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Sorry ya'll. Just putting my threadmy thread here for visibility. Originally text below.

I'll keep this brief, as I know people want to jump back into the EA.

Subject: Arcane Ward, the Abjuration Wizard's level 2 class feature and they're iconic class skill going forward. It rewards the wizard for casting protective/support spells from the abjuration school and branching out to other classes that have good spells that could be upcast (like Armor of Agathys).

So, all around a p.neat feature, if niche.

Problem: In game, Abjurer's get an ability called Arcane Ward, but is only so in name only. To compare:

5e Player's Handbook

Quote
Starting at 2nd level, you can weave magic around yourself for protection. When you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, you can simultaneously use a strand of the spell’s magic to create a magical ward on yourself that lasts until you finish a long rest. The ward has a hit point maximum equal to twice your wizard level + your Intelligence modifier. Whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, you take any remaining damage.

While the ward has 0 hit points, it can’t absorb damage, but its magic remains. Whenever you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell.

Once you create the ward, you can’t create it again until you finish a long rest.


and

Current BD3 EA

Quote
Once per day, when you cast an Abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, you can use a strand of the spell's magic to create a magical ward that lasts until your next long rest. The ward has a maximum of 3 hit points and absorbs all damage done to you. When it is reduced to 0 hit points, you take the remaining damage, but the magic remains. Whenever you cast an Abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell

(Note, the PHB version is also not Temporary HP, whereas the BD3 version overlaps with and otherwise is temp HP)

The problems with this, outside of the emphasis, are as follows.

- 3 HP can be leapt over numerically in a number of ways, especially in this game that has multiple environmental hazards that don't damage people, but do chip at The Ward.

- Casting higher level abjuration spells will also make abjurer's not!temp hp's pool runneth over. So a lot of points will otherwise go to waste. Which also leads to

- The Abjurer taking damage that they would otherwise be able to mitigate, because the pool didn't mitigate any damage.

- The Arcane Ward technically is it's own entity that takes damage for the Wizard first, as per this (much like Mirror Image, infact). Meaning, although the Ward doesn't get resistances and the like, hitting a Ward doesn't force a Wizard to make a concentration check. Which is different from how it functions in-game.

Solutions: Just...just use the version from the PHB. It's solid and balanced already. A wizard with a slight focus on a limited spell school should be reward for the investment, not penalized. Or, at least state that it's going to be worked on so Abjurer's get a version that isn't just a poor man's False Life.

Anyway, that's it. Hope that's not too whingy sounding.

PS: Wizards have innate ritual casting and can cast ritual spells without needing to be prepared. Can they get that back so casting Find Familiar will be worth it and not consume a spell slot? thx

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I strongly agree with this recomendaiton.

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+1

yes please.

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Agreed. The current version of Arcane Ward is completely useless.

I mean, even if you have an Intelligence modifier of ZERO, the Ward should still grant you 4 HP (Level 2 * 2). A typical wizard should have 7 HP on the ward at level 2.

Also, bring back the Alarm ritual spell, if only so you can put the Arcane Ward up at the start of the day.

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Given the current spells that are missing it makes me wonder why theyd go for the abjuration wizard as one of the first options for the EA.
Abjuration wizards need access to ritual magic and reaction spells to even get any decent use out of their ward. So the ward is like half of what it should be and there are hardly any decent spells to trigger it with and even some pf the abjuration spells that are available are nerfed, like mage armor having a really short duration. I know it might be tricky implementing a spell dith a duration of 8 hours in a game that doesnt count the hours of a day, but having mage armor last untill you long rest would be way closer to pen and paper DnD than maming it last one encounter. It still costs a spell slot and doesnt give amazing armor so its not as if it would allow wizards to act like tanks if it were to last the full adventuring day.

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+1

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My avatar is that of Xabro Twigwhisper, "The Durable". My abjuration wizard, this ward makes me sad.


What is the problem you are solving? Does your proposed change solve the problem? Is your change feasible? What else will be affected by your change? Will your change impact revenue? Does your change align with the goals and strategies of the organizations (Larian, WotC)?
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I agree with everything that's been said above.
Please make the Ward in line with its PHB counterpart.
It should stack with THP, should work with Armor of Agathys and have the proper ward size in order to functionally protect the wizard.

Also I hope you'll add the shield and absorb elements spells, as these are staple to use as an abjurer.

As Skallewag suggests, setting mage armor until next long rest is functionally closer to pnp.

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I cannot agree more. Abjuration is my favourite school of magic and I'd love to play one in BG3, but as it stands. I'm not a fan of them (in BG3 of course).

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Yeah, the current iteration of the Arcane Ward feels weak, bringing it in line with the PHB would be much better.

Not sure if there is an issue with implementing it as a separate entity or not. Perhaps treat it as a summon (would limit summoning for abjurer's though) ? Otherwise I would be ok with having it as temp hp, which isn't ideal but would still be better then what it is now.

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Originally Posted by Skallewag
like mage armor having a really short duration. I know it might be tricky implementing a spell dith a duration of 8 hours in a game that doesnt count the hours of a day, but having mage armor last untill you long rest would be way closer to pen and paper DnD.


It does last unti lyou long rest in BG3 though. Unless you only tried it during the tutorial - i nwhich case those restoration pod things that you can walk into cout nas a longest, and thats why your mage armour would ahve ended seemingly early.


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