How many folks have used these so far? Is anyone else starting to feel like they are a must have for a wizard if they want to do something every round in combat without burning through all their spells in a single combat? A wizard typically tend to be a ranged fighter due to the low hit points and the lack of armor. That leaves you doing ranged combat into melee a lot and with such a low BaB you can really have a hard time doing anything in combat outside of your spells. The reserve feats, specifically the elemental damage one, allow you to do decent damage every round. It really changes what a wizard can do in combat. It allows wizards to memorize more utility spells and just a few big hitters. Am I totally off base on this one?
I haven't used them, so alas I don't have any actual play experience to relate (though, I'm hardcore thinking about taking one for my wizard).
However, on reviewing them, they strike me as fairly useful without being overpowering. First off, the range on them is pretty pathetic. 15 foot cone, 10 foot burst centered on the caster, 20 foot line... The invisible needle has the best range at 45 feet, IF you have a 9th level force spell available, but that requires a normal attack role.
Their damage isn't anything that the spellcaster couldn't already dish out with their spells, and is in fact overshadowed by their more powerful spells. And there are plenty of cases where I can see a mage saying "Why yes, I do think I'm better off blasting these things with my 9th level spell O Doom instead of keeping my short range widget."
Plus, limited feat selection aside, I wouldn't load up on too many of these, because to keep them active you essentially end up sacrificing spell slots. It's one thing to sacrifice a 9th level slot to dish out a 9d6 15' cone of cold every round. But to sacrifice 3? 4? 5 or more slots? That gets a little out of hand no matter what level they are (unless you're okay with meager benefits from giving up your 2nd and 3rd level spells).
Finally, even the wizard rarely ends up being depleted of the lionshare of their spells, so holding on to that limited whammy when everything else is exhausted isn't likely to come into play often.
Whatever the case, the reserve feats strike me as useful color to a spellcaster's abilities; they're certainly a viable option to loading up on metamagic and item creation feats. But they're far from required. Most cases, the spell caster isn't going to run out of spells - either they're a blaster type and have plenty to dump on the enemy (sorcerer, warmage), or they play it smart and go for well timed battlefield control and versatile defenses (limiting how many spells they have to cast in any particular scenario).
I agree that the primary uses are largely balanced. I worry about the extreme potential for abuse from the secondary "+1 caster level" effects, especially if they stack. I could easily see a specialist conjurer taking like 4 of the conjuration reserve feats just for the extra "orb of" damage and the extra duration of summon monster...
The +1 to caster level bonus from the feat is handy until you max out the spell then you lose the bonus from the feat. Plus a magical range weapon is more useful I think since you can full round attack with it at the point the +1 would stop being useful.
The +1 to caster level bonus from the feat is handy until you max out the spell then you lose the bonus from the feat. Plus a magical range weapon is more useful I think since you can full round attack with it at the point the +1 would stop being useful.
Yeah... I see what you're saying, Dave. Still, it seems like the spell penetration-like value alone (for evocations or enchantments, maybe) would be pretty handy.
But then you are talking about investing the majority of your feats in reserve feats, which severely limits your flexibility, which is one of the main strengths of the wizard in the first place.
But then you are talking about investing the majority of your feats in reserve feats, which severely limits your flexibility, which is one of the main strengths of the wizard in the first place.
Yeah, that it is, to be sure. You've convinced me. I'll allow them if the players want them.
I certainly don't think they're overpowered- perhaps a bit weak, if anything. The +1 to caster level is really their saving grace. I can see a lot of people taking them just for that. I thought that it would be awesome to have a mage with numerous reserve feats, but the more I looked into, the more I realized taking over one or two really cuts into your versatility.
Still, I agree that it's a good alternative to item creation and metamagic. Many times, one can create a mage character and not really have any good ideas for feats. If that's the case, go all-out on reserves! Always useful, never overpowering. Kudos to the designers.
They're pretty good for illustrating "specialties" such as fire, ice, force, illusion, etc. Outside of that, I find most "generalist" casters avoid them like the plague in favor of more over-arcing feats like spell penetration and greater spell penetration.
I have a frost sorceror in my Savage Tide game who took Heart of Winter. He's used it actively maybe five or six times, but always in situations where he couldn't normally cast, so it was useful. Mostly, he's been making good use of the passive +1 caster level with cold spells. Because they are supernatural abilities as opposed to spell or spell-like, they are far more flexible in use: no concentration checks, no attacks of opp, can be done in grapples or even when swallowed.
I'd say they're just fine, if only because their arrival did not generate a mass migration to them in my local gaming group. I've got some real good optimizers in my group, but only the specialty casters looked at them, which is what I expected.
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Here's a potential nightmare for you: What about warlocks and Reserve Feats? Is there anything that specifically prevents them from accessing these feats? If I recall correctly, warlocks still have a 'caster level' and their invocations are categorized by 'spell levels' which serve as caster equivalencies for the purposes of PrCs and feats and whatnot.
So, since Hellrime Blast, for example, is an 'acid' spell (technically) and it's always considered 'prepared' since the 'lock can cast it at will... would one of the acid reserve feats apply? What about other invocations? Something to think about.
Edit: Or is Hellrime the ice one? Regardless, you get the idea.
Hellrime is the cold, Vitriolic (a greater invocation) is acid. Put simply, a Warlock's Invocations are Invocations, not spells. They do not qualify for prestige classes that require the ability to cast arcane spells of a certain level. (Though the rare prestige class that just requires "arcane caster level" is fine)
If you want a nasty combination, try giving them to a Warmage, Beguiler, or Dread Necromancer who is guaranteed to have a spell of the appropriate type at every spell level. My Dread Necromancer will be taking Sickening Grasp for the ability to run up, activate her fear aura and deliver a touch that's guaranteed to sicken for at least one round (possibly more) potentially inflicting a -4 penalty on a variety of actions, with a -2 penalty to damage to boot. The Caster Level bonus is just icing, albeit it really nice icing.