Article can be seen here: http://wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drcact/20100113
Now, I was really looking forward to this article, as I'm playing an evoker wizard currently and was hoping for some cool, flavorful, or even moderately useful powers (or feats) but instead found an article full of substandard, useless, and almost insulting powers that I can't imagine anyone even considering (errata pending, of course).
First off, right away I was disappointed to see there was no at-will attack power. I know a (very) powerful at-will was recently introduced (Winged Horde) but I was hoping for either a new, evocation based at-will or an update to some of the sadly underpowered & neglected wizard at-wills, such as scorching burst, which was left in the dust long ago by other controller powers (Vanguard's Lightning [Invoker], Grasping Tide [Druid] come to mind.) This lack of at-will, plus the recent, poorly worded errata on Storm Pillar raises concern that the wizard class really isn't getting the full, or even partial attention that it deserves for a core archetype.
Encounter 1 ~ Skewering Spikes: Similar to the Invoker lvl 1 encounter "Thunder of Judgement" except Skewering spikes has half the range, doesn't daze, and doesn't push the target. It does do a d8 instead of a d6, but is missing ALL the key controller aspects the Invoker power contains.
Daily 1 ~ Arcane Whirlwind: Decent, but unlikely to be taken over flaming sphere/sleep. Does provide some interesting movement options.
Utility 2 ~ Magical Debris: The at-will I was not looking for, but it is an interesting power. Definitely an conjuration instead of an evocation...when I think evoker I don't think of summoning magical rubble.
Encounter 3 ~ Cinderfall: Complete trash...my impression is that noone even playtests, proofreads, or compares these powers to existing ones. Cinderfall is actually almost *worse* than scorching burst, the already underpowered wizard at-will. Compared to existing encounter 3 powers its rubbish.
Daily 5 ~ Scattering Shock: A rather misnomered spell, which is designed to bring targets together instead of scattering them, is essentially Force Orb, the lvl 1 encounter power, with a minor slide effect to group enemies up. Definitely not worthy of a lvl 5 daily slot.
Utility 6 ~ Force Ladder: Really, a magical ladder to help me climb? Really? Not only is this a conjuration, again, but its almost insulting to think I would rather summon a magical ladder to climb instead of using two other Utility 6 powers: Dimension Door or Levitate. Force Ladder is barely better than prestidigitation and in no way makes me think 'evoker'.
Truth be told I was so angry & disappointed at this point I didn't even care about the last two powers, but after a while I went back and looked and saw they matched the rest of the article in quality.
Encounter 7 ~ Corrosive Mist: Essentially a larger version of grasping shadows that does slightly more damage, without any slowing effect. *Almost Identical* to the existing Encounter 7 "Winter's Wrath" except without the obscuring effect.
Daily 9 ~ Flamescythe: This power is an 'upgrade' from the lvl 5 fireball, except it is actually a burst 2 instead of burst 3, and does 3 more damage. Not only is this power worse than fireball (a bad daily to begin with) but it actually gives *enemies* combat advantage over your partymates. The special effect is that allies may dodge the attack roll by falling prone, which may save them from your attack but leaves them vulnerable and wastes a move action. Finally a controller effect...it just works on friendlies!
Overall, I was very disappointed with this article. The powers were subpar copies of abilities found at lower levels, conjurations instead of evocations, or just plain bad. My one hope was at least providing an at-will attack, or updating scorching burst (an almost classic evoker at-will that has been surpassed many times over by other at-wills) to at least provide an option besides winged horde, did not come to fruition. I guess I was hoping for more, considering how well done the ranger class act article was, but it feels like this article was cobbled together in a couple hours without even taking into consideration other existing powers or even attempting to add a new or interesting facet to wizards. Heck, most of the powers didn't even have a controller aspect.
Sadly, the most useful thing to come out of this “Evocation” article was the ability to create magic dirt.
Really, WoTC?
Really?
This really is one of the weaker articles published to date.
The powers are by large very bland, following early PHB1-era controller design, where there are next to no actual controlling effects beyonf hitting multiple targets with mediocre damage. This just doesn't meet the current controller standards in any fashion. The two utility powers are also far too niche to be interesting choices in those levels. But the biggest headscratchers are definitely Cinderfall and Flamescythe.
