make even a BUILD for it, considering there's already Feypact Warlock that fits the bill. Heck, even if you made another different warlock build it does seem more the appropriate class.

Honestly though I think the post-Essentials thrust there is to make 'Wizard' basically the catch-all for pretty much all arcane stuff and leave warlock for hexblade kind of stuff. Except of course then they went and made the bladesinger a wizard, so beats me...

I'm not sure there really is a clear vision for the arcane power source anymore, lol.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

It's really getting to the point where you ask yourself this question: Why do we even need powersources and classes?

Just take powers and special abilities and make a class out of whatever you can come up with.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

It's really getting to the point where you ask yourself this question: Why do we even need powersources and classes?

Just take powers and special abilities and make a class out of whatever you can come up with.

So? TBH I never saw what particularly was the big deal with 'power source'. In fact I think it was sort of a dumb idea. It sounded good, but all it does is put a box around things that you then have to ignore.

All classes really are is a power list at this point with 'build' or 'subclass' being the relevant part. The question really is when does it make sense to make new ones or not? It isn't an easy question with simple answers really.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Yeah, except it doesn't even compete with the existing Mage at-will Beguiling Strands. In fact it isn't even in the same LEAGUE with Beguiling Strands. Or how about Scare, which prevents OAs against you in a blast 3 and does about the same damage but attacks vs Will? Really, wizard at-will powers have gone up in effectiveness, this one is only at best par for the course. Probably not even a top pick, though it is at least worth considering.

I strongly and emphatically disagree with the above. Pushed and prone is nasty on melee monsters. Prone uses up their move action, and one square away means they can't charge. If you get your placement anything approaching right, on most monsters this means they are going to have to crawl to reach you and attack. Beguiling strands is just a push that doesn't scale - and generally my first wizard at will is Enlarged Freezing Burst.