Wu Jen spells... kinda.... suck?

[Jalkain]

The latter - at 6th level you pick an element and from then on you get bonuses with spells of that element. The old way required a lot of nitpicky bookkeeping, plus if the DM introduced, say, a new Earth spell, suddenly your Master of Earth was no longer a Master until he learned the new spell.

That's good to hear. The old system could be really frustrating at times. It took me an age to get hold of the Fire Shuriken spell to complete my collection, and almost as soon as I got it, I levelled up, and lost my mastery again!

 

[Felix]

"My complete arcane, the book supposed to be benefiting wizards... *snip*

And I think that right there is the flaw in the complaint. Complete Arcane is not "A Player's Guide to Wizards and Sorcerers" like Tome and Blood was; Complete Arcane is a "Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for all Classes". And it does that job very well. Pretty much every PC can find something in there for them if they want a little arcanism in their blood.

And in a book that provides arcane magic to all classes, 2/3ds of the spells "for all classes" are focused on two classes... Sor/Wiz. That is reasonable in my opinion because this is not a class book. It's a theme book. Wu Jens are a theme of arcane magic, and this is the only time for them to recieve any official material support in the forseeable future. So they made Wu Jens unique by crafting a unique spell list, which was helped by an influx of new spells.

Frankly I'm glad they have 1/3 of all the new spells, otherwise I'd think they were just a reorginization of the Sor/Wiz spell list. That would suck.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

For long distance transport yes cloud charriot sucks. For the hands down best combat movement spell in the game it rocks. Not sure its 7th level material but its close. The other spells well your right they aren't up to snuff.

Also part of the problem with the spells being divided as they are is that too many of the spells are dead on what another class should have and yet for some reason are wu-jen only. If I look at a spell and say oh heck yeah I'd let someone research that spell it fits the same flavor as your class, it hits the mechainics right etc. Then it should be on their list when it comes out in a book. Wu-jen only on many of these spells made little to no sense. It in no way makes the spells seem more flavorful or flesh out the wu-jen class out more to make these exclusive spells. Wu-jen get more than enough uniqeness out of their list since while its primarily wiz/sor it also gets some druidlike spells

 

[Saeviomagy]

And I think that right there is the flaw in the complaint. Complete Arcane is not "A Player's Guide to Wizards and Sorcerers" like Tome and Blood was; Complete Arcane is a "Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for all Classes". And it does that job very well. Pretty much every PC can find something in there for them if they want a little arcanism in their blood.

Except there seems to be very little to benefit those who aren't wizards, sorcerors, warlocks or wujens. It was nice to see new hexblade stuff, and a couple of the spells are available to bards.

More are available to druids and clerics.

Personally I found that complete warrior gave a lot to everyone participating in combat. Complete divine gave bugger all to anyone who wasn't a cleric, druid or paladin but gave plenty to those who were.

I find complete arcane fails to have the broad appeal of complete warrior, and at the same time fails to give much to wizards, sorcerors or bards. Dedicating a whole 1/3rd of the spellist to a new, fairly pointless class is doubtless a big part of that.

And in a book that provides arcane magic to all classes, 2/3ds of the spells "for all classes" are focused on two classes... Sor/Wiz. That is reasonable in my opinion because this is not a class book. It's a theme book. Wu Jens are a theme of arcane magic, and this is the only time for them to recieve any official material support in the forseeable future. So they made Wu Jens unique by crafting a unique spell list, which was helped by an influx of new spells.

IMHO, it still fails to make them unique, and has the added disadvantage of wasting 1/3rd of the spells section with a large quantity of redundant or pointless spells.

Spells which could otherwise have been ones which, while being cast by a wizard, sorceror or bard, could have benefited the party as a whole.

Frankly I'm glad they have 1/3 of all the new spells, otherwise I'd think they were just a reorginization of the Sor/Wiz spell list. That would suck.

They suck anyway. Really. The entire class could have been covered with 9 spells and some flavour text.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Or an article in Dragon magazine.

 

[Felix]

They suck anyway. Really. The entire class could have been covered with 9 spells and some flavour text.

So if it's not worth doing, it's not worth doing well. That about right?