Wizard Spells 10-16 Two Page Spread

[Kenku17]

Actually, do we know how armour proficiencies work yet? Is there anything stopping the wiz stepping into a suit of fullplate if he feels like it?

One of the 2 sided displays they had was the more desciptive armor page, and someone had copied it. In there is a mention that donning armor you are not proficient in gives a -2 to reflex(and something else I can't remeber.

Its also good to mention that Heavy Armors give Zero Reflex Bonus to AC.

 

[Spatula]

This is usually my response to these sorts of things. Why exactly do random internet messageboard people who find a problem in a couple of minutes of looking think that nobody noticed the problem before them, and certainly not the people testing the rules in which the problem inheres?

More eyes with different perspectives, looking at a complex system with a near-infinite number of permutations. The testers can't actually look at every possible combination of powers, classes, races, foes, and environment. And it's entirely possible that they look at a particular combo and miss a potential exploit. It took all of one game? for people who had never played 4e before to stumble upon the "cheaty" fighter-paladin combo (one of the attendees' reports of the 1st day of DDXP on gleemax mentioned using that tactic specifically), which had only recently been fixed in the rules.

Then there's limited designer time to fix uncovered problems. And the fact that a fix for a problem may open up new permutations.

 

[small pumpkin man]

In which case... huh. Mirror Image, as a level 10 Daily 4E spell, seems to kinda suck compared to Mage Armor, a level 1 3E spell. I wonder if Mage Armor made it into 4E...?

-Hyp.

I expect to see it in the Sword Mage class if nothing else.

 

[fuindordm]

Definitely a mixed bag.

We see an iconic and super-flavorful spell--Prismatic Spray--reduced to a one-paragraph description. The seven colors have dropped to three, and most of the randomness has gone away.

The new version of Mirror Image is a yawner compared to any previous version, and as others have pointed out its got some oddness in the new rule set.

The Bigby spell, however, is pretty neat. That may well be the first Bigby spell I ever consider taking as a PC.

Since everyone is getting "powers" now, I suppose it makes sense that they have less space for spells. I'm just not thrilled with the apparent trend towards stripping down and simplifying all spells with moderately complex effects, until they can be explained in 2 lines of description. I didn't like it much in 3.5, either. (Where, for example, Emotion was broken up into a few simple buffs and anti-buffs.)

 

[Darth Cyric]

I think these spells are making all those who were crying, "Wizardz r beng redooced 2 boomstix in 4e11!!11!" eat crow.

The only one I'm not too sure of is Mirror Image. I'd make it so that if the enemy's attack roll misses by more than 6 (or 4, or 2, depending on how many images you have left), an image does not disappear.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Yes! This is absolutely 100% correct.

I'm a nerd and I dig the new wizard.

He's just not about damage, he's all about putting your enemies into a world of pain, by blinding them, immobilizing them, Bigbying them, walling them in, and so on. So that the strikers can deal with them.

Just the mirror image seems to be... disappointing. Basically, because they already fade from stuff that wouldn't hit you in the first place. An extra sentences like "...unless they wouldn't have hit your original AC" would make it much nicer, flavour-wise.

Cheers, LT.

 

[IceFractal]

It's not so much that I mind Flight being higher level - it's that I mind crappy flight being higher level. Flight speed 40' for 5 minutes that takes your minor actions to sustain (thus preventing any other buffs and some spells)? That's not Flight, that's "Flight Jr., with Training Wheels". And 16th is hardly the start of Paragon tier - shouldn't this kind of rudimentary flight be back at level 11 or so?

And this is especially insulting in light of the fact that Hippogryph mounts have been mentioned as available equipment, for 1000g, IIRC. Now I don't know exactly how prices compare, but I'll bet that's available a hell of lot sooner than level 16.

So ... unlimited flight at a good speed - or slow flight for five minutes from a daily power? This is the equivalent of a 3E Wizard having a 5th level spell that granted them the Toughness feat.

 

[Darth Cyric]

So ... unlimited flight at a good speed - or slow flight for five minutes from a daily power? This is the equivalent of a 3E Wizard having a 5th level spell that granted them the Toughness feat.

Slow flight from a daily power ... or unlimited fast flight that is unfeasible in many dungeon situations (the exact same reason the 3.5 Paladin's special mount was such a crappy class feature)?

 

[IceFractal]

And the other thing that bothers me - if it takes 16th level to get five minutes of flight, what level do you have to be to actually get overland travelling flight? 30th?

I can see people wanting to delay flight a bit from 3E standards, but come on - if you're a Paragon-tier character, fighting literally armies of evil, and by 16th level, heading toward Epic - you should be able to fly over a damn swamp. You should be able to fly over as many swamps as you like. Save trekking through the mud for the Heroic tier characters.

Because reaching those high levels has no point if nothing changes except your stat bonuses and damage numbers. If you can never grow and be able to easily bypass what used to be insurmountable challenges - not just monsters - then why bother?

Slow flight from a daily power ... or unlimited fast flight that is unfeasible in many dungeon situations

Well, the spell isn't all that great in a dungeon either. Unless the rooms are quite large (with high ceilings), you won't get that much more manueverability out of it, and it doesn't last long enough to fly around avoiding floor traps. And in combat, the minor action necessary to sustain it is a significant hinderance, preventing you from sustaining any other spells.

 

[Incenjucar]

Overland travel flight really should be obtained by something that can be removed from the player, at least until epic level, whether we're talking Hippogriffs or Flying Carpets.

Flight is -extremely- powerful and completely changes the game if you make it reliable.