2019 ED Pass: Arcane Sphere

[Steelstar]

Hello! This is an early look at the Epic Destiny Pass currently slated for Update 43. (The second Sharn raid is coming before this, so there's still a bit of time before this reaches Lamannia). A few notes about this pass, before we get to details:

We had a few primary goals in the Epic Destiny pass, compounded by a very slim time-frame of 3 weeks for principal changes.

• First and foremost, try to put each Destiny in a place where it's worth using for at least some builds.
• Fix bugs and remove things that hinder fun or usability
  
  • You'll notice that every Epic Moment that required you to do weird things to charge it up no longer requires that.
  
  
• Improve the ability for people to play in Destinies that match their Archetype (ranged characters in Shiradi, etc) without significantly hindering the current ability for people to play in Destinies that don't (casters in Shiradi, etc)

Like we said above, the timeframe was slim. We didn't hit everything we would have liked to, and there are still abilities within individual Destinies that still probably aren't worth taking. We're listening for feedback here, but our ability to act on it is similarly time-restricted; we're unlikely to further revamp whole trees or add completely new skills at this time, but we may be able to make number tweaks and fix outstanding bugs.

That said, this is the thread for Arcane Sphere Destinies, so let's dive in. Be sure to check out the other Sphere threads when you're done, as well as the topic on new Epic Past Lives coming with these changes.

Magister
This tree has quite a few neat things but didn't do the one thing it was supposed to do: Be the king of DC Casting. Twisting Magister's bonuses and going into other trees where you got relevant Ability Score increases provided a better bonus than this tree. Only that's not fun, and we'd rather see dedicated DC casters live here and get cool abilities with their DCs. We focused on that goal, and made a few of their other abilities spicier to go with it. The Sigils still aren't good; they fell a bit low on the priority list relative to other things. If there are simple number tweaks we can make to make them more worth using, we're all ears.

• Added +1 to all Spell DCs to each Core (in addition to what those cores were doing already).
• Imperceptible Casting adds +10 Universal Spell Power while active.
• Fade into the Weave adds +25 Universal Spell Power while active.
• Variable Resistance is unlinked from Sigil of Energy Negation.
• Master of (Spell School) also increases DCs for that school by an additional 1/2/3.
• Arcane Tempest moves to a 30-second cooldown, and a 10-second duration. 30 SP.
• Arcane Tempest is no longer linked to Sigil of Battering Spellcraft
• Arcane Tempest now costs 1AP
• Arcane Tempest can now use the Quicken, Maximize, Empower, and Intensify Metamagics
• Arcane Tempest now has a faster cast animation and cast time
• Arcane Tempest no longer has a (previously-unlisted) saving throw
• Arcane Adept now costs 1AP
• Removed the Saving Throw from Arcane Tempest. (Yeah, it's a DC tree but we wanted it to be good no matter what school you were in.)
• Arcane Spellsurge now has a 1 minute cooldown. 20 SP
• Nullmagic Aura no longer requires charging. Now has a 4 minute cooldown.

Draconic Incarnation
This is another tree that has good things but is hampered by its restrictiveness. It's meant to be the king of elemental nuking, but the lack of metas and scaling DCs made that hard. It also didn't get that much extra spell damage relative to other Destinies, which was... weird. We fixed a lot of that.

• Each Core now adds 5% Spell Crit Damage in addition to what it already does.
• Go Out With A Bang, Energy Burst, and Energy Vortex now apply the Quicken, Empower, Maximize, Embolden, and Intensify Metamagics
  
  • Acid versions of these spells are now Conjuration spells
  • These spells should now be considered part of their Elements for the purpose of Caster Level increases (other than Savant's caster level increases, which were already working).
  
  
• Go Out with A Bang, Energy Burst, and Energy Vortex now use their spell schools' (Evocation/Conjuration) bonuses as part of their DC calculation.
• Flyby Attack now adds Evocation modifiers to its DC (Conjuration for the Acid version).
• Dragon Breath no longer uses Charges.
  
  • Dragon Breath now has a 25 second cooldown.
    