Cinderfall is easily one of the weakest level 3 encounter powers ever published, due to the fact that it only targets one creature in the small burst for 1d8+5+Int, though this is probably a templating issue and will hopefully be fixed.
Flamescythe is equally bad. As it is, it's a slightly more powerful Fireball (which is already a sub-par power as it is) with worse area size and range, with an additional clause where allies can inflict a negative status on themselves if the negligible damage scares them. So it effectively forces the players in the area to make an lose/lose decision.
Arcane Whirlwind and Corrosive Mist are both pretty good powers, though and definitely the best we get out of the article.
I don't think it's that bad, really... there are a few powers that I wouldn't mind taking. Arcane Whirlwind may not be a powerhouse like Flaming Sphere, but it does deal moderate damage to a decent-sized area, and getting free slides every turn looks interesting, at least. The potential to give up move actions for additional slides is nice, too.
Corrosive Mist is another good one. Certainly not the most original thing in the world, but I can live with an improved Winter's Wrath clone - damaging creatures that enter the zone is a significant change, and the damage boost against single targets can be useful in solo fights. Losing the obscuring effect is probably for the better, too, since that tended to hurt you as much as your enemies, if not more.
However, the real gem is, to me, Mystical Debris. Terrain alteration, at-will, as a minor action! There may be other utilities with more raw power (i.e. Shield), but this has so many tactical applications. It screams 'controller' to me. In fact, I think something like this would have made a good role-defining effect to give to controllers as a class feature, matching defender marks, leader healing, and striker extra damage. I really, really like it.
Lets quickly define something here from now on. Control /= Doing damage to 3 people. Lots of characters can do damage to 3 people. Yes, some part of being a controller is damaging multiple does and minion clearing, but that is only SOME PART. 2 is some part of 4, but 2 does not equal 4. All of these powers are 2's. They spread some moderate to weak damage around.
From the PHB:
They favor offense over defense, using powers
that deal damage to multiple foes at once, as well as subtler
powers that weaken, confuse, or delay their foes.
So here we have mention of the multiple does thing, but what about these powers "weaken, confuse or delay" their foes? And even the dailies that have a slight bit of that, are outclassed by existing spells.
I too will champion a great article and tend to give the benefit of the doubt, but this was a swing and miss, pure and simple.
We had Evoker Wizards replaced with War Wizards in PH1. Why the hell do we need to bring back that term, especially when they say that you're a War Wizard in the article as well?
Evoke has nothing to do with energy blasting; it's calling forth thoughts from the subconsciousness to the consciousness, or eliciting responses. That's the modern meanings, at least – but it meant calling forth the spirits to work with humans in ancient rites, a la Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
I fear this is just somebody who was overly attached to the specialist wizard schools in past editions wanting to return them all to 4e, and seeing Dragon as the method to do that. Wake up! War Wizards already returned that "school" it just lost the practical magic definition of schools, but instead focuses on damage as opposed to the heavy Control of the Control Wizard (obviously).
Between the PHB, power books (arcane power in this case), and dragon magazine articles they are going to run out of new power ideas and they gotta get off this rut they are in of dragon magazine articles = new powers.
Sooner or later we will have powers that are way too weak (cinderfall... seriously?) or we will get power creep where everything new makes everything old obsolete.
- no, no you are not.
The Good/Fair:
- Arcane Whirlwind: this shows how weak the sorcerer's dailies are: Lvl 9:Howling Hurricane is worse than a Wizard's Lvl 1 Daily...
The Mediocre:
- Corrosive Mist: slightly better than it's Lvl 7 brother, Winter's Wrath.
- Skewering Spikes: lacks control.
- Magical Debris: lacks control; needs to be many more squares per minor action and be an X multiplier of your Int mod to be useful, in any situation, other than a doorway.
- Cinderfall: lacks control and damage.
- Scattering Shock: lacks control; take Vision of Avarice you'll be happier,
- Force Ladder: lack everything.
