Wizard Spells 10-16 Two Page Spread

[Fifth Element]

Blatant misreading of the intent to create nonsensical results if you ask me!

Yes. But it's RAW! It must be obeyed!

Or rather, it has been conjectured to be RAW by someone who has not read the RAW.

 

[Walking Dad]

Or I could just say that they have like 5 hp, which virtually guarantess that they'll die from any attack, and treat them in all other ways as a normal character, removing any loophole that could be abused. Seems pretty simple to me. *shrug*

Or, I could just throw something hard and painful at any player that tries to abuse the rules in such an outrageous way.

Why five? Give it 1! The Vampire Spawn Minion (level 6) has only 10.

 

[broghammerj]

And there's a pretty hefty difference, IMO, between a once per encounter teleport that only covers a few squares, and the ability to fly for upwards of several minutes, while potentially carrying allies with you.

The eladrin feystep is, indeed, an exception to the rule, but it's hardly theme-breaking.

No but it certainly circumvents a lot of obstacles that you could have in a dungeon for instance. My problem is that flying or transforming into something that can fly is a trope that has been present in a ton of fantasy literature.

Then don't get me started on the definition of encounter. Although mostly intuitive, I think it will be harder to define when not in combat. I can already see an eladrin character bamfing all over the place say walking through town ala Nightcrawler.

 

[Just Another User]

No, that's incorrect, you don't gain 1/2 your level towards damage. If you did, you'd see it factored into things like the damage high level monsters inflicted and you don't.

not directly, but every attack I'ver seen use a stat modifier and stat modifiers increase with level, so damage increase with level

 

[Dausuul]

Oh, I am expecting a *lot* of howls of rage and protest in the coming days from primary spellcaster fans in the upcoming months. Most of the other classes will have their scope broadened and have gotten a lot of cool new toys. The wizard class, which was previously hogging damn near all the cool stuff, is going to be narrowed in scope and options and it will lead to psychic pain from some quarters that we won't hear the end of for decades.

I thoroughly approve of the design change, needless to say.

Speaking as a hardcore primary spellcaster fan--wizards specifically--I love the new wizard class. Light, mage hand, and ghost sound at will? Maintainable durations instead of fixed ones? Vancian spellcasting largely eviscerated? Combat spells no longer sharing space with utility magic? Sign me up! Yeah, wizards got nerfed power-wise, but that's fine, they've had it coming for three editions now.

4E wizards are less crazy-omnipotent but more fun, and I'll take that kind of nerfing any day of the week.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Well it was suggested long ago that Phantom Steed would be a ritual.

And I remember at higher levels the Phantom Steed could fly. Though the lower level ground-based phantom steed and the higher level one that could fly, they might be 2 different rituals.

 

[Puggins]

I absolutely love the new spells in terms of intended effect, but the sparse descriptions are so vague that it's going to drive people like me batty.

Does Frostburn deal 3d6+int damage that counts as both fire and cold, or does it deal both 3d6+int fire and 3d6+int cold damage.

Does any attack that hits you while you have mirror image up cause you to lose an image, or do only missed AC attacks trigger the loss.

If an encounter lasts for more than five minutes, does resistance expire during the encounter?

Admittedly, the second question has a fairly solid (if merely implied) answer, but the first question is definitely vague as hell given the current wording.

The two lengths for resistance may have been necessary, but they throw in a tiny bit of non-verisimilitude. A ridiculous 120 round encounter with a fire dragon allows resistance to go 12 minutes, whereas a one minute encounter with fire mephits followed by a five minute rest spell the end of the effect. I'm aware that this is a niggling quibble, but I'm really looking forward to 4e, so I'm trying to be as quibbling as possible to keep my expectations realistic. A more consistent mechanic would've been superior.

 

[Alraiis]

No, not immune to area effect attacks.

The Kobold Minion has no hit points; rather, he dies if he is hit by an attack that deals damage.

Something like a fireball is an attack (likely Intelligence vs Reflex); if the attack roll beats the minion's Reflex Defence, he is hit and takes damage, thus he dies.

Something like the Wall of Ice is not an attack; rather, it deals damage when certain conditions are met. There is no attack that hits the minion; instead, when the minion starts his turn close to the Wall, he takes X damage. He has no hit points, so this is meaningless, and he was not hit by an attack, so he doesn't die.

-Hyp.

I think 4th Edition keywords are making fuzzy distinctions like this clearer. In this case, an "attack" is not anything that requires an attack roll, but any power with the "attack" keyword (and basic and opportunity attacks). Hence: "Wall of Ice - Wizard Attack 15"

 

[Mouseferatu]

Then don't get me started on the definition of encounter. Although mostly intuitive, I think it will be harder to define when not in combat. I can already see an eladrin character bamfing all over the place say walking through town ala Nightcrawler.

Except that "per encounter" is, as his been revealed at D&DExp, shorthand for "you can do this once and then must take a 5-minute rest before doing it again." So the definition's already hardwired into the rules, whether in combat or not.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Which is pretty dumb in my opinion. I have found that having the slightest clue about the capabilities of my players, having the slightest clue about what they like and dont like, is usually a better solution to limiting their abilities just to make my life easier.

Heck, I dont generally even use 'natural' challenges cause generally all they do is eat up playing time without advancing the plot, and finding playing time is the most difficult thing to do in my now 17th level 3.5 campaign.

The reason you find natural challenges to be a waste of time is specifically because of having spells such as Fly show up comparatively early in the game. You stop using them specifically because they are completely ineffective.

3rd edition, and previous edition, did a crappy job of balancing non combat spells against combat spells. With Silence, Invisibility, and Knock being 2nd level spells, and Spider climb showing up at 1st level, what exactly do you need a traditional thief / rogue for? You may not like the idea of nerfing the spell casting classes, but I would rather see them beaten into submission with a nerf bat than have them overshadow every class that does not use spells.

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