    • Dragon Breath spells are now considered part of their spell school for the purpose of Caster Level/Max Caster Level increases.
    • Breath attacks now list Evocation/Conjuration as part of their DC calculation (they were already using it)
  
  
• Black Dragon Breath is now a Conjuration spell.
  
  • (See below for related Dragonborn changes)
  
  
• Draconic Fury's cooldown reduced to 1 minute
• Draconic Hunger's Temp HP and SP are now 10x your Epic level.
• Fearsome Invulnerability no longer needs to be charged.
  
  • It no longer says it does an Intimidate effect, on account of that functionality never being implemented ever.
  • It now also adds +30 PRR, MRR, and MRR Cap for the duration
  • It now has a 4 minute cooldown.
  
  
• Energy Vortex, Draconic Hunger, and Fearsome Invulnerability now cost 1AP each.

BONUS: Dragonborn Racial Tree Changes
Dragonborn's dragon breath SLAs have always kept some parity with Draconic Incarnation, so we made some changes there to gel with the above Draconic Incarnation changes.

• Dragonborn's Racial Black Dragon Breath is also now a Conjuration spell
• Dragonborn Breath Attacks now scale with 100% Spell Power (which puts them on the standard spell damage progression we made after this skill)
• Dragonborn's True Power enhancement now adds Conjuration DCs in addition to its Evocation DCs.

Fatesinger
What a weird tree. Fatesinger had a lot of fundamental issues that could only be solved by getting rid of the abilities entirely. We basically threw a lot of it out and Lynnabel built a new one. Here it is. (Note that we're listing the full tree here rather than individual changes, it's clearer that way.) General rule of thumb: The Hymns cost 2AP, as do the standard Ability Score increases. The rest cost 1AP per rank.



Cores:

• Core 1: Fatesinger's Rep: Each core grants you +10 Melee Power, +4 Ranged Power, +25 Spell Points, 10 universal spell power, +1 Arcane Caster Level, +2 Effective Bard Levels and +2 Maximum Bard Songs. You also gain Inspire Courage if you didn't have it before.
• Core 2: Glitter of Fame: +1 All Stats and all saves
• Core 3: Harmonic Resonance: Attacks have a chance of building up Resonance on your enemies, increasing their Sonic vulnerability and reducing their Armor Class by 2 per stack (max 10)
• Core 4: Intoxicating Presence: Enemies that strike you have a chance to be Fascinated.
• Core 5: Grandeur: Friendly spellcasts bestow bonus AC (+3) and PRR (+3), offensive spellcasts now build up Harmonic Resonance (internal cooldown)
• Core 6: Majesty: You are now immune to Charisma Damage, do not suffer from Arcane Spell Failure, also +25 Universal Spell Power

Tier 1:

• First Harmonic Chord: Your inspire courage has +1/2/3 hit, dam, saves vs fear, and +3/6/9 Universal spell power. Also, you gain an additional +1/2/3 to Hit, Damage, and +3/6/9 Universal Spell Power
• Siren's Song: Relocated, turns into a second Fascinate button (aka another cooldown version of Enthrall)
• Music of the Spider Queen: also now adds Neutralize Poison to your Bardic Inspiration
• Dirge: Make it actually work and be good, otherwise no change
• +1 Str/Cha

Tier 2:

• Second Harmonic Chord: Your inspire competence has an additional +1/2/3 skills. Also, you gain +1/2/3 all skills.
• Bound Fate: relocated, no change (this is the active)
• (this space intentionally left blank)
• Reign: relocated, no change
• +1 Str/Cha

Tier 3:

• Third Harmonic Chord: Your inspire greatness has an additional +1/2/3 PRR and 0/0/10 Healing/Neg/Repair amp. Also, you gain an additional +0/0/10 healing/neg/repair amp and +1/2/3 PRR
• Grim Fate: relocated, no change (this is the passive that makes the active better)
• Arcane Hymn: You sing a magical Hymn that resonates within the Arcane Sphere. When you activate this ability, your target is surrounded by magical energies, bestowing Resonance. (HYMNS: Each member of your party, including yourself, may only benefit from one Hymn at a time, regardless of source. Attempting to activate this ability on someone else will dispel this Hymn from your former target. If you attempt to activate a different Hymn on someone who is already benefiting from this Hymn, it will dispel this Hymn as it applies the new one. You may activate this ability on yourself.)
  
