Wizard Spells 10-16 Two Page Spread

[Magus Coeruleus]

Maybe it's more of a campaign flavor issue, since I'm not keen on the drawbridge trick at 1st level for any and all members of a race. But so much depends on the circumstances under which you can use it that I think I'm ruffled-out at this point until we know what restrictions there are.

 

[Hypersmurf]

... and whether line of sight works through intangible barriers like Walls of Fire

Lin e of Sight certainly doesn't work through a Wall of Fire in 3.5:

Effect: Opaque sheet of flame up to 20 ft. long/level...

-Hyp.

 

[Kishin]

naw just about every German broadsword fight is over in about 2 seconds.

very quick and to the point (if you catch my drift)

Oh, I know realistically speaking, your average sword fight is very, very short.

But this is D&D. I like my battles epic.

 

[Graf]

I agree actually I alot with this.

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?

Before, cantrips sucked. Mage hand could move 10 pounds, unless something was magic, but most of the time something you'd want to move, a level, an item, whatever was magical.

A cunning wizard wants to slide the idol off the x?
Sorry, it's magical.

Want to pull the disarmed guy's sword out of range?
Sorry, it's magical.

It's a useful power now, it's magical, it's not massively broken. You don't need to keep track of whether you used it last session (which is still the same day).

Good stuff.

 

[Graf]

But yes, I like overland flight that much. I don't even care if a character has to hyper-specialize to get it. In fact, I would actually consider that better. It would make flight much more rare and special. Maybe you have to be an air elemental savant to get persistent flight, or you need a feat chain to improve the flight spell to make it persistent. If such options exist, I'm good to go. Otherwise...not so much. I don't play fantasy games to be constrained by the same rules as conventional reality. I play fantasy games to take a vacation from reality. Otherwise, what's the point? I may as well play monopoly.

And overland flight is just one example. What about water breathing, or shape-shifting? Abilities that allow characters to explore their environment or form in ways that we can't are what fantasy is all about. Sure, combat can be fun, but I'd much rather role-play the weather mage who loves flying through storms, or the druid who loves turning into a shark in order to explore the ocean depths. If 4th edition can't simulate those character concepts, I'm not interested.

Rituals?

I don't think any of this will be missing from the game. It'll just not be stored in the "combat powers" section of the rulebook.

So you want to down under the ocean at second level? You learn a ritual to do that.
Maybe the ritual requires you to be 10th level? You get a blessed sea shell from the mermaid king that allows you to cast it at 2nd level, provided you're standing in salt water of an area he rules.

Making that sort of thing rituals/story-related adds a lot of magical flavor.

You -won't- be able to cast water breathing if some monster grapples you and pulls you into a pool. But that's not what you're looking for, right?

(I don't know how rituals are going to work, of course, but my impression is that it'll be in this fashion).

 

[Graf]

I loved this power. I read through and this and the Bibgy's Hand power, both really struck me as being great!

Mirror Image Wizard Utility 10
'Three duplicate images of you appear, imitating your actions
perfectly and confusing your enemies.'
Daily * Arcane, Illusion
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Three duplicate images of yourself appear in your
space, and you gain a +6 power bonus to AC. Each time
an attack misses you, one of your duplicate images disap-
pears and the bonus granted by this power decreases by 2.
When the bonus reaches 0, all your images are gone and
the power ends. Otherwise, the effect lasts for 1 hour.

For the first time it's a simple ability AND The number of the bonus corresponds easily to the effect of the spell.
There's not "does he know which image is real, blah blah blah".

Why the hate?

 

[Graf]

Having one person teleport and then set the rope is often going to be much easier than using a grappling hook to get the rope in place. My swordsage does that all the time.

So long as there's nobody on the other side...
Cause you can only teleport once, then you stuck

I think people are a bit confused about the "awesomeness" of one shot personal teleporting.
Eberron's had the mark of movement for a while. At first level it's personal teleport. People always take it.
It's a great, cool power.

It's not the bomb. It's not close to being the bomb.

It -does- allow them to move around or over one trap/obstical.
It -does- allow for some cool effects.

But you can't just leap around the battlefield. You -can- teleport into some room through an arrow slit. But you're stuck on the far side of that wall, in that part of the dungeon, until you get a 5 minute break.

That could really be pure suck.

So the player is taking a big risk, using a one shot power, to try to get advantage. If they've read the situation correctly they'll possibly enable the party to skip a trap, if they haven't they could really wind up very very dead.

 

[fafhrd]

I loved this power. I read through and this and the Bibgy's Hand power, both really struck me as being great!


For the first time it's a simple ability AND The number of the bonus corresponds easily to the effect of the spell.
There's not "does he know which image is real, blah blah blah".

Why the hate?

It needs work. Currently a psychic attack would pop an image even though the image doesn't serve as an impediment.

 

[The Little Raven]

Why the hate?

Personally, my problem with it is that it affects AC, but not Reflex. It makes much more sense for it to augment Reflex (which then augments AC, as well), since it would stymie a caster's attempt to target you with a spell (Reflex) as much as a fighter's attempt to stab you (AC).

 

[Graf]

Personally, my problem with it is that it affects AC, but not Reflex. It makes much more sense for it to augment Reflex (which then augments AC, as well), since it would stymie a caster's attempt to target you with a spell (Reflex) as much as a fighter's attempt to stab you (AC).

My impression was that Reflex was like fireball or burning hands.
Historically mirror image never affected those spells.

You just target an area (a square or set of squares) and whether the person is affected ('hit') depends on how agile they are.

The mage isn't targeting you, he's waving his (or her) hand in a direction and flame billows forth.

It's just rolled as an attack roll to keep the system consistent.