Wizards Essentials: Secrets of the Spiral Tower

[Klaus]

Does anyone else think that the wizard in the first page's illustration looks like Varsuuvius of the Order of the Stick?


Hair style, reddish robes, ioun stone, and a facial expression which is serious and not contorted in heroic anger like so many contemporary illustrations. A fair bit taller perhaps.

Looks more like a misplaced psion, with the light halo...

 

[WalterKovacs]

I like the powers that time into specific implement types, since they are not just expertise independent, but they tie nicely into tricks. The tome power let's you use your "stored" dailies. The wand power makes use of powers stored in wands. The others are nice too, but those really tie in well with the implement.

My favorite part of the article: the part where they pretty much admit that every wizard starts with 12 charisma (unless it's orb of deception) so that he can pick up spell focus .

 

[LightPhoenix]

I'm not sure how much use "Immolate the Masses" would be, but it certainly seems like a bonus for doing what you would like doing best as an area attacker anyway.

It really depends on how your DM uses minions. If you have DM that uses a lot of them, it's great. If your DM prefers not to use them much, it's only so-so.

I find myself preparing the same Daily attack spells almost every time. There have been times I've made use of the ability to pick between my Utility spells -- it's nice to be able to go from "combat monster" to "ultimate explorer".

Same here. The only time I actually switched out my Daily was when I got fed up with Sleep and switched out Acid Arrow until I could retrain it. I think the main reason why, for me at least, is that I tended to take feats and other powers that boosted the efficacy of my Dailies and At_Wills over Encounters and Utilities.

 

[Nifft]

The only time I actually switched out my Daily was when I got fed up with Sleep and switched out Acid Arrow until I could retrain it. I think the main reason why, for me at least, is that I tended to take feats and other powers that boosted the efficacy of my Dailies and At_Wills over Encounters and Utilities.

Heh. I think we started with the same pre-gen. I cast Sleep exactly twice before leveling and retraining it for Flaming Sphere.

These days, at level 11, I prepare Wizard's Fury -- I love minor action attacks.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Rechan]

These days, at level 11, I prepare Wizard's Fury -- I love minor action attacks.

That single power turns our wizard into a striker. He tears things apart with that one.

 

[Dausuul]

Heh. I think we started with the same pre-gen. I cast Sleep exactly twice before leveling and retraining it for Flaming Sphere.

These days, at level 11, I prepare Wizard's Fury -- I love minor action attacks.

Cheers, -- N

Just curious - why did you dump sleep?

 

[LightPhoenix]

Just curious - why did you dump sleep?

I think for me it didn't feel overly effective. Perhaps part of it was poor luck - I think I only ever made two or three creatures fall unconscious. I played a wand wizard, so that made it less useful as well.

Additionally, I'm not a huge fan of the "slowed" condition. Ranged attackers aren't particularly bothered by it, since mobility isn't as much an issue. It's great for keeping enemies at bay... but then, your defenders are going to run right up to them anyway. It's good against highly mobile enemies, but that's highly situational. Personally, I'd rather have something that will be useful independent of the enemies I'm fighting, especially in the early levels when resources are limited.

 

[Dausuul]

I think for me it didn't feel overly effective. Perhaps part of it was poor luck - I think I only ever made two or three creatures fall unconscious. I played a wand wizard, so that made it less useful as well.

Additionally, I'm not a huge fan of the "slowed" condition. Ranged attackers aren't particularly bothered by it, since mobility isn't as much an issue. It's great for keeping enemies at bay... but then, your defenders are going to run right up to them anyway. It's good against highly mobile enemies, but that's highly situational. Personally, I'd rather have something that will be useful independent of the enemies I'm fighting, especially in the early levels when resources are limited.

Yeah, I can see that. The problem with sleep in 4E is there is no middle ground. Either you play an orb wizard, and it's crazy broken (and has a tendency to shut encounters down cold, which isn't really fun after the first couple times you do it), or you don't, and it's weaksauce.

That wizard's fury thing looks very interesting... I definitely want to try that out with the next wizard I play.

 

[Nifft]

Just curious - why did you dump sleep?

Basically ...

I think for me it didn't feel overly effective.

... and ...

Yeah, I can see that. The problem with sleep in 4E is there is no middle ground. Either you play an orb wizard, and it's crazy broken (and has a tendency to shut encounters down cold, which isn't really fun after the first couple times you do it), or you don't, and it's weaksauce.

... since my dude is a Staff Wizard, so the whole Orb "lockdown" thing wasn't going to happen.

Also, Flaming Sphere is teh awesome. It's like a 5th level Fighter daily, but without the risk of personal injury. It's quick death for Minions, and nasty double-damage dipping for Ettins & other multi-activation critters.

Cheers, -- N