Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Hi folks,

I have a simple, straightforward question this time, but I just wanted to be sure:

For Reserve Feats, lets say Fiery Burst, it says it deals damage "per level of the highest-level fire spell you have available to cast". Am I to assume that if I have a fireball, this means that Fiery Burst does 3d6 damage (the level of the spell) and NOT 7d6 (the caster level required for a wizard to cast fireballs)?

Correct. Do note, however, that said Fireball spell remains unused in your spellbook no matter how many times you cast your Fiery Burst If you suddenly decided to cast that Fireball then you would be unable to use Fiery Burst unless you had another fire spell memorised (eg. maybe a 2nd level Aganazzar's Scorcher)

Tsidkenu wrote:Correct. Do note, however, that said Fireball spell remains unused in your spellbook no matter how many times you cast your Fiery Burst If you suddenly decided to cast that Fireball then you would be unable to use Fiery Burst unless you had another fire spell memorised (eg. maybe a 2nd level Aganazzar's Scorcher)

Thanks! So if I understand correctly, Reserve Feats are intended to be a sort of low-damage, never-ending supplement to the limited combat spellcasting (and high rest delays) incurred in BGTSCC?

Sort of. See here for the best answer to that.

Tsidkenu wrote:Sort of. See here for the best answer to that.

Hey, that thread was really informative! THank you!

Reserve feats are awesome. Dont listen to the fools who say they are a waste of a feat, these simpletons simply cant stand the idea of any magic feats which allow one to get around the abomination that is Vancian Magic. They want everyone to have to suffer this vile and despicable magic system... do not let them force you this. Only Mana is the true magic system!

One thing to keep in mind about reserve feats and spell slots/levels is that metamagic will not influence these calculations for sorcerers. No word on whether a wizard memorizing empowered fireball is different.

Tsidkenu wrote:Sort of. See here for the best answer to that.

In that post is the following quote:

Doing nothing for 5-6 rounds, and then placing a Sunburst that blinds 80%+ of the enemy group permanently is a better use of your time than ca. 280 dmg of Reserve Feat over 7 rounds, which means...half health of an epic enemy.

You could also just spam that Invisible Needle for 9d4 (22.5~), or Acidic Splatter for 9d6 (31.5~) damage per round, for those 5-6 rounds, and then throw that Sunburst. Which means more damage dealt with the same amount of blinded opponents. (I presume you are not playing as a glass cannon.)

These two reserve feats are single target with no save. There are also reserve feats that come with a reflex save and deal damage over an area of effect, which means that you can actually deal more damage per round. The touch attacks are more consistent, while reflex save ones have higher damage per round potential.

You can create builds that make use of reserve feats to a notable effect. You just need to build it right. For example any tanky sorcerer could combine mob herding, Cloudkill, Acid Fog, Stone Body, and reserve feat spam to bring down his enemies. Any Druid could do something similar with Freedom of Movement, Vine Mine, Storm of Vengeance, and Acidic Splatter spam. Even a wisdom based Spirit Shamans could pull it off with a slightly adjusted spell selection because Druidic spell list has a fair share of spells without a single save, or where the save is negligible.

Reserve feats function well, so the question really is, what do you want to do? Do you want to run around spamming Fingers of Death and Wails of the Banshee? Do you want to be master conjurrer with a horde of summons? Do you want to go for the gish archetype of sword and spell? Do you want to become a master transmuter that tears his enemies limb per limb? Or, would you like to have the ability to deal damage every single round? There are many things that you can go for, some kill faster, some are glass cannons. Each of them has their ups and downs, and while you can mix builds you cannot have them all, you cannot do it all. Thus it is okay to have a personal preferences.

For example, I do not create a single high wisdom build without Zen Archery feat - simply for the reason that when I team up I can just pepper some bolts/arrows/bullets/darts/shuriken from a far and not have rush around as part of the zerg rush. 'Tab + Q' is enough, target next hostile and default action.

As a side note, those with clerical spell book are generally better off with just Divine Power and a melee weapon, regardless of their build. But a reserve feat could still bring its share of flavor and alternative method of approach.

Sun Wukong wrote:

Tsidkenu wrote:Sort of. See here for the best answer to that.

In that post is the following quote:

Doing nothing for 5-6 rounds, and then placing a Sunburst that blinds 80%+ of the enemy group permanently is a better use of your time than ca. 280 dmg of Reserve Feat over 7 rounds, which means...half health of an epic enemy.

