Eleventh Hour Preview: Wizard

[Nahor]

Will spell casters have something else that are discipline specific, specific to each caster type, given to them as well? I like the free matrices, but it's not flavorful like it seems some of the free abilities other disciplines are going to get.

[LouProsperi]

[Nahor]

[Dougansf]

I'm really torn about the Spell Matrix issues. There have been a lot of good things discussed here.

I like the idea of Free Matrixes, but I agree that you need to start with 2 at 1st Circle. Essentially they get the free Matrix at the start of each of their tiers. If they think they can get along with only 2 until 5th Circle, then enjoy those other Talent Options. I'm forced to wonder what the Optional Matrixes will cost in comparison to other Options.

At the same time, I think it's a little weird that the Matrixes have a "Rank" equal to your Circle. It does make sense, and will be a way to clarify the old issue of Multi-Discipline magicians. I agree that the redundancy of "can't cast higher than X" between Circle and Matrix is a little silly. But there's also something to be said about getting your shiny new Enhanced Matrix, but only being able to afford getting it to Rank 1. Suddenly Earth Darts is your goto spell again (at least for 1 session)!

Talent Knacks came into existence towards the end of my ED1 campaign, and I didn't like them too much. They varied from useless, to "fixing" a problem with the original Talent, to total Power Creep syndrome (Spell Riposte anyone?). The RP description is that they were supposed to be special tricks that certain people could do to stand apart from others. Instead, too many of them seemed to become "must haves" for the Discipline, if not the Talent. The conversation here seems to be pushing more towards Knacks are commonplace.

Lou brings up an elegant solution of giving the Spell Matrixes something to roll for. I seem to recall new players thinking that was the case way back when. This would also be an easier way to point out that attuning on the fly costs Strain. However, most of the time they still serve a passive, book-keeping role, so they'll still be low priority for raising in Rank... unless the new Attune on the Fly TNs are particularly high.

As for the other Talents here in Wizard:
I agree that Evidence Analysis should be a lower Optional. Personally, I'd get rid of Haggle to make room for it.
I think it's interesting that they get Dispel Magic, then Suppress Curse later on. I'm curious how Dispel will still be useful once they get Suppress (I'm sure there's a little detail I'm missing).
I'm glad they got rid of Book Recall, that certainly makes more sense as a Knack off of Book Memory.

[Stormcrow]

[Nahor]

The wizard is going to get Haggle? I never saw that as part of their make up. What is the justification other than relying on it to help them lessen the costs of getting information/books with heretofore unknown knowledge as that is their goal of truth finding.

When deciding what talents a discipline gets what is the thought process for 4e? For my fan discipline I looked at 3 sources for help: Adept's Way and the GM booklet as well as the disciplines mine would be similar to. Since the crux of any discipline is some sort of finding the truth of the world through their preferred path and since that path for wizards is knowledge (going off memory and don't have original Adept's way or any other version with me), how does Haggle lend to the crux of the Wizard Discipline?

I also don't know if I'd give them Directions Sense, but I suppose that's for finding a book in the Great Library maybe? If you have the name of something, as that's not physical, can you still use the talent?

[Dougansf]

[Sundahk]

I don't agree with giving Wizards (or any Spellcaster) 'free' Spell Matrices. Spell Matrices are effectively blank Talent slots that spellcasters can fill with a different spells as the situation warrants. They're the 'Swiss Army Knives' of Talents. So spending Legend Points to raise their rank is the price spellcasters pay for having that ability.

However would like to see all Spell Matrices as Talent Options ie spellcasters should choose to use them and not have them forced upon them as part of Circle progression. Here's why:

Firstly, the spellcasting Disciplines existed at least 1100 years before the Scourge started (basing this on the Martyr Scholar's banishment, but I'm assuming Adepts existed many centuries, maybe even millenia, before even this - anyone know an exact date when Adepts came into existence?). Pre-Scourge all magicians used Raw Magic and the books says Spell Matrices were introduced because: "In the years leading up to the Scourge, however, magicians discovered that these traditional techniques of spellcasting created flares in astral space that often attracted the attention of nearby Horrors." Spell Matrices are still new relative to how long spellcasting Disciplines have existed. So knowing that eventually the Horrors will bugger off and magical energies will drop to their manageable Pre-Scourge levels - why would all Spellcasters deconstruct their Disciplines (which are based on centuries of tradition), and rebuild them with Spell Matrices as core (ie Discpline) Talents? It seems likely that they would have introduced this 'temporary' solution of Spell Matrices as Talent Options rather than Discipline Talents.

Secondly, Spell Matrices aren't needed to cast a spell. I imagine magicians in areas where Astral space is considered Safe (eg the heart of Throal) will cast low Circle spells Raw knowing there is little chance of Warping and 0 chance of a Flare.

Thirdly, making matrices optional allows for a wider variety of Spellcasters (crazy Raw Magic casters who are addicted to the exquisite pain of channeling Astral energy through their bodies, or fetishists who only cast spells using Spell Matrix objects etc).

Some players don't appreciate Spell Matrices because they cost LP but have no immediate dice rolls associated with them, and have a small effect (increase by 1 rank lets you attune spells 1 Circle higher). I think the problem is Spell Matrices make a spell automatically safe to cast and that's that.

Spell matrices were designed to "conceal the flares caused by forming spells from raw magic" and "to filter the increasingly corrupted astral energy and ensure that their spells would function properly".So instead of making matrices a guaranteed way to avoid flares and warping, why not make them slightly risky?

Why if every spell cast follows Raw Magic rules? But if you filter it through a Matrix then the Warping, Damage and Horror Mark Steps are reduced by the Rank of the Matrix. If they are reduced to zero then no effect. This would probably mean adjusting the Raw Magic table so it's not so 'aggressive', but it means the chance of a Matrix shielding a spellcaster would be dependent on how high they raise it's Rank. It also means that when a character is exploring the deepest darkest corner of Parlainth they will definitely appreciate having spent the LP on their matrices

Just an idea.

[etherial]

[EDChronicler]