U47 Preview 2: New Universal Enhancement Tree: Feydark Illusionist

[Cocomajobo]

Description
This tree is a universal casting tree that enhances your spellcasting and allows you to create Illusions to befuddle your enemies and summon a familiar to your side. This familiar cannot fight or die, and will not be targeted by monsters, much like a Falconry bird. Feydark Illusionist requires the feat Magical Training in order to access.

How to Access
You can access the Feydark Illusionist Universal Enhancement Tree on the Preview server by speaking to Lord Poincelot in the center of the Test Dojo and then purchasing it in the Lamannia DDO Store. Note: Clicking on the first core of the tree when you don't own the tree will open the store but be unable to find it. If you search for it manually, however, the listing for Feydark Illusionist can be found and purchased in the preview store.

Enhancements

• Cores
  
  1. Find Familiar Requires Magical Training Feat. Multiselector:
     
     • Find Familiar: Fox Familiar Toggle: Summons your chosen familiar, a fox, to your side. Familiars will follow you and can assist in your magical endeavors. +2 Spellcraft while toggled on.
     • Find Familiar: Illusory Sprite Familiar Toggle: Summons your chosen familiar, an Illusory Sprite, to your side. Familiars will follow you and can assist in your magical endeavors. +2 Spellcraft while toggled on.
     • Find Familiar: Pseudodragon Familiar Toggle: Summons your chosen familiar, a pseudodragon, to your side. Familiars will follow you and can assist in your magical endeavors. +2 Spellcraft while toggled on.
     • Find Familiar: White Cat Familiar Toggle: Summons your chosen familiar, a cat, to your side. Familiars will follow you and can assist in your magical endeavors. +2 Spellcraft while toggled on.
     • Find Familiar: White Tressym Familiar Toggle: Summons your chosen familiar, a white tressym, to your side. Familiars will follow you and can assist in your magical endeavors. +2 Spellcraft while toggled on.
  2. Ability Score Multiselector
     
     • Intelligence +1 Intelligence
     • Wisdom +1 Wisdom
     • Charisma +1 Charisma
  3. Illusory Weaponry You have studied Illusion to the point where you can craft more permanent manifestations of Shadow. This grants both the ability to conjure physical Shadowblades to wield as weapons as well as the ability to enchant your current weapons to be more powerful. Shadowblades are Shortswords made of force and may use your Charisma modifier for their attack and damage. As you level up, they will become more powerful. If you unequip your Shadowblades, they will dissapate into nothingness and must be summoned again. Enchanting your weapons to become Shadowblades will change their material type to Force and grant them additional bonuses. This is considered an Item Enchantment.
  4. Ability Score Multiselector
     
     • Intelligence +1 Intelligence
     • Wisdom +1 Wisdom
     • Charisma +1 Charisma
  5. Familiar's Force +1 to Illusion DCs. Your familiar now grants you +10 Force and Universal Spellpower.
  6. Master Illusionist +2 Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. +2 Illusion DCs. Your familiar now grants an additional +20 Force and Universal Spellpower.
• Tier 1
  
  • Feydark Explorer +1/2/3 Spellcraft, Diplomacy, and Concentration. Rank 3: +1 Use Magic Device
  • Familiar's Flourish I While your familiar is by your side, you may use Charisma as your weapon's to-hit modifier.
  • Twist Reality Offensive Illusion spells reduce your enemies' Will saves by 1 for 10 seconds. This stacks 3 times.
  • Study the Arcane +30/60/100 Maximum Spellpoints
  • Illusory Armor Spell Points: 30/20/10. Cooldown: 5 Seconds. You may cast the spell Mage Armor as a Spell-Like Ability. In addition, while under the benefits of any Mage Armor, you gain +2/4/6 Magical Resistance Rating.
• Tier 2
  
  • Enhanced Invisibility Spell Points: 30/20/10. Cooldown: 5 Seconds. You may cast the spell Invisibility as a Spell-Like Ability. In addition, while under the effects of any source of Invisibility, you gain +3 Saves vs Traps.
  • Familiar's Flourish II While your familiar is by your side, you may use Charisma as your weapon's damage modifier.
  • Bend Light Your studies of the Illusion school have manifested to protect you, making you slightly harder to see. You gain the benefits of the Blur spell.
  • You've Got My Back Your Familiar draws ambient and offensive magiks to it, protecting you from Magic Missiles as if you had the benefits of the Shield spell.
  • Shadow Blades Spell Points: 10/8/6. Cooldown: 8/6/5 Seconds. Conjure an illusory blade of shadow that flies forward at a single target. The enemy struck takes 1d6+2 Force damage per caster level, with a will save vs (DC17 + Illusion bonuses + Highest of Int/wis/cha) for half damage.
• Tier 3
  
  • Spell Penetration +1/2/3 Spell Penetration
  • Distract Your familiar appears at a targetted location, acting as a distractin and attracting the attention of monsters who may be searching for you in the area. This will only successfully distract monsters who are not actively attacking. This ability may be used without breaking Stealth or Invisibility.
  • Magical Attunement I +2% Force Spell Critical Chance and +1% Universal Spell Critical Chance
  • Refraction When hit or missed in combat, there is a small chance you will reactively turn Invisible for a short duration.
  • Ability Score Multiselector
    
