Archmage Revamp

[Montegue]

I want the Archmage tree to be awesome. As it stands, it's incredibly underwhelming. It's long overdue for a complete overhaul, a reimagining of what it's all about. We have the warrior wizard now, and the necromancer. But the central *idea* of the Wizard as master of the weave, of the schools of magic, of the elements, etc, has never come to fruition in the game, and it needs to.

Please revamp Archmage, and please do it soon. Some suggestions -

1) Special SLAs for each school specialization (example - for Illusion, something like Weird, functioning like a mass Phantasmal Killer. Conjuration could have Wish - a spell with a toggle that could be many other spells from divine or arcane, etc).
2) Energy admixture - old feat from the prestige class that allowed Wizards to change the elemental damage type of a spell.
3) Staff Focus - it would be cool to have a Wizard that specifically made good use of magical staves. It's classic D&D stuff.
4) Familiars

Anyway. Here's for hoping. A genuine alternative to EK variants that lives in the Raistlin/Elminster/Dalamar/Gromph end of the D&D fantasy spectrum would be amazing.

[superdupe6934]

I want the Archmage tree to be awesome. As it stands, it's incredibly underwhelming. It's long overdue for a complete overhaul, a reimagining of what it's all about. We have the warrior wizard now, and the necromancer. But the central *idea* of the Wizard as master of the weave, of the schools of magic, of the elements, etc, has never come to fruition in the game, and it needs to.

Please revamp Archmage, and please do it soon. Some suggestions -

1) Special SLAs for each school specialization (example - for Illusion, something like Weird, functioning like a mass Phantasmal Killer. Conjuration could have Wish - a spell with a toggle that could be many other spells from divine or arcane, etc).
2) Energy admixture - old feat from the prestige class that allowed Wizards to change the elemental damage type of a spell.
3) Staff Focus - it would be cool to have a Wizard that specifically made good use of magical staves. It's classic D&D stuff.
4) Familiars

Anyway. Here's for hoping. A genuine alternative to EK variants that lives in the Raistlin/Elminster/Dalamar/Gromph end of the D&D fantasy spectrum would be amazing.

Totally with you here. I'm running an Archmage now and would love to see a staff heavy build. I think an awesome trait would be to have the tree let the player create a personal Staff of Power that grows with them in level and focuses around their school of choice, which gives them up to augmentation IX and a unique spell to fit with their chosen school. The efficient metamagics are solid. Specialized robes such as the Orders of Sorcery in Dragonlance would also be neat. I would like to see a line for either elemental or potency growth to make them more rounded as opposed to the singular focus of necromancy or Feydark Illusionist and force magic. In a previous thread, someone also made mention of being able to augment staves with Orbs to add an extra kick, which might be a bit much, but still cool. I would also love to see some better hats available as well, either as a cosmetic or as a specialty of the tree, but for the love of Gandalf, give me my pointy wide brim hat!!

[Montegue]

It's an Enhancement tree that's just woefully behind the times in the game. It's very old - hasn't changed in years, and it's the "classic" tree for the class. Every Wizard in the multiverse shouldn't be an EK or a Necromancer. We need the classic to be as cool as EK and PM.

The tree itself should give DCs and Spellpower. School spec is good, but the spells available should be unique and powerful.

[superdupe6934]

Maybe find a way to add additional elemental damage to spells at higher levels. Like Sunburst for example. Wizards get 1 spell focused around light, which is otherwise pointless for them to invest in. Maybe find a way to augment so that spells can add alignment or light damage as a rider to all damage spells that scales at higher levels? Similar to how light damage scales intrinsically on Paladin attack in the KOTC tree? An Archmage should have magical prowess beyond the ken of less dedicated Wizards and this might be a way to add more flavor. Intrinsic mana regen of some kind would also be neat, they get so good at casting efficiently that they can absorb residual magic on their cast spells as a 10% chance type deal?

[Montegue]

According to the Devs, the Archmage revamp won't happen this year. Super super frustrating and disappointing.

[superdupe6934]

According to the Devs, the Archmage revamp won't happen this year. Super super frustrating and disappointing.

Where was that info posted? (Edit: NVM, found it. They really should just take that tree out until they decide to really do something with it. More nerfs are going to make it weaker than it already is)

[Arkai]

Where was that info posted? (Edit: NVM, found it. They really should just take that tree out until they decide to really do something with it. More nerfs are going to make it weaker than it already is)

Those are bad news for us casters, but at least we have two funcional trees ( necro and EK). On the other hand, there are already many caster trees waiting for an Update (radiant servant, savants....) full of awful and expensive choices.

[slarden]

It would be nice to pick an SLA at each core instead of being tied to a specific spell type. Some of the SLAs are really good especially web, phantasmal killer and hold monster.

I am going to TR to an 18 wizard / 2 favored soul deep gnome evoker with archmage as my main tree - splashes in palemaster for self-healing, eld knight and angel of vengeance. I will be using the dread set (robe), chained elemental ring set and 4-piece winter set. 91% force crit chance, 92% fire crit chance and spellpower just over 850 for force, fire, negative and cold post-nerf.

Wizards have longer cooldown on spells, but more spells to choose from so a rotation of fire, force, cold and negative should work well especially with some of the level 9 spells buffed. I am still debating between cold and air for my 4th spellpower type. Cold seems better but alot of things immune to negative energy are also immune or resistant to cold.

[superdupe6934]

It would be nice to pick an SLA at each core instead of being tied to a specific spell type. Some of the SLAs are really good especially web, phantasmal killer and hold monster.

I am going to TR to an 18 wizard / 2 favored soul deep gnome evoker with archmage as my main tree - splashes in palemaster for self-healing, eld knight and angel of vengeance. I will be using the dread set (robe), chained elemental ring set and 4-piece winter set. 91% force crit chance, 92% fire crit chance and spellpower just over 850 for force, fire, negative and cold post-nerf.

Wizards have longer cooldown on spells, but more spells to choose from so a rotation of fire, force, cold and negative should work well especially with some of the level 9 spells buffed. I am still debating between cold and air for my 4th spellpower type. Cold seems better but alot of things immune to negative energy are also immune or resistant to cold.

Electricity does have its charms. I'm currently running an Archmage elementalist and the Slavemaster's Staff is (may soon be a was) a great way to cover multiple elements. Chain lightning can rip through mobs like nobody's business.