  • Arcane: +1 INT WIS CHA, +20 Universal SP, +2 Spell Penetration, +4 UMD, +10% fire/cold/acid/electric absorb
  
  
• Aria: relocated, no change
• +1 Str/Cha

Tier 4:

• Fourth Harmonic Chord: Your Inspire Heroics grants +1/2/3 AC, dodge, and saves. Also, you gain an additional +1/2/3 AC and saves
• Martial Hymn:
  
  • Martial: +1 STR DEX WIS, +2 Sneak Dice, +20 max HP, +10 PRR and MRR, +5 AC, +10 Melee and Ranged Power
  
  
• Divine Hymn: Another hymn, this time divine sphere themed
  
  • Divine: +1 STR CHA WIS, +1 Smite Evil, +2 to hit, dam, confirm critical hits, +10 PRR and +25 Positive and Negative Spell Power.
  
  
• Primal Hymn: Another hymn, this time primal sphere themed
  
  • Primal: +1 WIS DEX CON, +25 HP, +10 Spell Resistance and healing amp, +10% Thrown and Bow attack speed, +3 Str while raging
  
  
• +1 Str/Cha

Tier 5:

• The Fifth Chord: You have a new Bard Song in your Bardic Ballad/Inspire Courage - Inspire Transcendence - +1 spell DCs, +1 tactics bonuses, +3 Spell Resistance and True Seeing. Also, you benefit from +1 DCs, tactics, +3 SR and are immune to blindness and have true seeing
• Free Metamagic: Pick between Eschew, Extend, or Enlarge
• Masquerade: Also now has 10% spell cost reduction
• Bladesong: 2d6 Sonic damage on hit scaling with spell power, 3% competence to melee attack speed, also +1 Critical Multiplier on 19-20
• +1 Str/Cha

Tier 6:

• Greater Shout SLA: 6 second cooldown.
• Free Metamagic 2: Pick between Quicken, Embolden, or Intensify
• Turn of the Tide: Clean up what it actually gives you, make sure it's actually working as intended
• +1 Str/Cha

EDIT: Additionally, the following changes will be making it in for Fatesinger's existing abilities:
Music of the Spider Queen's duration now matches Bard song durations
Dirge's DC is now d20 + Perform
Aria's threat reduction is now 20/40/60%
Siren's Song and Chord of Disruption damage take effect even if the Mesmerize doesn't land (aka bosses)
Bound Fate's DC is now d20 + Perform
Bound Fate's immobilization now actually immobilizes faster creatures
Bound Fate's immobilization now lasts slightly longer
Bound Fate now has a 1 minute cooldown.
Improved Turn of the Tide:
- No longer a Bard Song
- 3 minute cooldown
- Sonic and Light Damage now applies to bosses

[Noircere]

Since Bards also support DEX and INT builds via Swashbuckler Different Tack, can we get 4 options, STR, DEX, INT, or CHA, for Fatesinger ability scores?

[Lonnbeimnech]

+5% spell crit seems like overkill and not too helpful

I'm at 92% fire crit on my sorc right now on live, and it's not even a teifling, or maxed out for spell crits. putting him at 130% doesn't seem helpful.

how about +1 on caster level and max caster level in there

[Steelstar]

+5% spell crit seems like overkill and not too helpful

I'm at 92% fire crit on my sorc right now on live, and it's not even a teifling, or maxed out for spell crits. putting him at 130% doesn't seem helpful.

I think you're talking about Spell Crit Chance.

This bonus is Spell Crit Damage Multiplier.

[Lonnbeimnech]

I think you're talking about Spell Crit Chance.

This bonus is Spell Crit Damage Multiplier.

ah, my mistake.

