Adslahnit
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Posts: 12
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« on: July 19, 2008, 06:34:20 AM » |
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There's a preview of the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide available, and it's got some great stuff! www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/rpga4_frpgpreview.zipFirst up, they introduced two new races: the drow (but hey, we already have stats for those) and the genasi. The genasi is the only race so far that has +2 Strength and +2 Intelligence, making it perfect for a Tactical Presence warlord. The genasi race also comes in 5 flavors, each of which have their own passive features and racial encounter power: earthsoul, firesoul, stormsoul, watersoul, and windsoul. The racial encounter powers range from the earthsoul's Earthshock, which lets you knock enemies in close burst 1 prone as a minor action, to the windsoul's Windwalk, which lets you fly 8 squares as a move action. Next up is a preview of levels 1-3 of the swordmage class, the arcane defender. The swordmage has the hit points of a fighter or paladin, starting weapon proficiencies with a slant towards heavy blades (since a swordmage's implement has to be a light blade or heavy blade, you don't have much of a choice), leather armor proficiency, and a +2 Will bonus. The swordmage also has a warding, which grants a flat +1 bonus to AC, or a +3 bonus if one hand is free and not holding anything. Just like how the rogue is separated into Artful Dodger and Brutal Scoundrel, and how the warlord is separated into Inspiring Presence and Tactical Presence, the swordmage is separated into Aegis of Assault and Aegis of Defense. The Aegis of Assault is the Strength/Intelligence path which focuses on offense as a defender, complete with a marking mechanic that lets it teleport and make a melee basic attack against enemies that attack his allies. On the other hand, the Aegis of Defense is the Constitution/Intelligence path which specializes in pure defense, with a mark that reduces damage dealt by enemies to his allies. Lastly for this preview, we have backgrounds. Depending on where you're from, you get free stuff at absolutely no cost. Being from Aglarond gives you Elven as an additional language, Perception as a class skill (not free training in it though), and a +1 bonus on Perception checks; the Dalelands lets you reroll any Nature check and gives you a +1 bonus to initiative; Impiltur lets you use your Wisdom instead of your Constitution for your bonus hit points; the Moonshae Isles give you Elven as an additional language and a +2 bonus on saves against charm and fear effects; and such and such. Also of interest is this new article from Dragon Magazine: www.wizards.com/download.asp?filename=365_Backdrop_Cormyr.pdfThis article introduces two new paragon paths: the Draeven Marauder, a fighter paragon path for spear and shield fighters and longspear fighters who want mobility and lots of shifting, and the Luckbringer of Tymora, a cleric paragon path which has some nice reroll passive features and free proficiency with one type of heavy blade, which may then be used as an implement (which means no need to buy a holy symbol any more if you plan on being a Strength/Wisdom hybrid cleric). The Luckbringer of Tymora unfortunately has a massively borked organization and acquisition of its powers though, so it's rather unusable right now, but I suspect it will be fixed when the actual PDF of Dragon Magazine #365 comes out. So, is FR going to be associated with power creep and overpoweredness yet again? I mean, it is objectively better to be in FR because you get free stuff from backgrounds... |
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DemonLord57
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« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2008, 07:38:49 AM » |
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Wow.. all the powers having to do with the Tymora are screwed up. Even the Channel Divinity feat's power. It's a minor action power with a trigger of "when you become bloodied"... huh?  |
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tsuyoshikentsu
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« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2008, 08:21:10 AM » |
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What's really funny is that all the powers are out of order and even the COLORS are wrong.
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Runestar
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« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2008, 08:44:50 AM » |
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Inauspicious Vulnerability is darn weird. I thought that due to deliberate design, all lv20 paragon path powers are daily powers by default. Does this mean that the cleric will have 5 encounter powers and 3 dailies at lv20, instead of the normal 4/4? |
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A clear conscience is the surest sign of a failing memory.