    • Intelligence +1 Intelligence
    • Wisdom +1 Wisdom
    • Charisma +1 Charisma
• Tier 4
  
  • Be My Eyes Your Familiar grants you the benefits of the True Seeing spell, and will automatically find Spell Wards for you.
  • Fan of Shadowblades Spellpoints: 18/15/12. Cooldown: 14/12/10 Seconds. Fan a series of Shadowblades outwards into a wide cone. The enemies struck take 1d6+2 Force damage per caster level, with a will save vs (DC17 + Illusion bonuses + Highest of Int/wis/cha) for half damage.
  • Magical Attunement II +2% Force Spell Crit Chance and +1% Universal Spell Crit Chance.
  • Improved Shadowblades All of your Shadowblades spells, attacks with weapons that have been imbued by Shadow, and attacks with conjured Shadowblades apply 1/2/3 stacks of Shattermantle when they damage an enemy.
  • Ability Score Multiselector
    
    • Intelligence +1 Intelligence
    • Wisdom +1 Wisdom
    • Charisma +1 Charisma
• Tier 5
  
  • Illusory Augmentation +1 Illusion DCs. The feats Augment Summoning and Improved Augment Summoning now each grant +5 Force Spell Power and an additional +1 Illusion DCs
  • Familiar's Reach Your familiar carries spells further than you would normally be able to cast them. Your spells benefit from the Enlarge Metamagic at no additional cost.
  • Magical Attunement III +2% Force Spell Crit Chance and +2% Universal Spell Crit Chance
  • Ring of Shadowblades Spellpoints: 50/40/25. Cooldown: 40/35/30 Seconds. Conjure a large ring of interlocking illusory Shadowblades that damage enemies passing through them. Enemies take 1d6+2 Force damage per caster level, with a will save vs (DC17 + Illusion bonuses + Highest of Int/wis/cha) for half damage.
  • Force in Tandem Your familiar now grants you +10 force spellpower, 10 Universal spellpower, and 5% Force absorption. These bonuses are temporarily doubled if you cross the barrier of a Ring of Shadowblades.

Currently Known Bugs

• All of the Find Familiar icons are placeholder.
• Pseudodragon Familiar's move incredibly slowly.
• Illusory Sprite familiars are not implemented. They simply spawn a placeholder art asset currently and do nothing else.
• Distract breaks stealth when used.
• Clicking on the first core of the tree when you don't own the tree will open the store but be unable to find it. If you search for it manually, however, the listing for Feydark Illusionist can be found and purchased in the preview store.

[Cocomajobo]

Post Reserved for changes mid preview

Hey friends! I've got a few changes to show you from your lovely feedback, and note that there is a developer event happening on Lamannia tonight at 8PM EST if you'd like to talk to me about this tree directly. But, without further ado, here's what I got:

So the vibe I'm getting feedback-wise is that people are excited about the idea of an Illusion caster tree but don't feel like the Illusion aspect of this tree meets their expectations. You fine folks have also made it clear that we need more illusion spells in the base arcane spellbooks. So, with that feedback, let's take a look at the changes.

• Color Spray is being added as a level 1 spell to Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Bard spellbooks.
• Mage Armor in tier 1 replaced by Color Spray on the same cooldown channel as Deep Gnome.
• Improved Illusion in Tier 2 has had its passive component of +3 saves vs traps replaced with +15% missile deflection.
• Each Core ability in the tree including Core 1 now improves your familiar visually, as well as grants you +5 force and universal spellpower per core. This is the same +30 total force/universal from core 18/20, just spread out a little bit (plus it let us key into some VFX so your familiar now sorta levels as you do!)
• Core 18 is now +1 Illusion DCs, plus the free Enlarge from Familiar's Reach (the t5). Fun fact, this is actually what Familiars do in pen and paper - they give your spells extra range
• In Familiar's Reach's place in tier 5 is a Displacement SLA
• Core 20 is now a passive/active, with the passive +2 int/wis/cha and +2 DCs retained (the spellpower is now spread across the cores, as written above)
• The active part of Core 20 is now a Group Enhanced Displacement SLA, that briefly gives all party members in the dungeon 95% Concealment, regardless of distance. This lasts 10 seconds and has a 3 minute cooldown.
• Imbue with Shadow now actually changes its material type over to Force instead of just pretending to

Whew! That's a lot for day 1. However, we're not done yet. Keep giving me your feedback on how this tree feels to you, and what you think might make it even cooler. I'll keep an eye on this thread and we'll talk about any other adjustments that end up in the pipeline. Cheers!

[rabidfox]

This looks quite nice on paper. =) Gotta get my lamannia updates downloading so I play around with it.

[apocaladle]

"Illusory Augmentation +1 Illusion DCs. The feats Augment Summoning and Improved Augment Summoning now each grant +5 Force Spell Power and an additional +1 Illusion DCs"

does this mean we will be getting illusionary summons at some point?

or any new summons at some point?