[ThomasHunter]

I really enjoyed seeing the potential changes here! I am a bit sad that there is no change to Reign though as the duration was nerfed during the recent Bard tweak. Is there any way to make this last longer, especially if you have Bard songs already?

I also think that I tried it on a non Bard melee recently (Reign), but once I ran out of my initial changes I never got them back (it was twisted in). Is this WAI? Sadly that would make it meaningless as a Twist.

Thanks for reading!

Adventurers For An Improved Reign
Taleisin

[Whisper1]

+5% spell crit seems like overkill and not too helpful

I'm at 92% fire crit on my sorc right now on live, and it's not even a teifling, or maxed out for spell crits. putting him at 130% doesn't seem helpful.

how about +1 on caster level and max caster level in there

Do calc of your crit. I dont think 92% is possible for non-thiefling (-8% crit).

[silinteresting]

Since Bards also support DEX and INT builds via Swashbuckler Different Tack, can we get 4 options, STR, DEX, INT, or CHA, for Fatesinger ability scores?

i agree with the above this would be good, only because id like to play a ek build in fatesinger.

your friend sil

[Montegue]

Very excited about the changes to Magister. I long to play in this destiny and know that Draconic with a twist is just fundamentally better. This might cause me to stop trying to play Eldritch Knight and focus entirely on being a caster at level 20+.

I would like to add my voice to the chorus saying that the points to achieve that goal are a little heavy, and frustrating (it's a fun tree, and I'd like to have a toy or two when DCs aren't a thing). It's not boring to be a DC caster, it's quite thrilling, but you *have* to focus on DCs because when you don't meet the threshold you may as well be piking. You guys will almost certainly balance against the new available DC caps in higher end content, so we *won't have a choice* but to invest in DCs fully if we want to do our job.

so, you know, great work, but please consider making the tree a little more points-friendly.

[Steelstar]

After the arcane pass, Arcane Tempest is relatively weak (esp for a top tier ability that only offers damage, and a 30 second cooldown). Maybe upgrade to 1d6+6 damage per cl per tick? Or add some sort of CC/debuff to better compare against EA's Divine Wrath heal?

I think we'd be fine changing the damage from (2d6 per CL) to ((1d6+6) per CL). Same cap, averages higher.

When last I tested; [Color] Dragon Breath attacks gained no DC bonus for equipping items that gave "Breath Weapon Focus"; such as the Scarlet Scale Cloak. Is this going to be fixed, or are those items very specifically only for dragonborn breath weapons and not for an ED that anyone can take?

Hmm. Will take a look.

Can you make energy sheath a selector type spell, so we dont have to reset it over and over.

I don't know that this will fit into the timeframe we have, and there may be balance concerns. Will need to talk it over with the team.

Regarding Draconic Incarnation, I forget if there's any ED that supports Pale Masters well, so would it be viable to add a negative energy option to the selection of energy types? I suppose it could be justified being there with the whole dracolich thing.

[Edit] Some additional thoughts on the idea:
By making a negative energy route, Pale Masters can have access to their own 'Divine Wrath' type heal-damage ability in epics. Even if the healing portion is half of the damage you do; on a 30 second CD the negative version of Energy Burst is balanced.

By having the negative energy route in Draconic Incarnation you prevent PMs from having both the Magister DC boost and great self-healing/damage potential.

You also give an epic level version of Death Aura via a negative version of Energy Vortex.

It also gives Dark Disciple/death domain clerics an alternative destiny in the arcane sphere instead of just going Magister for DCs.

An interesting idea, but outside the scope of what we have time for, sadly.

Ok. You find DC casters boring.

I didn't say that! I said I find only taking DC increases at the cost of a lot of other cool things boring.

Draconic Energy Vortex -- any chance you'll fix the discrepancy between the description and current state? Despite the description which says it ticks every 2 seconds, it actually ticks every 3 seconds, for 15 ticks total.

Will take a look.

Daunting Roar needs to have necro (fear) or enchant (mind affecting) or some other DC added to it; it does not scale well.

This is something I wanted to fix but lack the tech to do so right now; it might have to wait until after this update.