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DemonLord57
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« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2008, 10:15:12 AM » |
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Inauspicious Vulnerability is darn weird. I thought that due to deliberate design, all lv20 paragon path powers are daily powers by default. Does this mean that the cleric will have 5 encounter powers and 3 dailies at lv20, instead of the normal 4/4? It's just screwed up. I think it's that the... power descriptors (don't exactly know what they're called, the "Encounter 11 Attack" things) on the daily and encounter power are switched. Also, the usage keywords on the utility (first one) and daily (last one) are switched. It'd be very strange to have Divine Tilt as an encounter... it'd be very powerful... then again, Inauspicious Vulnerability is quite good, too, and has a (save ends)... actually, I have no idea... |
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Adslahnit
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Posts: 12
Hurr
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« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2008, 01:49:48 PM » |
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Another thing that's messed up is that the Luckbringer powers have the Divine tag, but the header says Luckbringer Exploits. I'm surprised we're still dwelling on the Luckbringer though, not on genasi and swordmages.
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Kuroimaken
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« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2008, 02:18:20 PM » |
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Genasi look damn yummy to me. So, is FR going to be associated with power creep and overpoweredness yet again? I mean, it is objectively better to be in FR because you get free stuff from backgrounds... I wouldn't bet on it so soon. Eberron was arguably more associated with it on 3.5 than FR, and the only thing we've seen out of it so far is the playtest artificer. As for the things getting messed up, it sounds a lot to me like they rushed the article so they had something to show. |
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Alpha
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Posts: 72
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« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2008, 02:40:47 PM » |
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When the genasi were mentioned, I perked up and thought "the perfect race for my WotST gish?" Then the Swordmage came up, and said gish became obsolete. Sigh, back to the drawing board.
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DemonLord57
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« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2008, 02:42:04 PM » |
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Another thing that's messed up is that the Luckbringer powers have the Divine tag, but the header says Luckbringer Exploits. I'm surprised we're still dwelling on the Luckbringer though, not on genasi and swordmages.
I'm mostly talking on the WoTC thread. Genasi is awesome, especially for Tactical Warlords, and both the Earthsoul and Watersoul ones have nice benefits and powers. Earthsoul's is a better benefit, Watersoul's is a better power (IMO). As for Swordmage, I'll quote myself from the other thread: (the bit on the Aegis is because of a question as to which one we preferred.) Transposing Lunge looks like awesomeness-in-a-can, Flame Cyclone looks very nice, Burning Blade looks like a solid choice for an iterative attack specialist, and Frost Backlash looks amazing. (weapon vs. defense, immediate action, 3[W] damage. Sweet.)
I'll admit to liking the Aegis of Shielding more than the Aegis of Assault, (especially with Transposing Lunge, wow) but I think that the defensive one will have trouble actually being able to protect his allies (other than the marked creature.) Your OAs are likely to suck, and they don't stop opponents anyway. I actually have the same complaint about Cha-based Paladins. The main beefs I have with Aegis of Assault are that 1) You don't actually protect your teammate, you just punish the action of hurting your teammate, 2) A melee basic attack doesn't seem very much of a deterrent, especially with the padded sumo effect, and 3) You're a defender. You're not supposed to leave the 2 brutes free to go attack your teammates to hit the skirmisher who already passed you.
Nothing looks overpowered awesome, just a high level of awesome. I'd say that most of the powers are very good, but I don't think that makes them more powerful than other classes, but I very much like Swordmages right now.
edit: I just realized that because Aegis of Shielding is an immediate interrupt, Transposing Lunge actually negates their attack, since they're teleported adjacent to you. How's that for cancelling a solo's encounter power? If at all possible, I don't want people to yell about interesting things being overpowered when they're not, because I'm afraid of nerfs making interesting things boring and crappy. Not too concerned about that on these boards, though. Honestly, Transposing Lunge looks a bit ridiculous after I realized the cancelling attack part... |
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« Last Edit: July 19, 2008, 04:20:58 PM by DemonLord57 »
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tsuyoshikentsu
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« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2008, 03:16:16 AM » |
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When the genasi were mentioned, I perked up and thought "the perfect race for my WotST gish?" Then the Swordmage came up, and said gish became obsolete. Sigh, back to the drawing board.
