I have to say, I have less of a problem with the specialist powers than most people do. Yeah, SLAs are a bit annoying, but I like that they have a completely different feel from the sorcerer abilities.
That being said, what's up with the evoker ability? I mean...5 damage? They cap out on bonus damage on evocation spells at 5 20? That's nothing. It would have to be double that to even be worth keeping track of on your character sheet. The other specialists all got stuff that made me go "hey, that's cool".
Their level 20 ability is quite lackluster as well. A conjurer gets a really strong monster pet all day, a diviner gets that near-omiscience ability and an evoker gets...half energy resistance, or turning immunity into 20? The latter is cool, the former is pretty darn meh for what's already a bit of a lackluster school.
My proposal for the level one would be a bonus of 2 per spell level to all evocation spells. That way, it still scales with level, but it's not useless. Either that, or change the bonus from damage to hit/save DC. For the level 20, I'd turn it into ignore energy resistance and turn immunity into er 20. Something to actually make it worth getting.
What do you guys think (note: If you're going to say 'meh, it's fine', please give me a reason. It's annoying for people to cite their opinions without actual reasons).
As long as the scaling damage for evos is kept in balance with the other specialists, I see no reason it SHOULDN'T scale. As for their L1 ability doing less damage, I think the trade-off for the d4+1 is that they get to choose the elemental damage type.
I admit that you CAN look at their abilities and go meh, but honestly the ability to burn a red dragon is just cool. Honestly, I'd need to look at the capstone abilities more to make a judgement on this, and if you spiffy up the Evoker, you may need to fluff up the Necromancer also.
[SIDE NOTE]I agree with whomever said it earlier, Necromancy is used as an umbrella for evil-like spells that more properly fall under other schools. Needs a good looking-at, is all I'm saying. [/SIDE NOTE]
Evocation isn't easy to balance with schools like divination and illusion; the foci are completely different. In general, I think evocation is either too powerful or gets hosed because the spells innately scale to caster level directly affecting damage.
Let me stress this point: I agree there should be balance; I do NOT agree that an Evoker should be the 3.P equivalent of a super-Sayan wielding the Macross cannon.
Personally, would have preferred that the damage applied to each missile/ray/orb/etc. Thus, each Magic Missile would gain the dmage bonus, but a Fireball would only gain the damage once. The reason is that a fireball usually affects multiple targets, so you are effectively getting the extra damage on each target anyways. It would also help keep the Evoker from focusing on taking everyone out and instead on damaging a single target.
I second +1 per die
As long as the scaling damage for evos is kept in balance with the other specialists, I see no reason it SHOULDN'T scale. As for their L1 ability doing less damage, I think the trade-off for the d4+1 is that they get to choose the elemental damage type.
I admit that you CAN look at their abilities and go meh, but honestly the ability to burn a red dragon is just cool. Honestly, I'd need to look at the capstone abilities more to make a judgement on this, and if you spiffy up the Evoker, you may need to fluff up the Necromancer also.
[SIDE NOTE]I agree with whomever said it earlier, Necromancy is used as an umbrella for evil-like spells that more properly fall under other schools. Needs a good looking-at, is all I'm saying. [/SIDE NOTE]
Evocation isn't easy to balance with schools like divination and illusion; the foci are completely different. In general, I think evocation is either too powerful or gets hosed because the spells innately scale to caster level directly affecting damage.
Let me stress this point: I agree there should be balance; I do NOT agree that an Evoker should be the 3.P equivalent of a super-Sayan wielding the Macross cannon.
I was actually referring to their 'specialist' ability not doing enough, not their 1st level power (which should probably be buffed up as well). The specialist ability, over the course of 20 levels, gives you a +5 bonus to damage on all spells you cast. +5 damage on a 9th level spell is a bit of a joke.
I also want to stab myself in the forehead for getting half of your dragonball Z reference.