- Flamescythe: control allies, not enemies ? -
These powers are all exceptionally poor to be honest. This is one of the rare articles that wizards have released that needs a serious boost in power across the board. None of these powers do anything to help "controlling" at all really and are poor damage.
While I agree that these powers are lack-luster, at best, I don't think the lack of "control" is flaw in the design. Based on the flavor of the evoker/war wizard, control isn't a priority, and instead they are intended to be the kind of wizard that just concentrates on blowing stuff up. In that respect the "magical dirt" at will seems exceptionally out of place, though a series of collateral damage feats that allowed the the evoker to do things such as have his burst powers leave behind a zone of rough terrain could have worked.
These powers are all exceptionally poor to be honest. This is one of the rare articles that wizards have released that needs a serious boost in power across the board. None of these powers do anything to help "controlling" at all really and are poor damage.
While I agree that these powers are lack-luster, at best, I don't think the lack of "control" is flaw in the design. Based on the flavor of the evoker/war wizard, control isn't a priority, and instead they are intended to be the kind of wizard that just concentrates on blowing stuff up. In that respect the "magical dirt" at will seems exceptionally out of place, though a series of collateral damage feats that allowed the the evoker to do things such as have his burst powers leave behind a zone of rough terrain could have worked.
That was my take on it. These powers are for people who want to play their wizards as closer to strikers, but don't care for the mechanics or flavor (not that flavor is binding, but some people don't get that) of warlocks or sorcerers.
First off, when you think of an evoker, who is it that you picture? Is it some arcane carpenter summoning magical ladders? Probably not. When I think of an evoker, I think of this gentleman: There are some who call him... Tim.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTbrIo1p-So
While he carrys the title of "the Enchanter" you can see from his overly excessive use of explosions and fiery blasts that he really should carry a title of "the Evoker" Another classic evoker is the Bright Wizard from the Warhammer Fantasy setting:
mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/home/ima...
This is what evoking is all about: You shape the forces of the Elemental Chaos into blasts of fire, bolts of lightning, and whirling storms of ice and frost. (I'm omitting Force since the Feywild article added a good amount of force powers) It could be argued that evokers would lean more towards a striker role than controller, but that doesn't mean controller aspects be ignored completely.
The following powers are my suggestions; they can always be adjusted to met the current 'power level' if deemed to weak or powerful.
At-Will Attack: Concussive Blast ~ Implement, Arcane, Fire, Thunder
"A burning orb launches from your fingertips and detonates with a thunderous peal among your enemies, the blast scorching their skin and knocking them to the ground"
Ranged burst 1 within 10, targets creatures. On hit: Does 1d6+int Fire and Thunder damage, and knocks the target prone.
Increase to 2d6+int at lvl 21.
Thoughts: Essentially an upgraded scorching burst. If you feel its too powerful, take note that it targets creatures (unlike winged horde). My other thought would be to just reduce the damage to 1d4, or to require an additional minor action to snap your fingers and 'detonate' the sphere to knock targets prone. I toyed with the idea of a secondary attack to knock prone, similar to the druid at-will, but thought it might be too many rolls.
At-Will Attack: Lightning Rod ~ Implement, Arcane, Lightning, Conjuration
"You conjure an electrified spike and throw it like a javelin, sinking it deep into the ground or your enemies flesh. Foes remaining too close are assaulted by discharging energy."
Ranged 10 attack. Target: One creature (see special) On hit: Does 1d6+int lightning damage.
Special: You may target a square within 10 instead of a creature.
Effect: Enemies that enter a square adjacent to the target creature, adjacent to the target square, or the targeted square itself take lightning damage equal to your INT modifier. This effect ends at the end of your next turn. A creature can only take damage from this effect once per turn.
Increase to INT+2 at lvl 11, and INT+4 at lvl 21. Increase to 2d6+int at lvl 21.
Thoughts: My fixed storm pillar, giving the option to target a square for area denial similar to storm pillar or to target a creature for some damage, but risk missing and losing the controlling effect. I added the statement where a creature can only take damage once to prevent the storm pillar cheese but still allow forced movement to trigger the effect. I feel that this builds teamwork in the party, as the wizard can set up an attack and someone else can shove them in for an added bonus.
Encounter 1: Arc Lightning ~ Implement, Arcane, Lightning
"As you raise your outstretched hands, eldritch blue lightning crackles from your fingertips, tormenting your enemies as they writhe on the ground trying to escape your grasp."
Or as our favorite Star Wars evoker would say, "Taste the power of the Dark Side of the Force!"
i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd184/nildro...
Ranged 10 attack. Targets one, two, or three creatures within range.
Hit: Targets take 1d8+int lightning damage, or a single target takes 2d8+int lightning damage. The target is slowed until the end of your next turn, and are slid a number of squares equal to your WIS modifier.
Thoughts: Brought the presented evoker power up to speed with the invoker encounter one power. Targets are slowed instead of dazed, but are slid instead of pushed.
Daily 1: Will come back to this later perhaps.
Utility 2: The presented utility is actually probably the only useful/interesting power from the whole article. The only thing about it is that the flavor is rather boring, summoning magical dirt? Lets give a reason for all that debris instead: "At the mere flick of your wrist, you can summon small gouts of flame and explosions. The choking smoke and shattered terrain make it difficult for your enemies to maneuver." See linked introduction to Tim the Enchanter in Monty Python. I also was playing with the idea of the utility giving a +2 bonus to intimidate when used
Utility 6: Magic Ladder? When I think of a mighty war wizard, magical ladders is not the first thing that jumps to mind. And really, no self-respecting wizard is going to be seen manually climbing an obstacle when they can either fly over it, or blast it out of the way...
Utility 6: Elemental Overload: Daily, Arcane
"Your body becomes a living conduit to the Elemental Chaos, infusing your spells with powerful, yet dangerous energy that burns you from the inside out."
Minor action. Effect: You lose a healing surge. Choose either fire, cold, lightning, acid or thunder. Until the end of the encounter you deal an extra 1d6 damage of the chosen type with your arcane powers, and those powers gain that element keyword. In addition, you can increase the size of the next burst or blast arcane power you cast by one.
Thats it for now, if I feel like it I'll come back and update the remaining evoker powers. If anything I hope these suggestions will be of some help if the current article get any lovin' before it is finalized. I'm not looking for power creep, but just to catch up to the other existing controller classes, or to at least give *some* reason to take any of the powers...
Thanks, and bring back the wizard love!
So imagine my disappointment when I read these crappy powers. Magical Debris is the only one I might consider getting.
What else has Peter Lee, the author, written? I hope it is better than this steaming pile.
Sarcasm aside, WotC should use some of the CharOp posters to playtest these articles before release. A lot of the CharOp posters have a MUCH better sense of the rules than the so-called professionals and it wouldn't even cost WotC anything to use them.
C'mon, WotC, you've promised quality control in the past so now it's time to deliver.
What else has Peter Lee, the author, written? I hope it is better than this steaming pile.
Is that really appropriate? Feel free to submit some content of your own.
I liked the article. Like most of these articles articles, it has a power that was not properly edited which is a legitimate issue. I thought a wizard could easily find at least one power in there that earns its way onto a character even if it is arcane whirlwind or corrosive mist. The level 2 utility is intriguing and will see some use by players. Sometimes it is ok to have a power just for flavor, and flamescythe is just too cool.
You just can't put out 8 powers and have them all be great.
No, but if you are going to bother putting out new content that people are paying you for, there should at least be a slight chance that the powers will actually be used by someone. Anyone capable of reading and reasoned thought is going to look at these powers and go, "Why would I take this?"
New articles are supposed to add something interesting to play with, and enhance the class in some way. This article did none of that and just showed that wizards neither proofreads, playtests, or compares some of their powers. Unfortunately in this article that happened to be 90% of the powers.
Yes, nobody would ever take a power just because they think it might be fun, or interesting, or fit a character theme.
Fun, interest, and character theme are reasons to take average or mildly subpar powers, not drastically underpowered or ineffective powers (then there is Firescythe which features control against your allies and none to your enemies).
Yes, nobody would ever take a power just because they think it might be fun, or interesting, or fit a character theme.
