Elemental Evoker - making evocation a little more useful [PrC]

[TuggyNE]

Looks considerably better, Xerlith, although the initial loss of CL coupled with the delay of CL boosting until the second level hurts a little. Couple more nitpicks: Elemental Affinity and Mastery of the Element should probably note which level they come online in the text as well as the table; the example for Intensified Spells should note that it assumes a Wizard 10/Elemental Evoker 1 entry, which is non-standard, or else adjust to a different example (perhaps burning hands?); and I think Energy Admixture requires a specific element, so it should probably be limited to your chosen element when you get it as a bonus feat.

Points of failure against what? Fireball offers a save, shocking grasp a touch attack, and scorching ray a ranged touch attack.
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So, yes it has several points of failure. But what was the last monster you fought that was actually immune to it?

Fireball offers a save, energy resistance/immunity, SR, and HP. Four points of failure. Cranking the damage up and ignoring resistance/immunity drops that to more like two and a half, and fireball isn't even vaguely the most optimal blasting spell.

Take something like an orb, and SR and saves are already useless, which means you end up closer to one and a half points of failure out of lower level slots. Not great.

Most dragons have cleric spells available, and all Core dragons have at least CL 7 at CR 16+, so death ward is open to them.

More to the point, enemies with class levels, or those making use of a friendly buffer, can rather easily access death ward or similar by that time. Or silence, for that matter.

Still more to the point, save-or-dies are optimal despite those various checks and balances; cutting past them is not a good idea for game balance.

The no magical gear point is twofold. The first is that it's not actually the fighter escaping if he uses his Anklets of Transportation - a commoner could do that just as well. The second is that magic items come from wizards.The fighter can't survive a wizard on his own, needing another wizard's help to not automatically die.
[…]
Stop saying that. It doesn't make the spell weak. Like, at all. The fighter also has way, way more points of failure.

Here's a list:
-AC
-Damage
-Reach + AoOs
-Flight
-On Another Plane
-Ethereal (technically a form of on another plane)
-DR
-Invisible

That's just off the top of my head. And many of those are "hard" points of failure. That is to say that a wizard can still beat a dude of he might save, because he also has a chance to not save. A fighter will not beat a dude on another plane. Those are also way, way more common. Dragons fly, have reach and brutal attacks, have good AC, have tons of hit points and can go invisible, ethereal or to other planes - that's every single thing on the list, and dragons are seriously almost half of high CR monsters.

Irrelevant; this is not a tier thread, this is not about how the Fighter class is or is not capable. This is about comparative balance of different spell schools. Mundanes are only relevant insofar as they are potential targets.

And, of course, the points of failure in the various save or dies don't make those spells weak: they're the only thing that keeps them from being "lolpwn" all day every day. They are crucial to what tattered shreds of game balance remain.

That's not why they're bad design. They aren't bad design because they kill things too easily. They might be design you don't like, but they are in fact the best strategy for winning level appropriate encounters. They're bad design because it doesn't matter to the wizard what the fighter is doing and it doesn't matter to the fighter what the wizard is doing.

Yes, I know that. However, the solution is not to make the Wizard/Sorcerer even more of an unstoppable blender of death, even by boosting the traditionally weakest option.

Show me the money. At what levels does this class do better against reasonable opposition than a "normal" wizard?

Kind of irrelevant now that most of my suggested changes have been made.

That's not true. You have (assuming basic investment) a Dex bonus five less, no spell focus, and the level mod is largely the same.

Against touch AC instead of saves, which have vastly different calculations. Touch AC remains approximately constant at around 7-13 for nearly all monsters and most class-leveled opponents (except for a few agile foes with higher, and a few very large foes with lower). A level 11 caster with +3 Dex can hit nearly all touch AC on a 5 or less, and that's without Weapon Focus: Ranged Touch Attack or similar.