Hello!
I play on the server a long time, I go back and play again and again!
I like to play with class using spells. I do not know what the server owner has or the DM's against caster class.
- Craft System does not exist, essential point for who plays with the class! This has been so for many years.
- Craft Wand and Scrolls have absurd values at the cost of their creation.
No player with a caster class can only play with their spells even if they are 20+. Always the depedence of physical combat, both invocation and transformation into a creature, this is due to HP's imbalance of monsters. Very frustrating to play and get to the end and always need to use in the game this invocation / transformation to explore or descend in dungeons!
I conclude that I have seen and still see players defecting from the server and even from the game because they feel uncomfortable playing on the server where the imbalance and glaring between classes and their difficulties get success.
Please someone show me how to play with spells without relying on physical combat on that server. Do not talk to me about invocations and transformations because they are the only resource of these classes!
Balance and Problems
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Svabodnik
- Posts: 369
- Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:07 pm
Re: Balance and Problems
Well, in addition to warlock invocations on transformation, there's also Thaumaturge wave-of-buffed-summons, but I don't think that's what you're looking for either. The problem lies more in the nature of the game, that this is a persistent server rather than a pen-and-paper session. While in D&D you can fight 2-6 encounters before resting, you may be fighting ten times as many monsters in quick succession in an online environment. Spells-per-day burn through rather quickly with such numbers, if used for instant damage alone.
The damage numbers for a lot of the blasty-type spells are actually increased on the server - just take the j-average Fireball for example. Base game it's capped at 10d6, on this server, it's 15d6. You still have access to Arcane Scholar for cheap Empowers and Maximizes. Reserve feats like Invisible Needle are also available. I find that a bit counter-intuitive to have if the server was really out to screw casters over. However, if damage-type spells are increased to a point that a single cast can vaporize a whole wave of enemies in rapid succession, that would lead to other issues. As such, casts of damage spells or save-or-lose effects are best when used sparingly, in order to tackle a particularly challenging foe or an overwhelming number of enemies.
Additionally, the server is primarily balanced around party play. A pure caster with little personal combat ability is still a valuable asset with the buffs they provide, even if they do nothing but spam their Staff of Missiles or reserve feats afterwards. After all, you can have a single Empowered Fireball, or an Extended Haste that can last for over six minutes. The latter, with a full party will result in several times as much damage in bonus attacks from the martial party members. Save the Empowered Polar Ray, Avasculate, Solipsism, and Flesh to Stone for the big bads and your sky-high DCs while your crew bops the little guys.
If you're insistent on doing pure damage through spells, solo, due to the HP values of the mobs a gather-and-burn approach still works. Rather than straight blasting, layer down damage-over-time zones (Wall of Fire, Acid Fog, Incendiary Cloud, etc.), make yourself immune to the elemental damage, and use buffs to protect yourself while kiting enemies through the AoEs until they die. For more spell-use efficiency, since you have access to movement speed increasing spells, you can try and gather as many enemies as you can safely tank/avoid by running past a few groups of them. Following that, melt them all down together. Wall of Stone is actually very useful for this tactic (unless it's been changed since I last used it) since it will create three 400-hp 'allied units' that may distract mobs into attacking them rather than yourself. This obviously requires prior knowledge of the threat the enemies can pose and some practice, and cannot be done safely with all of them.
On the point of crafting, the costs are currently just fine for long-term buffs (Heroism, Death Ward, Greater Mage Armor, etc.) for common application and niche high-impact effects (Mirror Image, Dimension Door, Displacement, etc.) when sparsely used to get an edge in a tough fight. If you're planning on using them simply for offensive spamming, that's when you're going to be running into cost problems.
The damage numbers for a lot of the blasty-type spells are actually increased on the server - just take the j-average Fireball for example. Base game it's capped at 10d6, on this server, it's 15d6. You still have access to Arcane Scholar for cheap Empowers and Maximizes. Reserve feats like Invisible Needle are also available. I find that a bit counter-intuitive to have if the server was really out to screw casters over. However, if damage-type spells are increased to a point that a single cast can vaporize a whole wave of enemies in rapid succession, that would lead to other issues. As such, casts of damage spells or save-or-lose effects are best when used sparingly, in order to tackle a particularly challenging foe or an overwhelming number of enemies.
Additionally, the server is primarily balanced around party play. A pure caster with little personal combat ability is still a valuable asset with the buffs they provide, even if they do nothing but spam their Staff of Missiles or reserve feats afterwards. After all, you can have a single Empowered Fireball, or an Extended Haste that can last for over six minutes. The latter, with a full party will result in several times as much damage in bonus attacks from the martial party members. Save the Empowered Polar Ray, Avasculate, Solipsism, and Flesh to Stone for the big bads and your sky-high DCs while your crew bops the little guys.
If you're insistent on doing pure damage through spells, solo, due to the HP values of the mobs a gather-and-burn approach still works. Rather than straight blasting, layer down damage-over-time zones (Wall of Fire, Acid Fog, Incendiary Cloud, etc.), make yourself immune to the elemental damage, and use buffs to protect yourself while kiting enemies through the AoEs until they die. For more spell-use efficiency, since you have access to movement speed increasing spells, you can try and gather as many enemies as you can safely tank/avoid by running past a few groups of them. Following that, melt them all down together. Wall of Stone is actually very useful for this tactic (unless it's been changed since I last used it) since it will create three 400-hp 'allied units' that may distract mobs into attacking them rather than yourself. This obviously requires prior knowledge of the threat the enemies can pose and some practice, and cannot be done safely with all of them.
On the point of crafting, the costs are currently just fine for long-term buffs (Heroism, Death Ward, Greater Mage Armor, etc.) for common application and niche high-impact effects (Mirror Image, Dimension Door, Displacement, etc.) when sparsely used to get an edge in a tough fight. If you're planning on using them simply for offensive spamming, that's when you're going to be running into cost problems.
"...I know that kind of man / It's hard to hold the hand of anyone / Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender..." – Leonard Cohen, The Stranger Song