In this thread we'll discuss what niches and roles wordcasters can fill better than regular casters. As Jason has stated, we don't have all of the words from the final product at hand so passing judgement might be a bit early, but let's try and work with what we've got so far.
Blasting: Wordcasters, especially sorcerers, make excellent blasters. Not only can they sculpt their spells for any given situation so as to get the most out of their blast, but their damage output is also signifigantly higher than that of a regular caster. For example, a 10th level sorcerer wordcaster can combine Lightning Blast and Fire Blast for a single target nuke that deals 20d6 damage, with a reflex save for half. With Word Burning, you can pull off even more impressive numbers, even allowing you to hit multiple targets. Blasters can finally keep up with the rest of the classes in damage dealing.
Another great addition to blasters is that you can finally add effects that aren't damage to your blast. Adding any of the Pain words to your blasts will allow you to weaken the monster as well as rain fiery death upon it, which makes the blaster a better team player.
A downside, however, is the fact that as of yet there is no meta-word that allows you to quicken abilities, which makes other spellcasters edge out against you if they go all out. Still, it'll be pretty interesting to see how blasters will fare once the dust around the playtesting settles.
You can apply metamagic to word casting spells just like any other spell.
Eum ... why is it popular belief that Words of Power don't work with metamagic feats ? Cause in feat section of Words of Power it clearly says it does, that leads one to believe that it also works with metamagic rods.
Anyway without full Words of Power in front of me i can only say that barriers are a no no, cause there is no Wall in target words, meaning each barrier needs to start from the caster and go in a line (note that its a straight line, otherwise it would say 10 by 10 feet per level or something among those lines).
Next thing i can see totally underwhelmed or overpowered with Words of Power are buffs ala Haste (speed increase, attack bonus increase and extra attack need to be "implemented" for this) cause it would be possible to do lets say ... Haste with bonus damage (if there is a word for bonus on attacks there should be one for damage as well), bigger than +1 bonus on attack and deflection bonus to AC. Lets assume that would be around 6th level spell, there is no party buff that potent on that level nor any other and being able to buff up whole party with everything they need in one round is very good, its actually that good that it breaks action economy to pieces.
Actually, it is great for blasting/battlefield control/debuffing at same time.
Example:
Frost fingers (+mass+Cramp) at 5th level deals 5d6 (same as a fireball would at 5th) but slows/staggers a foe. Granted cold not fire damage. Only 9 points (less than the max 10).
A better fireball is Fire Blast (6)+ then Mass (2) + then Cramp (2)= 10 which a 3rd level (10 is max 3rd level).
Now it is a fireball which 1/2 movement of enemies.
Or with lower level spell slots using mass to debuff at the same time. I already see combining some body words and summoning words like servitor 1 and force block is still a first level spell. Frost fingers plus mass plus wrack would work better I think its 10 points and 5d6 sickening them.
Mass is probably the best target word.
Actually, it is great for blasting/battlefield control/debuffing at same time.
Example:
Frost fingers (+mass+Cramp) at 5th level deals 5d6 (same as a fireball would at 5th) but slows/staggers a foe. Granted cold not fire damage. Only 9 points (less than the max 10).A better fireball is Fire Blast (6)+ then Mass (2) + then Cramp (2)= 10 which a 3rd level (10 is max 3rd level).
Now it is a fireball which 1/2 movement of enemies.
but the durration on fire blast is instantaneous, so the durration of cramp would be reduced to instantaneous and do nothing.
but the durration on fire blast is instantaneous, so the durration of crap would be reduced to instantaneous and do nothing.Actually, it is great for blasting/battlefield control/debuffing at same time.
Example:
Frost fingers (+mass+Cramp) at 5th level deals 5d6 (same as a fireball would at 5th) but slows/staggers a foe. Granted cold not fire damage. Only 9 points (less than the max 10).A better fireball is Fire Blast (6)+ then Mass (2) + then Cramp (2)= 10 which a 3rd level (10 is max 3rd level).
Now it is a fireball which 1/2 movement of enemies.
I think you are mistaken. On page 3 it says
The durations of multiple effects are tracked separately.
This means it would track the effects seperately so it would not keep doing cold damage but cramp them or in my better case sicken them if they fail a save.
but the durration on fire blast is instantaneous, so the durration of crap would be reduced to instantaneous and do nothing.Actually, it is great for blasting/battlefield control/debuffing at same time.