They WOULD, that's the problem. DnD 4e, unlike 3.5, is intended to be a system where characters that are cool are on close (though obviously not equal) footing to characters that are min-maxed. A power like Fire-Scythe is a step back in the direction of the 3.5 Fighter2/Wizard2/Monk2 in the party with CoDzilla
One man's junk is another man's treasure.
If you put out 20 powers they aren't all going to satify everyone. If there is going to be a margin for error, err on the side of underpowered.
And don't worry, no party is going to be driven to a TPK because their wizard chose firescythe. Now if that wizard decided that being a Bladeling with a 16 int was a good idea, happens to think scortching burst and fireball are also great powers, and chose Unseen Mage for a PP we might have ourselves a problem.
Do... do yo guys think that it's okay to penalize roleplayers? Do you think it's right and good for people who play thematic characters to be at a complete disadvantage?
I don't like the existance of "trap powers" like these. Where a new player is browsing through the Character Builder and sees a power with a cool name like "Firescythe" and goes "Wow, that sound's great for my pryomancer!" and then takes it and starts negatively impacting his own party.
Why was that power in the list in the first place? Why SHOULD there be choices in the powers list that are incredibly subpar? Dangerously useless?
Why should that first-time player and his pyromancer even possibly be lured into taking such a godawful power, because he wants to suit his theme?
Why do you want to punish him by defending the existance of such a bad power?
Why was that power in the list in the first place? Why SHOULD there be choices in the powers list that are incredibly subpar? Dangerously useless?
Why should that first-time player and his pyromancer even possibly be lured into taking such a godawful power, because he wants to suit his theme?
Why do you want to punish him by defending the existance of such a bad power?
Because I think there should be a mix. Let's be reasonable here. If the power is terrible and a PC that picked it hates it (and the party refuses to delay so the prone won't matter), it is going to be retrained at the next level. Where it is a daily power it might only get used TWICE assuming the 4-6 encounter day. Even better he uses the other daily in his spellbook until then. Nobody's game is going to ruined.
I can make a perfectly reasonable tiefling fire mage that has scortching burst, flame shroud, flaming sphere, fireball, and flamescythe. Is he going to be optimal? Hell no! He isn't exactly a waste of paper though. Should this guy just retire?
Worst Wizard EVA?, level 9
Tiefling, Wizard
Arcane Implement Mastery: Staff of Defense
Background: Calimshan (Calimshan Benefit)
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 18, Dex 13, Int 20, Wis 11, Cha 12.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 16, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 11, Cha 10.
AC: 22 Fort: 21 Reflex: 21 Will: 20
HP: 60 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 15
FEATS
Wizard: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Hellfire Blood
Level 2: Destructive Wizardry
Level 4: Implement Expertise (staff)
Level 6: Weapon Focus (Staff)
Level 8: Scion of the Gods
POWERS
Wizard at-will 1: Nightmare Eruption
Wizard at-will 1: Scorching Burst
Wizard encounter 1: Burning Hands
Wizard daily 1: Flaming Sphere
Wizard daily 1 Spellbook: Summon Fire Warrior
Wizard utility 2: Shield
Wizard utility 2 Spellbook: Feather Fall
Wizard encounter 3: Fire Shroud
Wizard daily 5: Fireball
Wizard daily 5 Spellbook: Stinking Cloud
Wizard utility 6: Fire Shield
Wizard utility 6 Spellbook: Wizard's Escape
Wizard encounter 7: Fire Burst
Wizard daily 9: Flamescythe
Wizard daily 9 Spellbook: Wall of Fire
ITEMS
Spellbook, Shimmering Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing) +2, Staff of the War Mage +2, Frostwolf Pelt +2
You forgot to take the magic ladder at lvl 6.
I think that power is terrible. I mean...who needs a ladder every day?
Now that the wave of nerd rage has passed (I've always had a special spot in my heart for the wizard and it was painful to see him so neglected)
That statement is madness. The fact that no one pointed out that statement, is also madness.
They put out a new article for Wizards every month. Me and my friends make fun of it in our group. "Oh, look seven new articles for the Wizard, and one article for the Warlord yippie!" This is actually the Wizards SECOND Class Acts article. No other class gets as much love from WOTC, than Wizards.
