KickStarter Solasta: Crown of the Magister Thread - now with Palace of Ice sequel DLC

[jackofshadows]

Any suggestion on builds? Im starting this tomorrow

All you (kinda) need are: a guy with thief's tools proficiency, a guy with manacalon rosary + arcana proficiency, also is very nice to have wizard/shadowcaster with identify spell and you would want some strong ranged characters in general for this game like ranger/wizard. Pala/cleric seem crazy strong for some encounters but not necessary overall (I'm playing without them on cata). That said, on default difficulty I believe that literally any setup could work.

. You can't convince me that that one subclass choice with minimal effect at level 2-3 makes up for having less total possible party combinations by a factor of 30.

Actually, subclases have 3 features each, not only at 2-3 lvl. But that doesn't change much.

In case you don't know, holding down the space bar in combat speeds up enemy turns. I only found about about it after I went into the settings to find out why the space bar didn't end turn, like it does in most games.

It speeds up player's turn as well. I learned about this feature only yesterday and bound spacebar at the start for ending turn as usual already so now I have to smash it carefully in order not to skip turn by accident.

The dev that came up with this 'holding business' shit for additional info and speeding up is fucking nuts, how hard was to just add two more options instead? 'Let them hold spacebar at all times, keke!'.

 

[NJClaw]

The dev that came up with this 'holding business' shit for additional info and speeding up is fucking nuts, how hard was to just add two more options instead? 'Let them hold spacebar at all times, keke!'.

They're French. They probably did it intentionally to make our lives miserable.

 

[Larianshill]

The dev that came up with this 'holding business' shit for additional info and speeding up is fucking nuts, how hard was to just add two more options instead? 'Let them hold spacebar at all times, keke!'.

Remember how in Dragon Age Inquisition, you had to hold down the attack button at all times?

 

[Lacrymas]

I kinda prefer holding down something to speed up and double click on one of the mouse buttons in order to skip animations entirely. The other alternative is like in Age of Wonders 3 where you have 3+ speeds you have to click on, but I find having to click a specific pixel on the screen a bit tedious and wonky. Not to mention that sometimes one speed feels too slow, but the next one feels too fast. When you have to hold down a key, you can control which events are fast and which slow. I prefer that.

 

[Yosharian]

And on 5E, do we have variety among wizard class? All non evocation spells are worthless. A lv 20 necromancer on 5E can't even raise a ghoul, just CR 1 skeletons/zombies that will not gonna last one round. And has zero OHK nasty spells. Wail of the Banshee got removed and Finger of Death just dishes a bit of damage, less than what a Paladin can dish. They picked the WORST lv 9 necromancy spell, made it worse, nerfed it, made enemies with far more hp and called it a day. Power word kill is the worst lv 9 spell and the unique one.

All non-Evocation spells are worthless? What are you talking about.

And can you please learn to use prepositions correctly. We say 'in 5th edition' in English, not 'on'.

 

[Larianshill]

I see Sorcerer Victor is back to his old tricks.

 

[Lacrymas]

And can you please learn to use prepositions correctly. We say 'in 5th edition' in English, not 'on'.

Don't be like that, prepositions are one of the most difficult things to learn when you are learning another language.

But, yeah, it's "in" 5E.

 

[Volourn]

"And can you please learn to use prepositions correctly. We say 'in 5th edition' in English, not 'on'."

U R I

 

[Strange Fellow]

I picked Shock Arcanist for my wizard. I really need to look up what Evocation is one of these days, so I can start using that Arcane Fury or whatever it's called.

 

[Lacrymas]

It's your fireballs and your magic missiles. Destructive spells basically.

 

[Harthwain]

And can you please learn to use prepositions correctly. We say 'in 5th edition' in English, not 'on'.

Don't be like that, prepositions are one of the most difficult things to learn when you are learning another language.

But, yeah, it's "in" 5E.

He's also constantly typing "I an" instead of "I am".

 

[NJClaw]

He's also constantly typing "I an" instead of "I am".

The letter "m" is a social construct. Also, being way shorter, the letter "n" is easier and faster to type.

I picked Shock Arcanist for my wizard. I really need to look up what Evocation is one of these days, so I can start using that Arcane Fury or whatever it's called.

Be careful with Arcane Fury, it's still a bit bugged and sometimes it adds its bonus damage multiple times to the same target. It only happened to me with Scorching Ray, but getting 70 bonus damage against a single target with a random class feature was quite the shock. No wonder they called it SHOCK ARCANIST! Thank you everyone, it was a pleasure to be here with you tonight!

 

[Strange Fellow]

I picked Shock Arcanist for my wizard. I really need to look up what Evocation is one of these days, so I can start using that Arcane Fury or whatever it's called.

By the way, in case you're wondering what exactly it is that the people who find this game challenging are struggling with, what happens is this:

Every single turn for the last ten hours or so, I notice that my Wizard can do a power thing as his bonus action after he's used his main action. I read the tooltip for Arcane Fury and think to myself that I should check if any of the spells have an Evocation tag somewhere in their description, but since I've already used the wizard's main action for the turn, I can't check it directly without going into the menu, and it's easier to just wait until the wizard's next turn rolls around. By the time that happens I've completely forgotten about it. Rinse and repeat.

