kamikasei
2008-01-03, 10:40 AM
So I have a player. Said player is a Wizard (currently level 3, unspecialized). He has said he would like to try playing a Fatespinner, which seemed quite reasonable, a nice, mechanically solid but not overpowered PrC with a nifty roleplaying aspect/hook in the Profession (gambling) thing. So that's fine and dandy.
Now he says he'd also be interested in Wild Mage.
I said that, as far as I know, that's more of a Sorcerer PrC and some of its abilities could be a headache, but that I'd have a look at it and see whether it worked at all with Fatespinner (mechanically - I believe the fluff combination of gambler and chance addict are what appeal to him). Neither of us, before he made this suggestion, had looked at the class in detail, so he's not trying to slip something past me or anything like that.
So I looked at Wild Mage. And was baffled. What on earth is going on with this class?
The actual mechanical abilities it gets are not terrible at first glance, though they're also not wildly appealing; it strikes me that the random-caster-level thing will add a measure of bookkeeping rather than letting you note the caster-level-dependent effects of your spells at each increase, and the Random Deflector ability could become very annoying for the rest of the party if rolls go badly. But the prerequisites, man, the prerequisites! Magical Aptitude? Four ranks in a cross-class and redundant skill (UMD) that doesn't even have much to do with Wild Magering? What the heck?
So what I'm wondering is what people's experience of the Wild Mage in play are, and whether, say, a two-level dip at 6 and 7 between Wizard levels and qualifying for Fatespinner would be worth the player's time (the abilities gained at those levels do have a nicely take-a-chance feel); and if so, if the class is actually worth taking levels in, whether you think reducing or streamlining its prerequisites would be too generous (seriously, Magical Aptitude?) and what changes to the prerequisites you'd make, especially with an eye towards compatibility with Fatespinner.
The major limiting factor is that he's a Gnome and has already taken Collegiate Wizard (which I would rather not have him retcon/rebuild away as it's affected his spell selection/availability). 18 int, so in principle he could make the skill and feat prerequisities as they stand but it'd pretty much tie up all his options until fifth level.
Thoughts?
Now he says he'd also be interested in Wild Mage.
I said that, as far as I know, that's more of a Sorcerer PrC and some of its abilities could be a headache, but that I'd have a look at it and see whether it worked at all with Fatespinner (mechanically - I believe the fluff combination of gambler and chance addict are what appeal to him). Neither of us, before he made this suggestion, had looked at the class in detail, so he's not trying to slip something past me or anything like that.
So I looked at Wild Mage. And was baffled. What on earth is going on with this class?
The actual mechanical abilities it gets are not terrible at first glance, though they're also not wildly appealing; it strikes me that the random-caster-level thing will add a measure of bookkeeping rather than letting you note the caster-level-dependent effects of your spells at each increase, and the Random Deflector ability could become very annoying for the rest of the party if rolls go badly. But the prerequisites, man, the prerequisites! Magical Aptitude? Four ranks in a cross-class and redundant skill (UMD) that doesn't even have much to do with Wild Magering? What the heck?
So what I'm wondering is what people's experience of the Wild Mage in play are, and whether, say, a two-level dip at 6 and 7 between Wizard levels and qualifying for Fatespinner would be worth the player's time (the abilities gained at those levels do have a nicely take-a-chance feel); and if so, if the class is actually worth taking levels in, whether you think reducing or streamlining its prerequisites would be too generous (seriously, Magical Aptitude?) and what changes to the prerequisites you'd make, especially with an eye towards compatibility with Fatespinner.
The major limiting factor is that he's a Gnome and has already taken Collegiate Wizard (which I would rather not have him retcon/rebuild away as it's affected his spell selection/availability). 18 int, so in principle he could make the skill and feat prerequisities as they stand but it'd pretty much tie up all his options until fifth level.
Thoughts?