Spellfire Redux: Or, unsucking the Wilder.

[AstralFire]

Wilder Alternate Class Feature

SPELLFIRE WIELDER
Level: 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th
Benefit: You lose the ability to voluntarily enter a Wild Surge, and do not gain the Psychic Enervation or Volatile Mind class features.

As a free action you may expend your psionic focus to absorb a spell or spell-like ability targeted at you. The spell slot is still expended as normal, but none of the spell's effects occur. Instead, you enter a Wild Surge of maximum strength for the next three rounds.

At 5th level, when you would ordinarily gain the Volatile Mind class feature, you can absorb a spell once per encounter as an immediate action, even when you do not have your psionic focus.

At 9th level, when you absorb a spell as an immediate action and also expend your psionic focus, you can absorb any spell that affects you, not just spells targeted at you.

At 13th level, when you absorb a spell as an immediate action and also expend your psionic focus, it can be a spell that affects any ally within 60 feet.

At 17th level, you can absorb a spell as an immediate action twice an encounter.

The benefit of this class feature applies only to arcane or divine spells and spell-like abilities. This is an exception to the psionics-magic transparency rule.

[JoshuaZ]

Wilder Alternate Class Feature

SPELLFIRE WIELDER
Level: 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th
Benefit: You lose the ability to voluntarily enter a Wild Surge, and do not gain the Psychic Enervation or Volatile Mind class features.

As a free action you may expend your psionic focus to absorb a spell or spell-like ability targeted at you. The spell slot is still expended as normal, but none of the spell's effects occur. Instead, you enter a Wild Surge of maximum strength for the next three rounds.

At 5th level, when you would ordinarily gain the Volatile Mind class feature, you can absorb a spell once per encounter as an immediate action, even when you do not have your psionic focus.

At 9th level, when you absorb a spell as an immediate action and also expend your psionic focus, you can absorb any spell that affects you, not just spells targeted at you.

At 13th level, when you absorb a spell as an immediate action and also expend your psionic focus, it can be a spell that affects any ally within 60 feet.

At 17th level, you can absorb a spell as an immediate action twice an encounter.

The benefit of this class feature applies only to arcane or divine spells and spell-like abilities. This is an exception to the psionics-magic transparency rule.

This is nice but it doesn't deal with what is really the wilder's primary problem: a general lack of options. With only 11 powers known even with this ability the wilder can't do much other than general blasting. And a well-built psychic warrior can deal more damage per a turn easily. However, this is nice and flavorful and has the nice element of making wilders serious threats to casters. I could also see a wilder who someone else in the party deliberately cast spells at so they could enter a Wild Surge which would be funny.

[AstralFire]

This is nice but it doesn't deal with what is really the wilder's primary problem: a general lack of options. With only 11 powers known even with this ability the wilder can't do much other than general blasting. And a well-built psychic warrior can deal more damage per a turn easily. However, this is nice and flavorful and has the nice element of making wilders serious threats to casters. I could also see a wilder who someone else in the party deliberately cast spells at so they could enter a Wild Surge which would be funny.

A general lack of options isn't the wilder's problem... that's the wilder's design feature. The issue is making that design feature compensated for appropriately in other ways.

It removes the tax of psychic enervation, adds a little bit of survivability, and at higher levels gives you the ability to reactively defend your party members, while still keeping some kind of restraint on the 'infinite power points out of combat' that I think might have spurred the invention of Psychic Enervation. Those are some very big steps in the right direction.

[JoshuaZ]

A general lack of options isn't the wilder's problem... that's the wilder's design feature. The issue is making that design feature compensated for appropriately in other ways.

It removes the tax of psychic enervation, adds a little bit of survivability, and at higher levels gives you the ability to reactively defend your party members, while still keeping some kind of restraint on the 'infinite power points out of combat' that I think might have spurred the invention of Psychic Enervation. Those are some very big steps in the right direction.

Oh sorry. I didn't notice you took out Psychic Enervation when you did this. That makes this much more reasonable.

[AstralFire]

Oh sorry. I didn't notice you took out Psychic Enervation when you did this. That makes this much more reasonable.

Heh, nice to not be the person missing stuff for once. That's practically my trademark... :-p

Yeah, enervation needs to be capped, crippled or removed in some way, so I figured best to kill two birds w/ one whale.

[Lorien077]

*applause*
Thank you for making the wilder class some what feasible now, without making them horribly over powered. They make a pretty good caster-threatening class flavor-wise IMO as well.

[AstralFire]

*applause*
Thank you for making the wilder class some what feasible now, without making them horribly over powered. They make a pretty good caster-threatening class flavor-wise IMO as well.

*bows*

:D

Yes, the perfect thematic counter to perfectly controlled and precise magic is a Wilder or Rage Mage, I've always thought. At least caster-wise...