About this change, I read it. Went for a walk for two hours. Slept for eight. Woke up, and waited another 3 hours and now I'm posting, with a clear head and sane mind, because I care about the fragile balance Arelith has managed to foster for years. I'm afraid this change has some unforseen side effects.
The Wiz/Sorc change has huge potential now. One of the main ones being the fact that they can turn into a golem/Dragon or Tenser (placing them at 7 attacks per round), place acid sheathe, premonition and go off beating things into submission. The main fact about this is that nearly every mage can do this with no preparation in build choices.
If however, one decides to push STR and keep 19 INT, this means that they can beat things much stronger and better.
I'm sure that Spellswords are fun, but turning them into 3/4 BAB class has repercussions that might end up slightly unforseen, such as:
- All mages now have an inherent aptitude for combat, regardless of their specializations.
- All mages can now deal decent damage, due to their ability to transform themselves. (This also steps into the boundary of clerics)
- Epic spells also have the potential to turn them into best tanks. According to my calculation, a mage can easily reach way past 55+ AC treshold.
Code: Select all
- 10 AC Base
- 7+5=12 Armor (5 from EMA)
- 5 Shield
- 5 Deflection
- 1 Mage Armor
- 1 Boots
- 4 Haste
- 2 Feat
- 5 EMA Dodge
This is all without the shapechange. With shapechange the AC is 55, with 65 AC in Imp Expertise.
For comparison: Some high end point for buffed UMD fighter is now 58 AC.
A dex rogue can get around 52 AC.
Also another side effect is the Acid Sheathe, with all these buffs and premonition, the mage can avoid taking damage, and end up biting back for ~66 damage every hit. Effectively the mage is now also a barbarian, that hits hard.
So, why bother taking any dedicated fighter levels, ranger levels or barbarian levels? These full ab classes no longer contribute to the combat prowess of the character, only take away the capability to be a better fighter, by being a better caster.
Personally, this is all fine, but I'd place it as a path, with some tradeoff. Making everyone 3/4 class is simply diluting the uniqueness to the point where anyone can just pick up a sword and say "I'm a spellsword, back off".
Thank you for the time taken to read this post. I'm hoping that we can kerp it civil. If we cannot, I'm glad to have been able to voice my view.