Example:
Frost fingers (+mass+Cramp) at 5th level deals 5d6 (same as a fireball would at 5th) but slows/staggers a foe. Granted cold not fire damage. Only 9 points (less than the max 10).A better fireball is Fire Blast (6)+ then Mass (2) + then Cramp (2)= 10 which a 3rd level (10 is max 3rd level).
Now it is a fireball which 1/2 movement of enemies.
I think you are mistaken. On page 3 it says
This means it would track the effects seperately so it would not keep doing cold damage but cramp them or in my better case sicken them if they fail a save.The durations of multiple effects are tracked separately.
And on page 6 it says:
Duration: This is the duration of the spell. If a spell has
more than one effect word, the shorter duration is used.
So there is a contradiction there.
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In this thread we'll discuss what niches and roles wordcasters can fill better than regular casters.
Blasting: Wordcasters, especially sorcerers, make excellent blasters. Not only can they sculpt their spells for any given situation so as to get the most out of their blast, but their damage output is also signifigantly higher than that of a regular caster. For example, a 10th level sorcerer wordcaster can combine Lightning Blast and Fire Blast for a single target nuke that deals 20d6 damage, with a reflex save for half. With Word Burning, you can pull off even more impressive numbers, even allowing you to hit multiple targets. Blasters can finally keep up with the rest of the classes in damage dealing.
Another great addition to blasters is that you can finally add effects that aren't damage to your blast. Adding any of the Pain words to your blasts will allow you to weaken the monster as well as rain fiery death upon it, which makes the blaster a better team player.
It came up in another thread, that some people were complaining that an off-the-peg fireball could not be replicated via WoP unless one used a level 4 spell slot.
What was apparent, however, was that the only thing nudging the spell from level 3 to 4 was the range descriptor, which was being boosted to Long, simply to match the core spell exactly.And as some then pointed out; how often do you need to fireball someone at 400+ feet? Most combats underground, in a forest, or in urban areas, take place when you turn a corner and bumble into each other. Line of sight and effect dictate the effective limits of most engagements.
Similarly, many spells, when cast off-the-peg, overcompensate the need for area, number of targets, duration, etc.
A caster who travels as part of a foursome doesn't need to buff 1 ally/level beyond level 4, after which, it's a waste.
Their warrior may only need a Strength boost for one minute, not ten.
By stripping away the unnecessary bloat in most spells, wordcasters may be able to get the effects they want from lower level slots.
If the spell descriptors still fix the minimum spell level, they can at least replace the bloated features with increased effects, or rider effects.
Off-the-peg casters can often be wasteful when it comes to using spell overkill, simply because they need one particular element, which isn't present on the rest of their repertoire.
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In this thread we'll discuss what niches and roles wordcasters can fill better than regular casters.
I think these rules could be very good for the GM/writer who wants to use these rules to create a buffet of effects for new or unique creatures.
Let's say I make a fire elemental creature, which I want to be able to use a variety of flame-related effects.
I could create each one from scratch, taking up page space.
I could give a suite of spell-like abilities, but there you have a problem, that the closest equivalent spells could be far too effective/ineffective for the desired flavour and CR.
Eg: I want our flaming creature to be able to swell its flames out to fill the immediate area. I don't want to give it Fireball, off the peg, because I don't want it doing that much damage, nor do I want it acting as long range artillery vs the other side of the valley. I also don't want to have to balance the effect by limiting the uses/day, as this strains my credulity for a creature literally made of fire.
What I want is for it do perform fire effects, that are close, small, shapable, and often.
What I can do is give it certain key-words () and a WoP cost budget that it can use and replenish (via its mystical planar link) every round.
Then I can decide, round-by-round, if I'm going to focus fire on one target, for 1d6/level, immolate the whole room for 1d4 vs everybody, or something in between, as the situation demands.
Word Casters can pack in alot into Quickened Spells.
ALOT more if you can surpasss the cost of the next highest spell level (above what you can afford with Quicken MM / Quicken Rod), and SOMEWHAT more if you can pack in enough Effects up to the next Spell Level -1.
Same goes for any Scrolls, Wands, etc, including Intelligent Items with Spell (Word of Power) access, and so forth. Some of these cases could be dealt with by basing costs off of Word Cost Points rather than Spell Slot, but I´m sure there´s more cases than just Quicken where Spell Level would still need to be used.