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This ability from the Inner Sea Primer, p29 has me a bit confused: 'When using metamagic feats to create magic items, your skill and understanding of the principles involved in the item’s creation give you a +2 bonus on the skill check made to create the item.' I'd understand if this bonus was for using item creation feats to create magic items, but under what circumstances is an item creator going to use metamagic feats to make, for example, a wondrous item?
Wizards. Generalist wizards. I love them. I really do. I played several in 3.5. And now I'm looking at converting my most recent one to PF. And I can't help but be a bit, well... meh. Don't get me wrong, we all knew that the generalist wizard, like the cleric, can dish out a whole heap of hurt after 7th level so the other classes needed a boost. And the Beta generalist was just unbalanced compared to specialists. So the PF book is out and Rogue players are running round the room like kids on sugar and Paladin players have stopped doing that and are now giggling like maniacs. And the Cleric players have checked out the new domain spells and figured out that heck, they don't automatically need to be clanking around in full plate to have a good time. And if anyone playing a Fighter hasn't found the new Critical feats then Christmas will be coming early for them. The PF book has, in short, brought goodies for everyone. Except the generalist wizard. Again, this isn't a moan - I will be playing a PF wizard but I thought I'd make some observations. After reading the Beta and seeing a surprisingly unbalanced set of new stuff being given to the generalist I suspected that the final game would have to pull back. And the longer we waited for the Ezren preview the more concerned I became that he would be backpeddled to 3.5. So while I know the wizard remains powerful bear with me if I look at the PF generalist wizard vs her 3.5 cousin: Most of her 3.5 cousin's spells are from the Spell Compendium and PHB2 because frankly there's a lot of must-have stuff in there. Her 3.5 cousin prepares the Cloud of Knives spell, for example, which casts a bit of a shadow on the Hand of the Apprentice ability. I kinda hoped there'd be maybe one new wizard spell per level in the PF book (note that Clerics got the excellent Breath of Life spell so there is a precedent for new spells being added). And yes, there's backwards compatibility, but saying that you can always date other people behind your partner's back is kind of missing the point of being in a happy relationship. Her 3.5 cousin has the Alacritous Cogitation feat from Complete Mage. It gives you the extra spell versatility of the Bonded Object option without being a hostage to fortune if you lose your bonded implement / you get disarmed / it gets stolen. Her 3.5 cousin has the Sudden Maximise feat. This is better than the Metamagic Mastery ability as it applies to any spell she can cast without the maximum spell level codicil that's now been added from the Beta version. It's a bit disconcerting when you realise that the two big new abilities of the PF generalist look a lot like nerfed feats from 3.5, especially when the most interesting ability that has come up for the wizard - Arcane Duellist from the Campaign Setting book – was sitting there all along. Why couldn't it have made it into the core book? It's a heck of a lot better than either the bonded object or metamagic mastery options. So to reiterate, I understand why the generalist wizard has been left outside staring in through the window at the other kids opening their presents under the tree. Those kids haven't had as much love in 3.5. But, you know... it just looks so warm in there. Happy Christmas everybody. |