Corey
2015-08-24, 08:06 AM
The Arcane Tradition I'm most interested in is one that's rarely discussed -- Transmuter. So I'd be interested in learning of people's experiences with it. The character I have in mind is into sculpture and other visual arts, making transmuter a natural choice. Also, I have nostalgic attachment to it, because back in the day it was an obvious top choice for versatile wizards, and so I had a few transmuter characters.
My early thoughts are:
The Level 6 feature is obviously good; just one of the things it can do is give you CON save proficiency.
The Level 10 feature seems bad. Polymorphing into a CR 1 creature seems pretty pointless for combat -- and also for utility, since you don't keep your mental attributes.
The Panacea and Raise Dead aspects of the Level 14 feature seem like catastrophic insurance policies; usually, wouldn't a cleric meet the same needs fairly straightforwardly?
The reduce-apparent-age feature seems like it would be VERY valuable socially or in downtime -- it's a tremendous boon to be able to trade to somebody, that only costs you (much of) a day's work.
That leaves the Level 2 feature and the glorified-Fabricate aspect of the Level 14 feature. The Level 2 one lets you take 10 or more minutes to change one of several metals, or stone, or wood into one of the other substances on the list.
If you want to cheat somebody with fake gold, and get out of town within the hour, there's that try. Yawn.
In theory, you could change a pesky lock or door bolt to wood and whittle it away. Cool. Also slow.
Conversely, you could take a hunk of stone or metal, change it to wood, whittle it into a useful shape, and let it change back. How much you could accomplish in an hour is debatable.
You could do lots of valuable stuff in downtime.
You probably want to have a discussion with your DM about a custom background that includes artisan tool proficiencies.
Finally, the glorified-Fabricate aspect of the Level 14 Feature basically lets you make ANYTHING, as long as it's not magical, too large, or too expensive. The cost, again, is most of a day of your time, although you can pay that after you do the creation, which can be instantaneous.
You're not supposed to be able to make money with it. I imagine that you could persuade your DM to let you get around that in downtime. But you'd probably still be better off making all the rich wives in town younger-looking.
If the group has a day to prep for casting a spell with an expensive component, you could create the component out of whatever valuables you have with you. That seems a bit situational.
Are the enough uses for this last feature for it to be important, or is it more of a ribbon?
My early thoughts are:
The Level 6 feature is obviously good; just one of the things it can do is give you CON save proficiency.
The Level 10 feature seems bad. Polymorphing into a CR 1 creature seems pretty pointless for combat -- and also for utility, since you don't keep your mental attributes.
The Panacea and Raise Dead aspects of the Level 14 feature seem like catastrophic insurance policies; usually, wouldn't a cleric meet the same needs fairly straightforwardly?
The reduce-apparent-age feature seems like it would be VERY valuable socially or in downtime -- it's a tremendous boon to be able to trade to somebody, that only costs you (much of) a day's work.
That leaves the Level 2 feature and the glorified-Fabricate aspect of the Level 14 feature. The Level 2 one lets you take 10 or more minutes to change one of several metals, or stone, or wood into one of the other substances on the list.
If you want to cheat somebody with fake gold, and get out of town within the hour, there's that try. Yawn.
In theory, you could change a pesky lock or door bolt to wood and whittle it away. Cool. Also slow.
Conversely, you could take a hunk of stone or metal, change it to wood, whittle it into a useful shape, and let it change back. How much you could accomplish in an hour is debatable.
You could do lots of valuable stuff in downtime.
You probably want to have a discussion with your DM about a custom background that includes artisan tool proficiencies.
Finally, the glorified-Fabricate aspect of the Level 14 Feature basically lets you make ANYTHING, as long as it's not magical, too large, or too expensive. The cost, again, is most of a day of your time, although you can pay that after you do the creation, which can be instantaneous.
You're not supposed to be able to make money with it. I imagine that you could persuade your DM to let you get around that in downtime. But you'd probably still be better off making all the rich wives in town younger-looking.
If the group has a day to prep for casting a spell with an expensive component, you could create the component out of whatever valuables you have with you. That seems a bit situational.
Are the enough uses for this last feature for it to be important, or is it more of a ribbon?