Specialist Wizards

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I don't think that this is such a big deal.

Mummies are still better for PvE IMO - they're much tougher than vampires, have fear aura and a better melee damage type vs. many monsters
Vampires seem better for PvP mostly because of the much better movement speed when compared to mummies


What the Dread Mummy WoF did was making the mummy stream a consideration for PvP as it killed opposing mummy dusts.
However, it's true that the Dread Mummy's AI made controlling them a little awkward (making the use of player tool mandatory) and the timing and targeting of the WoF castings wasn't ideal either.

[Xerah]

Ah, understandable. One question about the update to Tensers then: With the lack of polymorph, will the mage still get the default Tenser's sword as a temporary item, or will it be assumed that the caster should do something like switch in a suped up spear from their inventory?

No bonus weapon. I would assume you'd be building around it and may take Matrial weapon prof or something (or just stick with a spear)

[Bunnysmack]

Ah, understandable. One question about the update to Tensers then: With the lack of polymorph, will the mage still get the default Tenser's sword as a temporary item, or will it be assumed that the caster should do something like switch in a suped up spear from their inventory?

No bonus weapon. I would assume you'd be building around it and may take Matrial weapon prof or something (or just stick with a spear)

Not so much building around it, but I've always been curious about a more versatile and effective Tenser's to play with, so this update makes me equal parts excited and curious. Worst comes to worst, a suped up spear is quite doable, and I actually prefer the idea of using inventory items as that lends itself better to versatility and creativity.

[Zavandar]

ranger dip comes to mind for elder dream
Elf, dwarf, halfling, etc for racial wep

monk :frogeyes:

[Shrouded Wanderer]

I don't think that this is such a big deal.

Mummies are still better for PvE IMO - they're much tougher than vampires, have fear aura and a better melee damage type vs. many monsters
Vampires seem better for PvP mostly because of the much better movement speed when compared to mummies


What the Dread Mummy WoF did was making the mummy stream a consideration for PvP as it killed opposing mummy dusts.
However, it's true that the Dread Mummy's AI made controlling them a little awkward (making the use of player tool mandatory) and the timing and targeting of the WoF castings wasn't ideal either.

Necromancy specialty, my guess is that itll be passed over now, much like how Enchantment is passed over for spellswords.

Id rather make an Evocation or Abjuration specialty Necromancer than a Necromancy Specialist,

Certainly conjuration getting a 60% chance max additional to summon a mono will make it king of the summon party once more, Ultimately id rather Necro specialist just got additional DC toward necro spells to combat Save inflation, but that would just lead to more inflation anyway.

[Zavandar]

doesn't seem you can empower specialist trans zoo buffs.

[Skibbles]

Big sad to see Dread Mummy lose WoF. That was one of the big, reliable, saving graces for them. They're still great for PvE, but it will be missed.

I'm kind of astonished that people found it difficult to use though, because I found it very reliable. Then again I always use the tool because summons are massive dorks that are going to stand around in corners, charge off in random directions, or kill your allies if you aren't using it regardless.

Seems unnecessary, and not at all in line with my experience with Mummy Dust, and the change will not make summons less dumb for people who don't use the tool while plain less functional for people who did (God forbid you forgot to -vam after your adventure, now you don't even get your WoF concession prize for dropping mummies at a critical moment).

Everyone seems to lose, especially Dread Mummy (Ded Mummy - RIP 2021).

[Deryliss]

Just wanna say Lesser Spell Breach for Abj makes me happy. It was one of my original suggestions and one I didn't think would go through. I really appreciate it.

[xanrael]

Overall I like these changes a lot.

One thing on the summon casting, would it be easy to just add a toggle -command to give your summon 100% spell failure rate? The (old) -project_image seemed to work like this and the AI tended to default to melee the vast majority of the time. This could be useful for any summon and people could just toggle it on and off as desired.

[Bunnysmack]

Deck of Stars
• Requires greater spell focus now

For what it's worth, I'm a little sad to see Deck of Stars changed to require GSF Divination. I know there was a whole thread discussing the matter, but the sense I got from the thread is that a majority of people saw no issue with the deck being something only the first tier of Div had access to (however, much of the thread turned to an argument about other related matters, so it's possible I might have misread that sentiment).

I think the QoL of mundanes compared to casters is pretty steep already, and using the div necklace to play fortune teller in a way that almost always ended up being entirely a matter of fun RP fluff, was a fun mechanic that caused no discernible amount of power imbalance.

[jomonog]

if Tensers lose polymorph and cant cast divine shield i'd like to see it have some sort of bonus to AC otherwise its going to be hard to get good enough ac for it to be melee viable. I don't actually see why divine shield needs to be banned if you wanted to go that way but maybe there is some crazy build im missing?

[Drowboy]

Sorc/bg

[Shrouded Wanderer]

Sorc/bg

But uh... Arent the changes specifically to do with wizard specialties?

[Drowboy]

Is the spell only changing for specialist wizards, or everyone?

[jomonog]

Well, update says you need 80% wizard levels to cast so assumed sorc wont have same version of TT. If it does though would beg the question why go wizard and lose conjuration just to get the extra zoo buffs if you could go sorc, keep conjuration and have the improved TT as well?

[Kalopsia]

Well, update says you need 80% wizard levels to cast so assumed sorc wont have same version of TT. If it does though would beg the question why go wizard and lose conjuration just to get the extra zoo buffs if you could go sorc, keep conjuration and have the improved TT as well?

It's a matter of PvE QoL, and being able to use the spell you more or less built around more frequently since it's on cooldown.
Also you'd have more feats and skill points as a wizard. The feats especially are a big deal, since a build that wants to make proper use of Tenser's will now want weapon foci etc.

[Lexx]

Is the spell only changing for specialist wizards, or everyone?

Everyone. Just specialist transmuters get more from it.

[Naghast]

if Tensers lose polymorph and cant cast divine shield i'd like to see it have some sort of bonus to AC otherwise its going to be hard to get good enough ac for it to be melee viable. I don't actually see why divine shield needs to be banned if you wanted to go that way but maybe there is some crazy build im missing?

I think that caster 27 monk 3 would get enough ac to make it viable. With epic mage armor.
And div sorcs with div shield and ema can reach some really high ac numbers, i think that's the reason.
Of course, i could be wrong about everything.

[Kuma]

Ah, understandable. One question about the update to Tensers then: With the lack of polymorph, will the mage still get the default Tenser's sword as a temporary item, or will it be assumed that the caster should do something like switch in a suped up spear from their inventory?

No bonus weapon. I would assume you'd be building around it and may take Matrial weapon prof or something (or just stick with a spear)

wizards do not receive spear proficiency, that's a sorcerer thing

they receive: club, dagger, light crossbow, heavy crossbow, and quarterstaff.

[Bunnysmack]

Oh wow. My bad. I've never actually built a non-spellsword, non-dip, wizard before, so I never had occasion to plan for actual combat weapons on them. Didn't realize their proficiency was even less generous than simple weapon prof! Thanks for the info.

[Xerah]

Yeah, I forgot about that, but again, you're probably going to be taking a dip or a weapon prof if you're going that route.

[Scylon]

Is the haste for conjuration baseline, or will you need pre-reqs for it?

[Xerah]

The prereqs of being a Conj specialist over 20 and having ESF

[Scylon]

I have noted these additions are focused on summon creature I-IX. Are there any bonuses to the gate line or EDK?

[Cybren]

The Gate/Planar Ally/Planar Binding spells are intentionally decoupled from the bonuses from feats, I imagine the same logic is at play with the bonuses from specialization.