Class Deck Ezren, more useful than I think??

[Kenneth Paulson]

I really like the Roles that Class Deck Ezren has compared to RotR's version, but his core powers seem pretty awful to me so I was wondering if I was missing something.

Of his 4 Power feat points, 2 of them go to his "When another character at your location attempts a combat check that has the Arcane trait, add 2 (□ 3) to it."

Unless I'm missing something, those are completely useless unless you happen to have another Arcane user in your party. I don't recall any other characters having abilities that completely depend on the class of the rest of your party.

[Frencois]

Works also with any other Divine that cast spells that are both Divine and Arcane.
And actually with any other character that cast an Arcane spell (the character doesn't need to have the Arcane skill).

[Kenneth Paulson]

Frencois wrote:

Works also with any other Divine that cast spells that are both Divine and Arcane.

And actually with any other character that cast an Arcane spell (the character doesn't need to have the Arcane skill).

I'd forgotten that some Divine spells are also Arcane. That still seems pretty niche for half of your Power feats though.

[Longshot11]

Kenneth Paulson wrote:

Of his 4 Power feat points, 2 of them go to his "When another character at your location attempts a combat check that has the Arcane trait, add 2 (□ 3) to it."

LOL, even with the possibility for Arcane/Divine cross-spells, this is one of the most laughably useless power feats I have ever seen. To have any hope of seeing play, I think this would have to either A) Apply to non-combat checks as well (mostly so it can give some boost to Fighters trying to acquire spells (where their probably higher default INT die will be replaced by Arcane d4 + static bonus) or B) to not be limited to 'your location; preferably both. Yes, in a corner case, it can make the Sorecerer of the party even more of a powerhouse that s/he probably already is, but it's a small compensation to the fact that Ezren doesn't make the party any stronger with two of his feats in the vast majority of cases.

This is one of the 'first wave' Class Decks, which -from what I gather- didn't get nearly as much thought and attention as they should've, so if you're stuck with it and you still hope to get some mileage from CD Ezren - I'd strongly recommend you house-rule the crap out of these power feats, or that you expressly play him in a Party with with a another Wizard or Sorcerer, preferably one that also benefits other characters at their location.

[SimonB]

As Longshot noted, it boosts Sorcerers with their Arcane Blast abilities. This feat also works for summoners, who use their eidolons for combat checks ( arcane + melee traits). It also helps when a character is using items like Wand of Scorching Ray and similar. So, CD Ezren is more useful than you think! Is he still useless? He is.

[Longshot11]

SimonB wrote:

This feat also works for summoners, who use their eidolons for combat checks ( arcane + melee traits).

Maybe this is true for CD summoners. I should note that WotR Balazar ADDS his Arcane skill to his Melee check - which means that check is NOT Arcane at all.

[SimonB]

Yes, all eidolons from Summoner CD have Arcane trait.

[Frencois]

Longshot11 wrote:

...

This is one of the 'first wave' Class Decks, which -from what I gather- didn't get nearly as much thought and attention as they should've,...

The Ultimate Magic CD is on its way... ;-)

[Kenneth Paulson]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I think I'm going to swap that power for RotR's Recharge bonus as a House Rule. I don't think that's too unreasonable a tweak.

[Xexyz]

Frencois wrote:

Longshot11 wrote:

...

This is one of the 'first wave' Class Decks, which -from what I gather- didn't get nearly as much thought and attention as they should've,...

The Ultimate Magic CD is on its way... ;-)

And it can't get released fast enough!