 

[jackofshadows]

The dev that came up with this 'holding business' shit for additional info and speeding up is fucking nuts, how hard was to just add two more options instead? 'Let them hold spacebar at all times, keke!'.

Remember how in Dragon Age Inquisition, you had to hold down the attack button at all times?

Sure but that game was action-oriented, even if for its own bad. For a single-player MMO that was DA:O controls like that is the norm, it would be like complaining that in a race game you have to hold throttle most of the times. But here we have a god damn dnd adaptation game which should be played with mouse in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.

I picked Shock Arcanist for my wizard. I really need to look up what Evocation is one of these days, so I can start using that Arcane Fury or whatever it's called.

No surprise that your ass is getting railed. Just pop it next time, choose some high af level slot for simple magic missles and see what happens.

 

[Nortar]

He's also constantly typing "I an" instead of "I am".

The letter "m" is a social construct. Also, being way shorter, the letter "n" is easier and faster to type.

It could be abbreviation for "I, Apprentice Necromancer".

 

[Strange Fellow]

I picked Shock Arcanist for my wizard. I really need to look up what Evocation is one of these days, so I can start using that Arcane Fury or whatever it's called.

No surprise that your ass is getting railed. Just pop it next time, choose some high af level slot for simple magic missles and see what happens.

Not to try to downplay my stupidity or anything, but twice the damage of what my magic missiles are currently doing isn't going to make a big difference. 30 instead of 15 damage to a boss with ~300 HP isn't great when I could be buffing my Paladin instead. Though of course, every little helps.

 

[Cryomancer]

All non-Evocation spells are worthless? What are you talking about.

And can you please learn to use prepositions correctly. We say 'in 5th edition' in English, not 'on'.

In 5E, all non evocation spells are worthless. In Solasta, I don't see any utility for non shock arcanist wizards and it is not Solasta's fault. It is 5E fault.

is back to his old tricks.

I am just pointing out that there is no reason to pick anything but shock arcanist on Solasta. Unless you really love druids and a "green Wizard" green mage is the closest thing to a druid. I am a huge fan of Necromancy, Conjuration and Alteration. Classes which are awful on 5E.

"I, Apprentice Necromancer".

There is nothing wrong with being a apprentice of the Dark Arts. Even the mightest of Necromancers was once a apprentice. Myrkul was once a low level adventure.

 

[Yosharian]

5E, all non evocation spells are worthless. In Solasta, I don't see any utility for non shock arcanist wizards and it is not Solasta's fault. It is 5E fault.

Dude you are just plain wrong. You don't have the experience required to make that judgement, that's obvious. Some of the strongest spells in the game, ones that completely break most encounters, are non-Evocation spells.

 

[NJClaw]

In 5E, all non evocation spells are worthless. In Solasta, I don't see any utility for non shock arcanist wizards and it is not Solasta's fault. It is 5E fault.

"All non evocation spells are worthless" is absolutely insane.

These were my most used Wizard spells for each level:
1 - Shield, Magic Missile, Hideous Laughter
2 - Scorching Ray, Knock, Misty Step
3 - Haste, Hypnotic Pattern, Fireball, Counterspell
4 - Banishment, Wall of Fire, Black Tentacles
5 - Hold Monster, Mind Twist, Cone of Cold

5 Evocation spells, 3 Enchantment, 3 Abjuration, 2 Conjuration, 2 Transmutation, and 1 Illusion. The Evocation spells are the relative majority, but only because I always pick at least a damaging spell for each level. You could easily drop Wall of Fire and Cone of Cold for something else and the character would still be a beast, with as many Evocation spells as Enchantment and Abjuration.

 

[Thac0]

In 5E, all non evocation spells are worthless. In Solasta, I don't see any utility for non shock arcanist wizards and it is not Solasta's fault. It is 5E fault.

Bratan what are you on about.
Control spells I used:
Level 1:
Entangle, Tasha's Hideaus Laughter, Fog Cloud, Faerie Fire
Level 2:
Hold Person, Levitate,
Level 3:
Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern, Slow, Daylight
Level 4:
Banishment, Confusion

Conjure Animals and Elementals as summon spells are sweet aswell, same as some buffs like Haste and Greater Invisibility.
There are also some spells which look good, which i havn't tested yet like Command, all Charm X spells, Sleep, Silence
And as I said this game is missing some of 5e's strongest control options like Web, Watery Sphere

 

[Cryomancer]

The strongest spells in the game, the ones that completely break most encounters, are non-Evocation spells.

Please. Name the "encounter breaking spells". Haste and Stoneskin was among my favorite spells for low level games and both are worthless on 5E. On mid levels, disintegrate no longer OHKills anything who fails a save. Finger of Death too, just 7d8+30 damage. Feeblemind which was the worst caster nightmare din't got nerfed but now is a 8th tier spell instead of 5th. Wail of the Banshee which was considered the strongest necromancy spell ever got completely removed.

 

[NJClaw]

The strongest spells in the game, the ones that completely break most encounters, are non-Evocation spells.

