Post/Author/DateTime	Post
GrogUgluk 08-09-06, 03:38 PM	I have a question about the Abrupt Jaunt ability from the players handbook 2. I was DMing an encounter last night were it was used for the first time and it appears that its just so much more powerful than all the other options from the other schools. Imean... 2 AC or auto miss any attack hmm... Basically X monster runs up to wizard to attack and auto misses beacuse he is 10 feet away? What about the horse the wizard was on can he attack it then? Is this how it is meant to work? What if I had a reach weapon on the monster. What if it was a ray spell from a wizard. I wish they explained the immediate actions a little bit better. I'm trying to figure out if the attack action is "wasted" since the wizard is no longer there. If my monster still has more movement can he move another 10 feet and attack? Anyways I'm just looking for some ideas on how other DMs are using this ability. I have a feeling that it is going to be autobanned in some campaigns. The ability to auto avoid any attack X amount of times per day seems a bit to good for anyone to pass up. Side question.. say for example the Wizard spies 4 archers packed togethre for a nice fireball. All the archers have a ready action to shoot the wizard if he starts casting a spell. Can the wizard use his ability and still fireball them and they all miss? How does this work? Confused DM... Thanks
Random Hero 08-09-06, 04:02 PM	Yes - the attack action is waisted - because the mob has already comited to the attack. hes used his movement phase, even if it wasnt a full move, he cant attack and then move agian - unless hes got Spring attack. and still he would not be able to attack agian - unless hes got Bounding assault or the like. As for is it Powerful - Yes, the most powerful one in there. But also Note that its also not one of the "Optimized" Specilizations to Pick, Infact Specialization in general is not a good Idea. Since the halmark of a wizard is flexabilty. So. You have to Specialize. Meaning you have to Give up the ability to cast spells from 2 schools of magic! , And have a Specialization in A school that is not Super hot to start with. And give up your familure, to gain the ability to avoid a full attack, or a trap a few times a day < which with a Wiz's LAME d4's is usualy fatal > Is it Powerful - Yes. Is it the Best Ability of the ones you have to choose From - Yes. Is it Broken, I think Not if you look at what you have to give up.
Some Like It Hot 08-09-06, 04:32 PM	Archer's interrupt the casting. A lot like the attack situation, the caster has already committed to casting the spell and the readied action goes off before the action that triggers it. -SLIH
GrogUgluk 08-09-06, 06:39 PM	Even though a specialist wizard has to give up 2 schools it still seems a bit much especially compared to the other abilities. Why would they design one of them to be so much better than any of the other ones. I'm just wondering if it actually negates the attack. like a reach weapon or a ranged attack. Does it negate the standard action? Is there any definition that goes into the immediate actions better?
tiercel 08-09-06, 06:55 PM	As for is it Powerful - Yes, the most powerful one in there. But also Note that its also not one of the "Optimized" Specilizations to Pick, Infact Specialization in general is not a good Idea. I would agree that specialization is in general not the way to go for a wizard (at least, before PHB II) -- it's not terrible, but it is probably suboptimal. However, if you are going to specialize, Conjuration is probably one of the *strongest* choices. The price you pay for specializing is not only the schools you use, but that half your "free" spells from levelling up are in your specialty school, so you need to be sure you are going to be happy casting those spells not only in your extra spell slot but also fairly frequently (at least until you can afford to plump out your spellbook). Conjuration has excellent options at every level, and the more supplement books you get the better it gets. With enough supplement books Evocation becomes increasingly near-obsolete (there are some very nice Evocations, like contingency, though you could might be able to cheat your way into it using greater shadow evocation if you don't dump Illusion). Even Core only, Conjuration has plenty of spells that you can use pretty much every adventuring day, of which I list a few of the best: 1: mage armor, grease 2: glitterdust, web 3: stinking cloud 4: black tentacles, dimension door 5: teleport, wall of stone 6: acid fog 7: magnificent mansion, plane shift, greater teleport 8: maze 9: teleportation circle, gate There are other choices (and many many non-Core ones) as well, but that you can never be lacking for a solid spell in your specialty at any level even in Core speaks to the strength of the school. To get back to the original topic, giving Conjuration *by far* the best Immediate Magic variant just makes it outshine the other specializations, and makes it worthwhile considering giving up being a generalist wizard, *just* to get Sudden Jaunt. (Heck, a lot of other characters may, if possible, consider a 1-level multiclass into Conjurer just to get the ability.) The ability might be more balanced if it were only a Swift action rather than an Immediate one (yes, I know the ability is called "Immediate Magic," but generating "auto misses" starting from first level and a large number of times per day is ridiculous).