[HouseAtreides]

I didn't say that! I said I find only taking DC increases at the cost of a lot of other cool things boring.

But this is literally the way most of your playerbase experiences the game due to scaling. You're either maximum or useless in higher level content, to be blunt. There's no viable half and half version of almost anything, now. Especially a DC caster.

[Thar]

I didn't say that! I said I find only taking DC increases at the cost of a lot of other cool things boring.

Unfortunately, most of the other magistar items do not work well. the totems are not really a caster effect imo when i think of wizards. probably copying some other (game that shall not be mentioned) totem mechanics. Why would someone take a fixed point totem when you have to continually move around as a caster not to be smushed... The null guard effect is limited situationally useful but not as a tier 5/6 ability. DC's were the only item useful in the tree for casters. for non casters, nothing in the tree really gaves them anything useful out of tier 1

ie energy stacking. in epics +10 to resist isn't that useful when we take 9000 pts of fire damage. maybe change to absorb to stack better


summons - need spell focus AND taking the dc line.

tier 6 - whoot a non caster has a spell... but it's tier 6 and would you really stay in the tree for this? for a caster is it cheap enough and able to be boosted to be worth more than a 9th lvl spell you already have?

The tree needs some reasons to want to be here other than DC's. Make DC's a choice not the default in the tree.

null magic - lose 2-4 spell resist? when it's in upper 90s (drow) does that even matter? should be 10-30

that said, the dc's will make me choose between this over exaulted angel +3 core even though i'll miss the healing and cheap, fast tier 6 sla.

[LightBear]

Fatesinger tier5 Bladesongs sonic of 2d6 seems a bit light.
The sphere thought seems way better than what we used to have.
Greater Shout as a tier 6 is absolutely useless, make it an aura effect that ticks once every second and you have a winner, everything at that tier is supposed to be some epic ability that whirls the fights in your favor.
Maybe change it into Epic Fortex: You are surrounded by a whirling wall of sound strangely attracting enemies to come and dance with you (Save against Will or Otto's irresistible dance). Once every 6 seconds a thundering clap of boom dealing 6d6 sonic damage in a wide range around you can be heard. Every foe around you caught in the blast zone of your awesomeness is knocked to the ground (Save against Reflex) or Dazes them when they make the save and aren't dancing yet??????

Magister sigils are slow to cast and have a somewhat limiting range if I recall correctly. What they do isn't all that great nr wise and right now it says we can only have one sigil active at a time the wording could use a bit more work on what the actual limitations are, like can you stack different sigils or not. The Sigil of Energy Negation could use a wider protection range in the types, right now it should read basic elemental negation instead of energy, imho. If it stays like this then at least add elemental absorption to it. If anything is added to sigils GFX in the future I'd ask for a circle that displays their effective range. The summons don't do all that much, maybe spread some love there?

Overall welcome changes.

[PublicEnemy]

Since Bards also support DEX and INT builds via Swashbuckler Different Tack, can we get 4 options, STR, DEX, INT, or CHA, for Fatesinger ability scores?

Dont forget this please, if you currently want to invest in stats as well, Melee INT have only really one option : Shadowdancer, but still none in the arcane sphere...would be great to have one ED with caster level for wiz/sorc AND Melee power.

Would be great to have atleast ONE melee capable/related ED in each sphere...

And I havn't noticed but maybe add BAB = char level somewhere in the fatesinger tree pretty please? (as an EK I don't need it but asking for others)

Also, any neg-amp possible somewhere in the Eds? (think I saw it is already the case in the new Fatesinger tree, is that right?)

Oh and ability for people to use CHA to hit/dmg, (maybe core 6 or tier 4-5 if you really don't want it to be twistable).

[Duhboy]

Since Bards also support DEX and INT builds via Swashbuckler Different Tack, can we get 4 options, STR, DEX, INT, or CHA, for Fatesinger ability scores?

I agree and support this.

[btolson]

Fearsome Invulnerability no longer needs to be charged.

• It no longer says it does an Intimidate effect, on account of that functionality never being implemented ever.
• It now also adds +30 PRR, MRR, and MRR Cap for the duration
• It now has a 4 minute cooldown.