Please. Name the "encounter breaking spells". Haste and Stoneskin was among my favorite spells for low level games and both are worthless on 5E. On mid levels, disintegrate no longer OHKills anything who fails a save. Finger of Death too, just 7d8+30 damage. Feeblemind which was the worst caster nightmare din't got nerfed but now is a 8th tier spell instead of 5th. Wail of the Banshee which was considered the strongest necromancy spell ever got completely removed.

Polymorph, Banishment, and Forcecage are notoriously the strongest and most broken 5E spells. Curious how only one of them is from the Evocation school and it doesn't even deal damage.

Also, the only way someone can say that Haste and Stoneskin are worthless is if he has zero experience with this edition. Haste is a very strong buff and an almost obligatory pick for any Sorcerer, Stoneskin is a lifesaver against hard-hitting monsters.

 

[Anonona]

In 5E, all non evocation spells are worthless. In Solasta, I don't see any utility for non shock arcanist wizards and it is not Solasta's fault. It is 5E fault.

I got to disagree with that. I don't know how is 5E at high levels, but in Solasta I found the control spells to be even a bigger game changer than the damages spells, specially in Cataclysm difficulty. While the +3 saves do make the earlier control spells not be as useful, specially because things like grease and sleep are kind of weak in this game or cover too little of an area to really serve as a crowd control tools (specially if we add that almost all enemies can fly or climb walls to ignore it and there aren't that many chokepoints early on), control spells of the third level and beyond are very powerful:

- Hypnotic pattern is damn good. If it sticks, you pretty much disable an enemy for the whole combat. And if it is a dangerous threat like a monster with powerful physical attack and HP, it pretty much wins the game for you.

- Banishment targets CHA. Monster have for the most part shitty CHA saves. Do the math. Just target the most dangerous one and stop worrying about any issue. Requires concentration, but if you take the feat that gives you advantage in concentration checks, you can pretty much keep the enemy gone for the whole combat.

- Haste. Despite requiring concentration, is fantastic. Target your front liner and enjoy how they decimate enemies. Specially when you give it to a fully rested Paladin. Bosses go down in just a few turns.

- Greater invisibilty. Making your caster untargetable and with advantage in all his attacks is great, specially for evokers despite needing concentration.

- Mind Twist. Not only it deals AoE damage that only targets enemies, it also has the effect of incapacitating the enemy for 1 turn unless they pass a INT save. Again, many enemies have shitty INT saves, and one turn at high levels matter a lot. This spell pretty much won me the boss fight in the Temple of the Forgotten God.

- Black tentacles. While it targets DEX, if it works enemies have a hard time getting out and it covers a good area. Need concentration but for those big hulking enemies it can make a big difference.

These are the ones I have tried and were actually very useful, I'm sure others can also give more an better examples. And as I said before, despite the +3 save in the hardest difficulty, the x2 HP means that being able to control an enemy is a lot more valuable than just dealing more damage. Furthermore, you can conserve spell slots better if you control enemies and let the martial deal with them rather than burning though your spells slots to deal damage.

And note that I was playing a Shock Arcanist, and yet I always had control spells at the ready because of how useful they are. Sure, you are not going to use them each fight or to kill a spider group, but when it comes to important fights, they can make a big difference.

edit: sorry, I was retarded and said Hypnotic pattern doesn't require concentration. Fixed

 

[Thac0]

The strongest spells in the game, the ones that completely break most encounters, are non-Evocation spells.

Please. Name the "encounter breaking spells". Haste and Stoneskin was among my favorite spells for low level games and both are worthless on 5E. On mid levels, disintegrate no longer OHKills anything who fails a save. Finger of Death too, just 7d8+30 damage. Feeblemind which was the worst caster nightmare din't got nerfed but now is a 8th tier spell instead of 5th. Wail of the Banshee which was considered the strongest necromancy spell ever got completely removed.

Ahh so this is a personal grudge. Yeah Necromancy got the short end of the stick. Almost all Necro spells are not worth taking anymore, and the only good one left in Animate Dead is not in the game.
Harm is in and a decent single target nuke I guess.
They have some nice level 6+ spells like Circle of Death and Clone and Contagion used to be broken before an Errata, but overall the school is garbage.

Necromancy got fucked by 5e, some other non evocation schools like Illusion, Conjuration, Abjuration are tier 1 however, and Enchantment and Transmutation have many potent spells aswell. Divination and Necromancy are bottom of the barrell, that is true.

Funnily enough, from the offical 5e Wizards subclasses that Solasta can't use legally because they are 5.1, Necromancer, Diviner and Illusionist are the strongest ones.
http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wizard:necromancy
http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wizard:illusion
http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wizard:divination

Although Illusion is highly creativity and tabletop dependant and I would swap it for Aburation for a video game
http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wizard:abjuration

 

[Anonona]

I must add too, that I find the statement of Evocation being the only school that matters more ridiculous when you also complain that damage has been nerfed and that 5e has HP bloat. If that is the case, damage actually loses relevance, because it cannot kill enemies as fast as it use to. Guess in this circumstances what spells become more effective and important? Control spells. If you cannot kill the enemies fast enough, disabling becomes the dominant strategy.