Actually, WotST doesn't look like a terrible multiclass. (Not the BEST, as I find WotST kind of lacking anyway, but a longsword would qualify as a weapon and an implement for both classes.) |
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X-Codes
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« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2008, 04:11:20 AM » |
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When the genasi were mentioned, I perked up and thought "the perfect race for my WotST gish?" Then the Swordmage came up, and said gish became obsolete. Sigh, back to the drawing board.
Actually, WotST doesn't look like a terrible multiclass. (Not the BEST, as I find WotST kind of lacking anyway, but a longsword would qualify as a weapon and an implement for both classes.) I can't think of a more natural and synergistic blend of two roles than Defender/Controller. Also, we only have about half of the Swordmage powers up to level 3. There's more to come to be sure. |
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tsuyoshikentsu
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« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2008, 10:39:58 AM » |
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I can't think of a more natural and synergistic blend of two roles than Defender/Controller. It's not that. I just really don't see what's so good about WotST to begin with. |
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PhoenixInferno
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« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2008, 04:16:37 PM » |
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The One Sword is a nice power.
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Alpha
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Posts: 72
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« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2008, 04:47:13 PM » |
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When the genasi were mentioned, I perked up and thought "the perfect race for my WotST gish?" Then the Swordmage came up, and said gish became obsolete. Sigh, back to the drawing board.
Actually, WotST doesn't look like a terrible multiclass. (Not the BEST, as I find WotST kind of lacking anyway, but a longsword would qualify as a weapon and an implement for both classes.) The issue is that unless there is an errata made, you can't use the WotST at its full potential with a non-wizard class. In other words, unless you start as a wizard you actually can't use the longsword as a wizard implement. Which is just lame. As far as the usefulness of the WotST, the One Sword is indeed a nice ability: a melee attack that targets Will, does decent damage and as an encounter power that has a chance to also daze and not be expended. It's very nice. Add in the fact that Corellon's Implement lets you use wizard powers while wielding a shield at the same time, and it makes for a nice route to gish. However, why make a WotST gish when you can just be a swordmage? |
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X-Codes
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« Reply #15 on: July 20, 2008, 10:45:32 PM » |
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The One Sword is a nice power.
The One Sword is a really nice power. Anyway, even if you can't use a Longsword as an implement most of the Staves and Orbs are actually better for implement use IMO. Most of them have abilities that can really boost your powers. |
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brislove
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« Reply #17 on: July 29, 2008, 11:05:43 AM » |
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I don't think you spend many multi-class feats if you go swordmage-WOST gish.
So it seems to me that WOST is damn good for swordmage, because you just take 1 feat and get a skill, a power, and the one sword as your level 11 encounter. it seems hard to beat that.
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Alpha
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Posts: 72
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« Reply #18 on: July 29, 2008, 03:36:31 PM » |
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I don't think you spend many multi-class feats if you go swordmage-WOST gish.
So it seems to me that WOST is damn good for swordmage, because you just take 1 feat and get a skill, a power, and the one sword as your level 11 encounter. it seems hard to beat that.
I was about to say that you can't do it because you don't get to use the Corellon's Blade ability, but then I realized: you don't really need it! However, I do think that any swordmage who multiclasses wizard for WoST should try to convince his DM to let him use Corellon's Blade, based on the flavor of it all. As far as WoST being a good paragon path, we haven't seen the regular Swordmage PPs yet, and we certainly don't have enough swordmage powers to build up to the WoST yet. |
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brislove
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« Reply #19 on: July 29, 2008, 08:18:33 PM » |
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SIGH! discovered that sword mage has a non-option choice of arcana as a skill choice making the multi-class feat sucky at best. I still like grabbing wizard utility/daily powers, because they are super amazing.
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