First Look: U43 Pale Master

[Kaboom2112]

How about this:

You are weaving negative energy around you and through you, giving you many of the traits of an Undead. However, this power comes at a cost - half of your Positive Healing is lost as this unholy energy corrupts your form.

You wield technobabble like a master

[SpardaX]

Main question will DDO give all wizards a lesser heart of wood so that the can do a lesser reincarnation like they did when clerics had that change a while back???

Which change requires a heart?

Clerics needed a heart for when they added domains, because that added feats at level up that you couldnt get any other way than to redo it.

Did one of these changes add a feat selection somewhere that I missed?

[janave]

Perhaps they are actually trying to squeeze the PM into something a tad more similar to PnP D&D. There, the PM gets nasty touch attacks (relatively speaking), armor wearing bonuses with undead qualities and the skelly buddy.

I think, most of the wizzy stuff, should be wrenched from the PM tree and better applied in another wizard tree like Arch Mage. THis way you can then choose your flavor of PM. That is, choose a melee'ish type PM or work with the AM tree to produce the uber necro casting abomination currently known in DDO as the Pale Master(aka... the only sane wizard build).

Agreed, one of the long time flaw with Wizard is mandatory PM investment. Now that PM gets passive spell pen and stacking INT/DCs early, it will be even more mandatory.

The only way forward would be exclusive toggle stance from AM. Or non-stacking core bonuses which breaks up the system...

Overall, not impressed that this major design flaw will be pushed into Wizard 2.0

[Xxyyn]

Will Unholy Avatar allow us to damage constructs?

[xBunny]

IMO 50% positive healing will be mostly for new (and casual) PM players whom can't fit anyhow in any group.

Running as melee EK PM wizard on low reaper, and negative self healing is barely sufficient, starting from R4 I feel a lack of it, so yeah, 50% might help. But I still would move it into enchantment tree, so players at least do not get it for free.

[Requiro]

Running as melee EK PM wizard on low reaper, and negative self healing is barely sufficient, starting from R4 I feel a lack of it, so yeah, 50% might help. But I still would move it into enchantment tree, so players at least do not get it for free.

Sure. Why not (if it will be 1 AP cost on Tier 1). But only after they made this tree more interesting (like buff Necrotic line, Tier 5 abilities, Lich and Improved Archamge multiselector plus additional Improved Archamge multiselector pick up somewhere).

Agreed, one of the long time flaw with Wizard is mandatory PM investment. Now that PM gets passive spell pen and stacking INT/DCs early, it will be even more mandatory.

The only way forward would be exclusive toggle stance from AM. Or non-stacking core bonuses which breaks up the system...

Overall, not impressed that this major design flaw will be pushed into Wizard 2.0

Exclusive toggle for AM…. That is quite interesting approach. Maybe they will even consider Golden Spell Slot (my suggestion here). They have a lots of time to do it (we know that we will not see Archmage pass this year)

I hope that they do Archmage pass right. But after they willing to nerf PM (IMO) I don’t have any high expectations. On the other hand, I can be sure, that Archmage will be more melee friendly (as we all know that Wizard is a melee class <sarcasm off>)

[PublicEnemy]

I hope that they do Archmage pass right. But after they willing to nerf PM (IMO) I don’t have any high expectations. On the other hand, I can be sure, that Archmage will be more melee friendly (as we all know that Wizard is a melee class <sarcasm off>)

I take your words and hope you will remember these when the AM pass comes up on the forums.

[Shepherd-Shuck]

Synergy with Eldritch Knight was definitely a sub-goal of mine. I wrote up the first draft of this pass at the same time as the Eldritch Knight pass last year.

I was at the end of a PM heavy life when the update hit...I'm overwhelmed with feelings of anger, sadness, confusion...curiosity?

It looks like there is some great potential for synergy with other trees and party dynamics--but at the expense of character flavor and player skill.