You even wanted another At-will, even though they currently have more at-wills than any other class in the game, aside from druids who have to switch forms in order to use 4 of their attacks. So they gave you one as a level 2 Utility power and you complained because they already have an AMAZING utility power.
I don't understand how anyone can complain about a class that is already so superior. This is the fourth page of complaints about how the powers in this article aren't more powerful than the crazy spells Wizards already have. Try playing any other controller while someone at your table plays a Wizard. Heck for bonus points, try playing a Seeker. Then come back and complain that the class that gets more updates, and more love than any other class is being neglected.
I think what you're looking for is 3.5. You might wanna go back and play a Wizard there for a while.
(then there is Firescythe which features control against your allies and none to your enemies).
Firescythe might not be a good power, might even be an absolutely terrible power, but it is a very FLAVORFUL power.
Your allies have the split second warning necessary to duck beneath the enormous, flaming scythe summoned by your magic.
I don't care what you say, that just sounds cool. As for the crunch, which you describe as "control against your allies", it is both mechanically supportive of that flavor and allows for the wizard (especially of the war/evoker variety) to accomplish something he usually can't without careful targeting (avoid catching allies in burst attacks). Also, so far as I can tell it is the most damaging are burst power available to wizards at that level, so it can't be all bad.
Why not just make it "Targets: enemies in burst"? Then your allies automatically duck underneath the blade, without hindering themsevles because of the stupid wizard casting at them.
Because Wizard powers rarely discriminate between enemies and allies, with the exception of mind-affecting/psychic attacks. Making Firescythe both the most damaging power of its level and giving it unusual for the class targeting parameters would have likely been too much.
Besides your allies having to literally throw themselves to the ground a mere fraction of second before a giant flaming scythe comes swinging past where their torso used to be has a far more visceral appeal then them merely ducking the attack. Besides there could be times when it is tactically beneficial to grant allies ability to drop prone outside their turn, and it's a daily so the wizard won't be using it every encounter, and spell book means he might not even use it every day. Is this spell for every wizard/party? No, but for the right group it could be a lot of fun.
The problem is, while it's flavourful and won't kill your party, you're still better off with other options. We don't want ANY weaker options just for flavour. Those options could just as easily be made stronger and still have that flavour.
By "we" who do you mean? I see support for this admittedly weak power. We are customers too. Pre-errata Grasp of the Grave was making DMs cry all over the country. This won't.
Without suboptimal powers, all of CharOp and their color coding would be pretty pointless. Let's have the full range of powers out there, especially with the classes like Fighter and Wizard who have a glut of them.
The problem is, while it's flavourful and won't kill your party, you're still better off with other options. We don't want ANY weaker options just for flavour. Those options could just as easily be made stronger and still have that flavour.
By "we" who do you mean? I see support for this admittedly weak power. We are customers too. Pre-errata Grasp of the Grave was making DMs cry all over the country. This won't.
Without suboptimal powers, all of CharOp and their color coding would be pretty pointless. Let's have the full range of powers out there, especially with the classes like Fighter and Wizard who have a glut of them.
I'd rather not see weak powers be published at all. We're paying for the content! If they're going to publish powers why not just give more support for other classes instead such as the Shaman, Assassin, Bard, or Sorcerer?
Hi all,
Indeed, there was a small error in the Cinderfall power that occurred while the article was being typeset. It should target each creature in the burst, not just one. (The effect still damages only one target.) The power has already been fixed for the compilation.
Pete
It doesn't need to be attached to anything.
It can't be moved unless you permit it—so when you do permit it, what's to stop you from rotating it?
And PH2 clarified that conjurations are allowed to float in midair.
In short, it's a forty-foot-long immovable shaft on steroids. And if you can't think of a use for that, you're not trying.
Flip it over and it's a bridge. Climb to the top, use anything that will let you fly for a few seconds, and pull it up after you in midair like a cartoon character. Use it as a forty-foot pole and poke things (it's weightless). Stick it on a Tenser's Floating Disk and send the ranger up it for a mobile scout tower. Then when you're done bust out your Versatile Spellbook and switch it back to Wizard's Escape.
Force Ladder = awesome.