Faster Casters?

[Reciprocity]

My wife is playing with our group as a Dwarf Wizard. She likes the social aspects of playing. But is frustrated by the fact that she often goes last due to low initiative and when she does hit, rarely seems to do significant damage. The rebuffs help of course.

Any suggestions as to how to speed her up? Has enough LP to go from 4th to 5th circle.

Thread items? Group threads?

[The Undying]

As a limited answer, addressing just your questions:

- if she's Human, she could pick up one of the many Initiative-improving Talents via versatility
- if she's wearing armor with an initiative penalty, she could swap out with an alternative that has no penalty or with a Thread Item whose ranks eventually reduce or eliminate the penalty
- if you allow casters to use shields in your ED, same as above but for the shield
- one of the approved Rank effects for Thread Items in ED4 is bonus to Initiatve test
- when she hits Circle 5, she could consider multi-Discipline into a Discipline with some Initiatve engaging traits and/or talents

To address the heart of the matter:

Casters aren't meant to be fast. They are likely faster than folks who wear stacks of heavy armor and shields, but they have no inherent ability to improve Initiative above their DEX step (caveat: I think there's a spell that can be brought to bear). And that should be okay - no one should be good at everything.

If you increase her speed, the fighty guys are likely to inevitably ask "why is the caster going before me" or, minimally, "why is the caster going as fast as me?" Probably won't happen with a small bump, but likely will with a large bump, especially if the fighty guys are using Talents to improve their Initiative. Furthermore, your post suggests that she has a significant deficit in Initiative (if she's "always going last"). Good chance that trying to "fix" that could lead to jealous or later balance problems as other players say "hey, she has an item that gives like +5 to her Initiative Step, why can't I get something that gives me +5 to (insert warping statistic here, you have plenty to choose from)."

You may be better off extolling the virtues of going last - and there are virtues to it, it's not 100% minuses.

Random extra note: probably better to have a GM related question in the GM forum. Some would consider Rank effects for Thread Items spoil-territory (it is in the GMG, after all). Not chiding, just a suggestion.

[Slimcreeper]

All of Undying's points are excellent, Undying's second point gets to the crux of the matter. Wizards and other Spellcasters in 4th ed aren't meant to be combat powerhouses, in terms of huge blasts and the like. They actually are faster than in previous editions, in that there are way fewer multi-thread spells, but they are designed to be versatile characters, more useful in other situations.

That said, she gets Enhanced Matrix at 5th. That means she can do stuff like Flame Flash and Crushing Will in one round. As for Initiative ... You know what they say in Kratas, "If her dex is low, her butt is slow, and last she goes."

[Dougansf]

There's always the Initiative Booster Blood Charm.

[Calamrin]

You mentioned her damage doing very little when she gets a spell off and it fustrating her... with a desperate spell bloodcharm (page 417), she can at least get one spell off with +6 effect step.

Willforce at circle 6 will help a fair bit.

[Dougansf]

Slight bit of irony. She's playing a Wizard. Mind Dagger is the best 0 Thread spell among all 4 Magicians at 1st Circle.

MD, MA, reduces PD, and Spellcasting adds to damage.

Check out Earth Darts, or Ephemeral Bolt.

[Telarus]

Mages often have to be very aware of the situation just before combat breaks out. If a player says "I start threadweaving" before I get to "roll initiative" I often allow then to test for one thread before starting combat (unless they've failed Surprise, etc). Also - try to Surprise opponents. Second, mage players should call out their tactics. Even wizards get some great control spells, and often "I take defensive stance while I threadweave and back off" is the best action to take during an opening round. As long as you communicate "I'll be over here" and your physical adepts can screen or cover you, you are good. Better yet, if they can flank and keep the enemy balled up, mages can do serious damage. Set thing up so the Warrior is grappling an opponent for a round (or knocking everyone down) until the Wizard can get off Crushing Will. Try to set things up so that you can catch opponents Blindsided for the -2 Mystic Def mod (nice for Wizards with the whole astral sensing bit), or cast from behind Cover by astral sensing your target and getting a lock first even if they know you are there. If the game allows, try to pick up a Spell Matrix Object thread item or a threaded Wand.