[Satyriasys]

Augment summoning barely does anything. Summons need overwhelming buffs to be even somewhat useful.

[Gniewomir]

T1 cha to hit with all weapons, t2 cha to dmg with all weapons. Isn't it a bit too op? Soon main stat won't matter in ddo...

[Stravix]

T1 cha to hit with all weapons, t2 cha to dmg with all weapons. Isn't it a bit too op? Soon main stat won't matter in ddo...

Should be 1/3 like Harper IMO, but i guess this doesn't get a trance like harper does, so it shouldn't be too egregious.

[Stravix]

[*][*]Illusory Weaponry You have studied Illusion to the point where you can craft more permanent manifestations of Shadow. This grants both the ability to conjure physical Shadowblades to wield as weapons as well as the ability to enchant your current weapons to be more powerful. Shadowblades are Shortswords made of force and may use your Charisma modifier for their attack and damage. As you level up, they will become more powerful. If you unequip your Shadowblades, they will dissapate into nothingness and must be summoned again. Enchanting your weapons to become Shadowblades will change their material type to Force and grant them additional bonuses. This is considered an Item Enchantment.

Anyone able to note what these additional bonuses are?

[Caarb]

T1 cha to hit with all weapons, t2 cha to dmg with all weapons. Isn't it a bit too op? Soon main stat won't matter in ddo...

Unless familiars are invulnerable these abilities will be useless.

[WiseFreelancer]

Should be 1/3 like Harper IMO, but i guess this doesn't get a trance like harper does, so it shouldn't be too egregious.

With no trance its just stat change for weapon's default attacks. Not horribly OP, considering a PDK gets the same benefits with key weapons using racial AP?

EDIT: Comprehensive fail on 1/3 as one third...

[Tyrande]

T1 cha to hit with all weapons, t2 cha to dmg with all weapons. Isn't it a bit too op? Soon main stat won't matter in ddo...

Requires pre-requisite Magical Training. i.e. That means non magical classes need to spend a feat to gain access to CHA-to hit and damage; and that includes bards (unless a spellsinger T3 in magical studies)

[Tyrande]

Unless familiars are invulnerable these abilities will be useless.

They are invulnerable. Falconry birds are invulnerable if they are like those birds.

[Retired_Old_Gamer]

Will weapons w/ Alchemy Rituals (force dmge & crit) be affected by shadow blades

[SerPounce]

[*][*]Shadow Blades Spell Points: 10/8/6. Cooldown: 8/6/5 Seconds. Conjure an illusory blade of shadow that flies forward at a single target. The enemy struck takes 1d6+2 Force damage per caster level, with a will save vs (DC17 + Illusion bonuses + Highest of Int/wis/cha) for half damage.

How is "caster" level determined for a universal tree? Should it be character level? Also Is there a max level?

(also applies to the other similar SLAs)

[Stravix]

How is "caster" level determined for a universal tree? Should it be character level? Also Is there a max level?

(also applies to the other similar SLAs)

I would assume that since it requires magical training, it would look to the caster level associated with that. If multiple are present I would assume it would pick the largest, but these are all assumptions.

[Caarb]

They are invulnerable. Falconry birds are invulnerable if they are like those birds.

Yup my eyes went straight to the enhancements and didnt read the bit above

[GramercyRiff]

At first read, I like this tree a lot. If I can come up with some ideas I'll post them later.

[SerPounce]

[deleted]

[SerPounce]

I would assume that since it requires magical training, it would look to the caster level associated with that. If multiple are present I would assume it would pick the largest, but these are all assumptions.

Magical training is just a feat. Anyone can take it.

[Carpone]

There's nothing compelling about this tree as a caster. Considerations to make it attractive:

1. Add a Phantasmal Killer SLA that uses the highest of INT/WIS/CHA.

2. Sprinkle +1 Illusion DCs within the cores/trees. Forcing players into T5 and/or core 5 and 6 for Illusion DCs does not make mathematical sense.

3. Provide Illusion spell SLAs in the cores identical to Archmage Illusion specialist. Being able to cast Displacement in Core 3 is a hell of an incentive to spend AP here for the classes that do not have ready access to it.

4. Add new Illusion spells to the game. I would think it's obvious if you're gonna introduce an entire tree based on an Illusion theme (complete with Illusion DC boosts) that you have to also address the anemic choice of Illusion spells in the game: 7 illusion spells total, 2 of which are offensive: Hypnotic Pattern and Phantasmal Killer (3 if you count gnome Color Spray SLA). The game is *waaaaaay* overdue for new Illusion spells.

Obvious 3.5 D&D Illusion spells missing from DDO:

Rainbow Pattern (Brd 4, Sor/Wiz 4) and Scintillating Pattern (Sor/Wiz 8)
Shadow Evocation (Brd 5, Sor/Wiz 5) - damage spells based on Will save rather than Reflex; includes Shadow Conjuration and Greater versions as well
Silence (Brd 2, Clr 2) -- the most glaring Illusion spell omission from the game
Shades (Sor/Wiz 6) -- summon a pack of Shadows