Arcane Power
Arcane Power resurrects the illusionist, brings back summoning spells and familiars, and introduces a host of new arcane options for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. Among these new options are new class features offering bards the gift of foresight, sorcerers the chance to wield cosmic magic, warlocks the opportunity to commune with the vestiges of ancient powers, and much more.
What it doesn’t offer is a return to anything resembling a Vancian magic system; Third Edition holdouts who’d hoped that this arcane source book might offer a more traditional wizard option will be disappointed. Fourth Edition fans will welcome the new options, particularly the new arcane-theme mechanics that provide a twist on 4e’s standard damage + secondary effect formula.
Warlocks and sorcerers get the best of these new options. The sorcerers’ new “cosmic magic” feature allows their souls to progress through three phases: Sun, Moon and Stars. Each grants special abilities, such as burning nearby enemies when in the Phase of the Sun or gaining an Armor Class bonus equal to then number of conscious enemies when in the Phase of the Moon. Characters change phases when bloodied in combat, automatically progressing to the next one when crossing that threshold. It’s a cool mechanic that creates something unique in the 4e universe.
From a strictly role-playing standpoint, the warlock’s new vestige pact offers a huge amount of potential. With this pact, characters evoke the will of long-forgotten heroes, slumbering gods, and other ancient beings. Such warlocks gain the “eyes of the vestige” at-will power, which allows them to curse an enemy, but also grants certain augmentations based on the vestige evoked. For example, the vestige of King Elidyr (an ancient king who regrets his failure on the battlefield) allows one ally who hits a cursed target to roll a saving throw. It’s an intriguing concept, and one I could see extending with homegrown vestiges in an ongoing campaign.
As with many things in 4e, the designers have streamlined summoning by eliminating the inevitable Monster Manual page flipping of previous editions. Instead of snagging a goblin, bear, or arrowhawk from that tome, summoned creatures are based on the wizard’s own stats. Such creatures share the summoner’s defense values, hit points equal to his or her blooded hit points, and the same attack and skill values. Most summoning powers modify these traits to one extent or another – for example a summoned shadow serpent gets a +5 bonus to stealth checks and takes no penalty for moving more than two squares in a round.
Illusionists address one of my biggest complaints with 4E, which is the over-used damage + secondary effect formula. While there are certainly illusion powers that follow that model (usually doing psychic damage in the process), there are also a good number that do no damage, immobilizing opponents instead, or setting up conditions where they’ll take damage only if they try and ignore the illusionary threat. Couple them with decidedly old school-style powers like phantasmal terrain and spectral vision and you’ve got a character who deftly messes with enemy’s minds instead of shock-and-awing them to death.
There are some new builds that didn’t work as well. The new “Aegis of Ensnarement” class feature for swordmages focuses on marking an opponent and then using teleportation effects to stay close to it. I haven’t read the swordmage class in the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide, so I’m not sure how the mechanics compare, but to me this effect felt too much like the avenger class in Player’s Handbook 2. Admittedly, the avenger is more about pursuing an enemy than constantly teleporting to interfere with them, but there’s a similar vibe. The avenger did it better, and I don’t think it needed to be revisited here.
The new “Virtue of Prescience” for bards provides them with the ability to glimpse the future, and has some useful effects, such as powers that allow characters to role a number of d20 dice and then use those results during the course of an encounter. It’s a nice mechanic, but to me it feels more like a clerical diviner power than a bardic ability. What I was hoping for, and ultimately didn’t get, was some sort of utility-build for bards.
Even in 4e I think there’s a place for the skillful bard who serves a behind-the-scenes support role in the party rather than acting as a frontline leader (something like the noble class from the Star Wars: Saga Edition RPG). I would have loved some feats allowing a bard to take additional utility powers at the expense of attack encounter and daily powers (assuming it went along with sizeable increase in the number of bard utility powers).
Arcane Power introduces 6-8 new paragon paths for each arcane class. Standouts include the Celestial Scholar, which grants additional phase bonuses to sorcerers who practice cosmic magic, the God Fragment, which draws its power from the remains of dead gods, and the Life Singer, which is perhaps the only pacifist paragon path in 4E and rewards characters for taking non-violent actions.
With familiars, the designers recognized how most wizards used their familiars in the past: remembering them when they granted a needed bonus or performed a necessary job, forgetting about them the rest of the time. Arcane Power formalizes this time-honored forgetfulness by making familiars summonable creatures that can act in passive and active modes.
In passive mode, the familiar is assumed to be riding on its wizard’s shoulder, hiding in a pocket, etc. It can’t be targeted by spell effects, can’t take any damage, and provides some constant benefit (e.g. a bound demon offers a +2 bonus to Intimidate checks). In “active mode” the familiar is out in the open and can be attacked (and thus, can die). This risk is balanced by its active mode benefits, an owl allowing its owner to see through its eyes or a cat’s ability to venture as far from its master as it wishes. Arcanists can acquire a familiar by taking the “Arcane Familiar” feat.
There are 19 new rituals in Arcane Power. Some old favorites – like Unseen Servant, Guards and Wards and Detect Treasure – return but my favorites were the new options. Anthem of Unity allows a bard (or some other diplomatic spellcaster) to win an entire crowd to his cause while Call of Friendship lets a character instantly befriend a single humanoid creature. Meanwhile History Revealed and Object Reading provide alternatives to the old bardic lore ability and allow arcane casters to catch glimpses of a location or object’s history.
Arcane Power packs in a number of other options, including new heroic, paragon and epic tier feats, new epic destinies, arcane backgrounds and the option to use a tome as a wizard’s arcane implement. All in all, it’s a useful book for fans of arcane classes in 4th Edition, and while it doesn’t break the 4e mold, it does stretch it in some interesting ways.