Can this ability's regenerate effect be described in the tooltip? How many HP/sec? is it positive healing?

[Zretch]

No idea why you're spending so much effort on Arcane Tempest in Magistar. Magistar is an extremely AP starved tree as multiple abilities in the tree require 3 points to select and have 3 point pre-requisites. After putting your 12 AP into your prime stat (failure to do so is a loss of DCs), and after spending 2 more points on tier 1 skills which do nothing for your casting, to unlock tier 2 skills, you only have 10 AP left to work up to Master of (Spell School). Each rank requires 3 AP to max out, so you put 3 into Specialist, Augmentation, and Familiarity and...yea, you get to put 1 into Master of. You can put 2 into there if you only spend 2 into Familiarity, but you can never put 3 into that skill unless you give up main stat increases. So OK, to get Master of maxed, you clip 1 stat increase and pick up +2 DC in a single school at the expense of potentially 1 DC in all schools if your main stat is now an odd number. *You haven't taken any other ability in the entire tree!* No sigils, no tempest, no nullmagic anything. There aren't the APs for any of it, including spell penetration!

Perhaps consider making the Specialist, Augmentation, Familiarity, and Master of lines be a single selection that costs 2 AP for full benefit, retaining the same pre-requisites. You could then go all the way up the tree, at least. You'd still only have two points left over for spell pen and you still couldn't take any of the flavor skills (sigils, nullmagics, tempest, etc), but it would be a bit easier to check almost all of the required boxes. Recall, I can get full DC benefit including full penetration from Exalted Angel today and still have points left over to take a big AoE heal (divine wrath), wings, and a very nice debuff for some flavor. It would be nice if Magistar could provide offer a little bit of flavor for those at which the tree is targeted (DC casters).

[Arkbusya]

Nice job, Inquisitive scoundrel will become great (but only if bug with swashbucler are corrected)

[Steelstar]

No idea why you're spending so much effort on Arcane Tempest in Magistar. Magistar is an extremely AP starved tree as multiple abilities in the tree require 3 points to select and have 3 point pre-requisites. After putting your 12 AP into your prime stat (failure to do so is a loss of DCs), and after spending 2 more points on tier 1 skills which do nothing for your casting, to unlock tier 2 skills, you only have 10 AP left to work up to Master of (Spell School). Each rank requires 3 AP to max out, so you put 3 into Specialist, Augmentation, and Familiarity and...yea, you get to put 1 into Master of. You can put 2 into there if you only spend 2 into Familiarity, but you can never put 3 into that skill unless you give up main stat increases. So OK, to get Master of maxed, you clip 1 stat increase and pick up +2 DC in a single school at the expense of potentially 1 DC in all schools if your main stat is now an odd number. *You haven't taken any other ability in the entire tree!* No sigils, no tempest, no nullmagic anything. There aren't the APs for any of it, including spell penetration!

Perhaps consider making the Specialist, Augmentation, Familiarity, and Master of lines be a single selection that costs 2 AP for full benefit, retaining the same pre-requisites. You could then go all the way up the tree, at least. You'd still only have two points left over for spell pen and you still couldn't take any of the flavor skills (sigils, nullmagics, tempest, etc), but it would be a bit easier to check almost all of the required boxes. Recall, I can get full DC benefit including full penetration from Exalted Angel today and still have points left over to take a big AoE heal (divine wrath), wings, and a very nice debuff for some flavor. It would be nice if Magistar could provide offer a little bit of flavor for those at which the tree is targeted (DC casters).

I'm not here to stop anyone from putting 100% of their points in DCs. I think it's boring, but that's not especially important. You do you.

Arcane Tempest is there for those who want to drop big damage on stuff part-time.

[Odysseus2011]

I'm not here to stop anyone from putting 100% of their points in DCs. I think it's boring, but that's not especially important. You do you.

Arcane Tempest is there for those who want to drop big damage on stuff part-time.

Personally I would like to see an epic moment that is actually useful and worth spending points for imo.