The PM has always been a Jack-of-few-trades build (e.g. unconventional death-monk tanks, sorcerer-like death cannon with high DC Instakills, JV team DPS with EK); overall, really fun to play because of solo ability, flavor, survivability, and player skill. As I try to sort out my feelings about the changes, these are my big feelings:

Lesser Aura of Happiness
+1 Kudos on full spell power and meta-magics with SLAs. These were so weak before, and finding enough necro power to make useful was impossible.
-1 Kudos on change from HP to SP cost...no Bueno...flavor kill (using life to take away life...so smart)

Minor "What the Fork!"
It is nice to have option of Wraith-form at lvl3 instead of lvl12, but you still have to spend extra AP to make it worth the effort, but
Base incorp for wraith form is now lower than Ninja Shadow veil--How many ninjas do you know with less corporeality than a wraith--Flavor Kill!

Elevate Single Eyebrow
50% positive energy heals--a party friendly minister of death--really? While this doesn't hurt my character, this hurts my heart.
Feels like dressing up my goth daughter to be more presentable at Bible-school--since when has building a better PM been about becoming PC

Overall, while I look forward to another life as a Deep Gnome PM, I'm giving you my disappointed dad face Steelstar. Hang your head in shame while I come to terms with the news that my little Grim Reaper is getting chummy with clerics, pallies, and other do-gooder types.

P.S. Still love you SS and I'd be happy to introduce you to someone else's sister.

[Kutalp]

'Not so pale' master of none;
Meet my upgraded forms and slave; the skelly bum.

You want a piece of me ?
But, I ll take your's instead,
To add you to my parade of flesh puppet.

Now, come and dance with me for your eternal life.
Oh dear adventurer; It's a gift to accept.
Or simply turn around and run.
If you dare.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOd5m2RZG6k

[Nice update. With the right build (and its sacrifices) this pass lets players build solo/team based undead/shroud roguish thaumaturge build.]

[SorcererVictor]

So, lv 4 wizards can become a Lich?

Heal can damage enemy undead an heal friendly undead? That makes no sense...

[Kaboom2112]

Heal can damage enemy undead an heal friendly undead? That makes no sense...

Sense? You expect anything in a game where we can fire dual-crossbows that you load you an invisible prehensile tail to make sense?

[psykopeta]

Sense? You expect anything in a game where we can fire dual-crossbows that you load you an invisible prehensile tail to make sense?

seriously, sense in a non human rpg game sounds like one of these silly things nobody would expect

"oh my fireball didn't hurt you" or "my bolt ignores you even not having precise shot" also like the "i cleave with you in the pack however i hit 4 mobs when you didn't need a roll to save/avoid" is something much more logical, and older, yet ignored

think about a lvl 4 lich as a minilich, and divines... well, their power comes from their god, f they aren't unable to explain their god "hurt that, heal that" then maybe they aren't worthy to be called divine

[SorcererVictor]

Sense? You expect anything in a game where we can fire dual-crossbows that you load you an invisible prehensile tail to make sense?

Lich is just a example. On 3.5e, if you don't have AT LEAST 5 hit dices, you can't become a vampire, you just become a vampire spawn. And undead rituals require tier 8/9 spells. See low level wizards assuming vampire or lich forms makes no sense. I know that this game is not like ToEE in therms of faithful adaptation, but see an guy that can't cast a fireball able to archive lichdoom makes no sense.

[SorcererVictor]

That is how to become a Lich on D&D, a 4th level wizard should't be able even to be anything stronger than a "vampire spawn"... I know that this game is very different than real D&D, but come on. See lv 4 Liches being healed by positive energy is just silly

[Montegue]

Shrouds are magical effects that allow a Wizard to take on certain aspects of the Undead. You are not actually a Lich, you are layering some of the powers of that undead abomination over your own. It isn't like a Druid's shape change ability.

You can't just turn off being a lich, but you can end the shroud. So please, stop thinking this is akin to becoming a lich in Tabletop. It's not. That's a permanent act of horrifying evil. This is a spell you cast to gain some of the powers of the undead.

[AirbornedChild]

That's a permanent act of horrifying evil.

Lich is not always evil. Vampire can be neutral or good. It is the same as evil angel