A few tweaks:
Pg 51: (School powers): These should probably be listed along with the Wizard class description, since they are exclusively part of his class abilities.
pg 194-5: (Abjuration school): Their level 1 ability seems kinda pointless. Also, their abilities seem altogether too concerned with personal safety against energy attacks. The whole point of playing an Abjurer is to can protect multiple people against all sorts of threats, not just yourself against one (one that isn’t even all that big a deal at higher levels). Personal safety is well and good, after all, but fairly pointless if it’s all you can do. Throwing an aegis over everyone, though, is very useful (as long as it isn’t a piddling +1 to +5 AC at the cost of your standard action each round. If the wizard is going to have to dedicate his concentration to holding up a protective aura, it should be more impressive than making the dragon’s worst attack miss).
pg 195: (Conjuration school): Summoning Master: It could be argued that I could summon a creature just before going to bed, have it guard us, and then summon a second creature the next morning, giving me two for that day (as well as a guard for a second night). I’m not sure if this is overpowered per se, but it’s still something of an exploit. It does mean that the Wizard would never have a good reason to not use this just before going to bed, because then he’d pretty much always have a creature at his side as well as another loaded and ready to go if things got heavy.
pg 196: (Illusion school): Invisibility Field: combat at higher levels is fast, brutal, and as frequent as the party feels like. As such, I don’t see a high-level party fighting for much more than 15-20 rounds in a day, which means an Illusionist can easily be invisible for all of them. This doesn’t particularly concern me, only that it’s so easy for them to do. If they had to use a swift action every round to maintain the invisibility, or if it functioned as invisibility rather than greater invisibility, it would give a definite downside to using this as your regular MO.
pg 196: (Necromancy school): Deathless: this is a type of creature in Eberron, and for that reason I would suggest changing the name here to avoid confusion.
pg 195: (Transmutation school): Fluid Form: isn’t Flight with speed 120 feet strictly better than Climb with 60 feet? Also, a maneuverability rating isn’t listed for the flight gained.
pg 196-7: (Universal school): Hand of the Apprentice: just a nitpick on the wording: “You must concentrate on the hand each round or it returns any items it was holding to you and then winks out.” This means the same thing but doesn’t have the weird image of, “it winks out. Wait, no, it winks back, returns your sword, as if it had forgotten, and then winks out,” that the current syntax implies. Metamagic Mastery: This ability is much more powerful than the comparable Sorcerer metamagic ability, which is just unfair given that if anyone should be good at using metamagic, it’s the Sorcerer. The wizard gets to use this many more times per day that the sorcerer does, and he doesn’t even have to pay for the increased spell level! He should at least have the time increased and have to lose a prepared spell of the appropriate level. As written, he could Quicken 9th level spells, or even make them last 24 hours if he’s using the Persistent Spell feat from Complete Arcane (he could even use the same trick that the Conjurer is using and make one 9th level spell persistent before he goes to bed and another upon waking on days when he knows he’s going to face a BBEG).
I'm not sure which way is better but the fact that the sorcerer's stuff is in the class and specialization powers is in the spells is confusing.
Yeah, the abjurer's powers are lackluster at best. In particular when compared to some of the better schools. I guess
This is a capstone power... and it's not extremely powerful. Generally at 20th level having someone keep watch isn't a big issue and having your primary guard be dispellable isn't particularly great planning.
Quickened improved invisibility is 8th level spell and the Illusionist gets the ability to use it multiple times per day at 8th level... Seems pretty nice to me... particularly when you compare it to the Shadow Dancers premier class ability. If it were once per day or as a standard action it would be a little more reasonable.
Taldor Purple Dragon Knight
It was deliberate.
|
pg 194-5: (Abjuration school): Their level 1 ability seems kinda pointless. Also, their abilities seem altogether too concerned with personal safety against energy attacks. The whole point of playing an Abjurer is to can protect multiple people against all sorts of threats, not just yourself against one (one that isn’t even all that big a deal at higher levels). Personal safety is well and good, after all, but fairly pointless if it’s all you can do. Throwing an aegis over everyone, though, is very useful (as long as it isn’t a piddling +1 to +5 AC at the cost of your standard action each round. If the wizard is going to have to dedicate his concentration to holding up a protective aura, it should be more impressive than making the dragon’s worst attack miss).
I wonder if some sort of mega-improved counterspelling ability, *or* some sort of ability to block a single attack on an ally within close range as a standard action might not be an interesting choice for the Abjurer.
Using the 'block attack' ability, an Abjurer could stand toe to toe with an uppity Commoner (who only gets one attack per round) and seem effortlessly impervious to his most spectacular attempts at violence. There might need to be some sort of limitation to this, to prevent a 1st level Abjurer from blocking one of the Tarrasque's attacks or something silly (instant DR equal to the Abjurer's Int mod + caster level, perhaps, so that the 1st level Abjurer with an 18 Int would only be able to block a 5 pt. attack with impunity), but a significant limitation like this would also make it better suited to be a class ability usable as an Immediate Action, and not requiring a Standard Action.
The counter-spelling thing could allow the Abjurer to use any Abjuration spell of equal or higher level to counterspell another spell, allowing them the freedom to prepare the spells that they are best at, and not load up on Evocations and Enchantments and stuff.
I'm not sure... but if Illusionists gain Imp Invis as a swift action why not give Abjurers Quickened Dispel Magic 1 time/ day for each 5 caster levels... Seems like a great abjurer focused power that is comparable to other specialist powers.
Another possibility is to give the abjurer spell resistance for a number of rounds equal to his caster level.