You could also just spam that Invisible Needle for 9d4 (22.5~), or Acidic Splatter for 9d6 (31.5~) damage per round, for those 5-6 rounds, and then throw that Sunburst. Which means more damage dealt with the same amount of blinded opponents. (I presume you are not playing as a glass cannon.)

I think you forgot a part which would be relevant to what you said below, which is totally understandable since my posts tended to be fairly long:

Invoker wrote: Doing nothing for 5-6 rounds, and then placing a Sunburst that blinds 80%+ of the enemy group permanently is a better use of your time than ca. 280 dmg of Reserve Feat over 7 rounds, which means...half health of an epic enemy.

Between the former example, and casting the reserve feat 5-6 rounds and then placing Sunburst, there is no practical difference whatsoever. I could go on for very long with such examples, demonstrating that in practical epic play, not only reserve feats are meaningless, but they subtract a very much needed feat from your arsenal.

You can create builds that make use of reserve feats to a notable effect. You just need to build it right. For example any tanky sorcerer could combine mob herding, Cloudkill, Acid Fog, Stone Body, and reserve feat spam to bring down his enemies. Any Druid could do something similar with Freedom of Movement, Vine Mine, Storm of Vengeance, and Acidic Splatter spam. Even a wisdom based Spirit Shamans could pull it off with a slightly adjusted spell selection because Druidic spell list has a fair share of spells without a single save, or where the save is negligible.

Problem is, that sorcerer is better off casting another cloud effect, and getting a key feat, rather than having a feat that requires to be cast 22 times to kill ONE epic enemy.

As I mentioned, you can do it. You can make it work. It can be fun, and a very nice RP choice. But you cannot ever say that is a good mechanical choice (that was the original point I made, which got a bit lost). It's a matter of mathematics, and the way spells and enemies work on BGTSCC.

As a side note, those with clerical spell book are generally better off with just Divine Power and a melee weapon, regardless of their build. But a reserve feat could still bring its share of flavor and alternative method of approach.

More than a side note, this is a very pertinent, excellent point. 6 attacks at high BAB and 18-20 dmg/round obviously far outperform any 1x RTA 35 dmg Reserve Feat. That's also something that was contested, so this part is very relevant to the thread linked.

I have used reserve feats extensively for rp or more mechanical effects on nearly all casters I have made since the feats were first added. Only on my most recent sorcerer do I feel it was a wasted feat. I have tried having multiple reserves and just one. Reserves have several advantages, but I wouldn't ever recommend using more than one reserve feat that compliments your build and play style. The addition of something similar to their PnP effects would be welcome.

Experiences:

• --Reserve feats work well for causing concentration checks on enemy NPC casters due to spell and damage timing
  
  --The cone of cold one requires heavy spell and positioning investment to be useful, likewise the Darkness one. They are notably worthless by any measure so far. Even for RP you have better options.
  
  --Fireburst or Invisible Needle are the only basic reserves worthwhile to arcanists
  
  --Druids and Shamans can get value out of Acid Splash if they are not interested in shape shifting/shapechange
  
  --Stormsingers get more than double damage out of Stormbolt for an average of 70 damage a cast to 2-3 targets with very little skill
  
  --Clerics truly waste a feat no matter which one they take
  
  --The AOE ones with a 30 sec cooldown are great to punctuate your combat with, allowing you to remain mobile, cast your better spells and still hit for 50s to multiple targets.
  
  --I wouldn't recommend more than one unless you need very few feats in your build.

Invoker wrote:Problem is, that sorcerer is better off casting another cloud effect, and getting a key feat, rather than having a feat that requires to be cast 22 times to kill ONE epic enemy.

And the thing is, you are still not going to use the reserve feat alone to kill things, you simply use it to increase your damage output and gain additional control over the mob behaviour. You use it intelligently to finish opponents that fall to low HP, or to mark when you need to renew that Divine Shield of yours, or draw in that mob that wants to go look at something else, or pile damage on that mob that just happened to spawn in.

So lets just agree to disagree, because we have danced this tango so many times now, and even if we start to bring up different builds, we will still disagree on some point or another.

Diamore wrote:--Fireburst or Invisible Needle are the only basic reserves worthwhile to arcanists

Clap of Thunder gets 8d6 with Wizard Spell list. Acidic Splatter gets 7d6. Both deal more damage than the 9d4 Invisible Needle.

But anyhow, I hope the QC decides to let the Rainbow spells fuel reserve feats. We already have spells that fuel multiple reserve feats, so the Rainbow spells really should fuel the elemental Reserve feats. This way, arcanists could get an 8th level spell as their reserve feat fuel source.