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View Full Version : Wild Mage - man, what?



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?

Tweekinator
2008-01-03, 02:01 PM
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?

You think that's bad? Look at the Invisible Blade. And then the errata for it.

Kurald Galain
2008-01-03, 03:00 PM
The second edition Wild Mage was hilariously funny for the DM, and frustratingly annoying to the players.

The third edition Wild Mage, with of course all the drawbacks dropped, as WOTC is prone to, is simply pointless.

The random caster level is simply annoying to keep track of (and mildly unbalanced when combined with Practiced Spellcaster) and the other abilities aren't worth it.

What I would do in your place is giving him Random Deflector as a spell (casting time of an immediate action, level two would be fine). That way he's not nerfing himself or annoying people with his random caster level.

Swooper
2008-01-03, 03:04 PM
I've personally played a Gnome Sor5/Wild Mage10 (created at lvl 13 as replacement character), and I must say they're a lot of fun to play. Their abilities are mostly geared towards fighting casters, especially the level 10 ability which is really nice - won me a fight once even. The random caster level isn't that much of a hassle if you know how your spells work, which wasn't a problem for me but it might be harder for your player if he's a wizard with Collegiate Wizard...

Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with changing the prereqs around a bit, Magical Aptitude (and all other skill bonus feats) is dumb and useless. Change it to something useful but not too good, something like Heighten Spell or such.

Good luck and have fun with the Wildmage!

kamikasei
2008-01-04, 07:10 AM
What I would do in your place is giving him Random Deflector as a spell (casting time of an immediate action, level two would be fine). That way he's not nerfing himself or annoying people with his random caster level.

Hmmm... that might be interesting, but probably not worth the hassle. If he wants to be a "take my chances" kind of guy, he can play that out without needing a spell to assist.

I'll see what he makes of the class in detail and, if he still wants to take it, probably drop the UMD and Magical Aptitude prereqs. One metamagic feat and a couple of skills he'd be taking anyway aren't a high price for a not-very-valuable class.

Cheers to all!

UserClone
2008-01-04, 07:33 PM
What book is this Wild Mage from?
Edit:
Wait, found it. CArc:smallredface: