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In Short
Providing more options for all sorts of arcane characters, including the Wizard, Warlock, Bard, Sorcerer, and Swordmage, Arcane Power solidly delivers. All the mechanical bells and whistles are addressed, with many fun new options included for play. Those who prefer these sorts of character classes can find a lot of useful material here, and any group stands to benefit from the many well done build options presented here.The Good: Better Wizard At-Wills. The build options are downright fun and offer mechanics that are interesting and unique.
The Bad: For full product use the reader needs two additional supplements to the core books. Some new abilities are more optimized than existing powers.
The Physical Thing
At $29.95, this 160 page full color hardcover showcases the same great production qualities found in other Wizards of the Coast products. The artwork is wonderful, doing a fantastic job of complementing game content throughout the book. Formatting, presentation, and editing are all well done and contribute to a quality product.Under the Cover
Arcane Power breaks down by class, so let's take a look at the Bard options. I'm a fan of the 4E Bard, and there's plenty to love here. First off, Virtue of Prescience offers a new build option that enables the Bard to, once per encounter, give an ally a defense bonus equal to the Bard's Wisdom modifier against attacks for a turn. Effectively it has a chance of saving an ally from a particularly nasty attack, though I don't think it comes close to the general usefulness of Cunning and the other core build features.The new Bard At-Will, Jinx Shot, introduces a whole chain of bow powers that make archery a very attractive option. Not only does it keep the Bard at range, but when an enemy misses after being shot with Jinx Shot they fall prone. A large mix of new power options are also introduced, some of which support the archery option but most simply offer solid new options. In fact, all of the options in Arcane Power are quite nice and, in some cases, make notably superior choices for particular levels.
Six new Paragon Paths include the Cunning Prevaricator (trickster), Euphonic Bow (archer), Grave Caller (damage), Half-Elf Emissary (general support), Karmic Shaper (chance manipulation), Life Singer (pacifist / control powers). They each support their themes quite well and are fine options, though with such an incredible variety of Paragon options available these additions don't offer quite as much potency as those for other classes.
While Bard receives a bow build option, the Sorcerer may now specialize in Storm or Cosmic magic. Storm Magic is very thematic in its execution, offering thunder and lightning resistance, bonus damage based off Dex, and the power to blow enemies around the battlefield with strong gusts of wind. Cosmic Magic offers varied effects, but less random than the Wild Mage. Strength can contribute to AC and bonus damage, radiance resistance is granted, and the character can step through Phases to gain different benefits. Phase changing occurs when the character is blooded or uses a Daily, and at Phase 3 the character can teleport Str spaces every time an enemy's attack misses. This can provide an enormous amount of mobility in an important fight.
Both builds continue to stress what the Sorcerer is best at: ranged area effect damage. Blazing Starfall provides the Cosmic build with At-Will burst damage that also creates a damage zone for a turn, while Lightning Strike is a nice vs. Reflex damage attack that also does a partial bounce to a secondary target. Other additional powers are quite nice and, as with all the Classes, any character could notably benefit from the powers introduced. The Cosmic build tends to have a lot of flexibility in some of their powers, with frequent opportunities to select from effects. The Storm build is more interested in moving opponents around the battlefield while also dealing solid damage.
New Paragon Paths include the Blizzard Mage (cold damage, resistance to slows), Celestial Scholar (more Cosmic flexibility), Dragon Guardian (breath weapon focus), Essence Mage (general powers, likes multiple damage types), Lightning Fury (more lightning damage), and Primordial Channeler (general Wild Magic benefits). Strangely enough, the Blizzard Mage is the one that I tend to favor more. It offers some control and control avoidance, two things that the Sorcerer could use a bit more of. It's also a decent option for multiclassing, as it doesn't focus in on specific Sorcerer powers.
While the Sorcerer kicks butt at taking down lots of foes at once, the Swordmage tends to work towards guarding the party while also laying waste with close range attacks. The new build introduced here, Ensnaring Swordmage, allows the Swordmage to teleport a marked target to a square adjacent to them in response to their attempt to strike someone else. Luring Strike, the new At-Will, allows the Swordmage to shift 1 square and slide the target along. This is a solid option to have, as it allows the Swordmage to keep a target away from allies. A dizzying array of new Encounter and Daily powers complement this build option while also offering plenty of new choices for existing builds.
Swordmage Paragon Paths include the Arcane Hunter (ensnarement, overcomes resistances), Ghost Blade (becomes insubstantial and hurts insubstantial beings), Sage of Fate's Bonds (aegis of ensnarement on steroids), Sigil Carver (protective powers, grant allies a save when Action Point spent), Sword of Assault (variety of aggressive benefits), and Ward Guardian (raise allies defenses). In particular, I'm a fan of the Sage of Fate's Bonds. Not only does it gain more combat control through teleports, it also does damage to marked targets that hit another target and it can mark multiple targets with ensnarement. All of the options are nice, but this one does a particularly nice job of focusing in on the Swordmage's role as Defender by offering another form of punishment (raw damage) for ignoring the mark.
The Warlock now has access to the Vestige Pact, which seems to reflect a pact with powerful ancient spirits or entities. A character begins play with two Vestige Boons which trigger when an enemy under warlock's curse dies. An active boon can be switched out after a rest or when certain powers go into effect. The base ones provide either a defense bonus to an ally or a bonus to attacks with Prime Shot. Eyes of the Vestige, the new At-Will, has variable effects depending on what Vestige is active. Certain Daily powers activate new Vestige options, making this an interesting, flexible build.
New Warlock powers do a great job of maintaining the themes introduced in the Player's Handbook, and I find many of the powers to be downright clever in their execution. Consider, for instance, Fey Bargain a level 2 Utility power that offers the Warlock a +2 to hit on the next attack roll in exchange for failing the next saving throw they make this encounter. It is, indeed, a fey-like power and it offers an interesting choice while fitting nicely with the conceptual aspect of the class.
New Paragon Paths include Dark Reckoner (invisibility powers), Entrancing Mystic (psychic damage and charm), God Fragment (generalist), Hellbringer (piles on the fire damage), Hexer (mass cursing), Master of the Starry Night (generalist), Sea Tyrant Oracle (fate, rerolls), and Storm Scourge (fey-based lightning flinger). Of the group I'm a fan of the Hellbringer. Among other things, it enables the Warlock to ignore fire resistance which is a very attractive power for a build that is heavily invested with fire powers. What's more, the action power Flames of Empowerment enables the Warlock to add a 2d6 ranged burst 1 to an existing attack, making it quite a nice minion sweeper.
Of course, the Wizard needs little to already be an effective minion sweeper given its large number of available area of effect powers. That is, unless you're playing an Illusionist. The new build for Wizards kicks off with two new Will targeting At-Wills, Illusory Ambush (1d6 + Int, -2 to Attacks until end of Wizard's next turn) and Phantom Bolt (1d8 + Int, slide 1). These are both quite attractive. Illusory Ambush offers a very respectable boost to defenses for nearby allies, offering a nice form of control that doesn't care about movement. Phantom Bolt is just the thing to get enemies into difficulty positions or to save an ally from a flanking scenario, making it a welcome addition.
Wizards also receive Storm Pillar, an At-Will that drops a pillar in a single square which deals 1d6 + Int Lightning damage to all adjacent creatures until the end of the Wizard's next turn. Paired with forced movement powers or ideal terrain, this At-Will has the potential to deal an enormous amount of damage or to force monsters into behaving in a certain way (exactly what a Controller wants). To complement all of these new At-Will options the Wizard has access to a new Orb option (Deception, 1x/encounter when Illusion misses try again at a nearby enemy) and two new Tome options (Binding, 1x/encounter tougher Summons)(Readiness, stores an encounter attack power that can be switched out). Illusion is off to a nice start, and there's definitely something here for everyone. Those who wanted to play Wizards specialized in summoning now have the tools to do it, as well (Summoning At-Will, lots of new Summons, Tome, multiple Paragon Paths).
New Paragon Paths include the Arcane Wayfarer (movement), Bonded Summoner (powerful summons), Hermetic Saboteur (area effect, vs. traps), Rimetongue Caller (cold powers, summoning), Unseen Mage (invisibility), and Weaver of Chance (luck based). In play I've watched the Arcane Wayfarer in action, which is quite nice. The added mobility makes it difficult for the monsters to get close enough to harm the Wizard, and when control powers are mixed in the Wizard tends to be the character most likely to remain standing until the end. While I've not played the Weaver of Chance, I do find it to be an astonishingly weak choice. The core powers are as likely to harm the character as aid them, and even a very lucky character will at best gain a tiny bonus. Outside of purely thematic considerations, I can imagine no reason why anyone would ever choose this class especially since there are already far better options for luck-oriented spellcasters (Wild Mage, various Bard powers).
The new Feats are solid, at times offering bonuses so nice it's hard to imagine not selecting them. Bards investing in multi-class options will want to pick up Combat Virtuoso which allows the Bard to use Charisma for multi-class attack rolls. Elven Arcane Precision expands Elven Accuracy so that it may be used against area of effect targets, a phenomenally useful addition that's sure to make AE attacks even nastier. The rest of the thirteen pages of Feats are interesting and worthwhile additions, though as with all Feats most are intended for specific builds.
Familiars are introduced here, though they may not be quite up to the power level that some folk would wish. A single Feat allows a character to have a Familiar which offers a couple of small mechanical benefits, typically 2 points in a Skill and a minor ability. Another Feat can be expended so that you may communicate with the Familiar, and various Feats can later be spent to upgrade the familiar or provide new powers. If you've ever wanted to have a kitty that can take a fireball for you (and, err, die) then Shielding Familiar is the Feat for you!
Epic Destinies, while long term goals, are often a way to ultimately define a character at the end of their career. Because of that I have high expectations whenever new Epic Destinies are introduced that they offer a nice variety of end game positions. I'm ultimately pleased with these as they do a good job of emphasizing what the character has become, but don't offer power creep over past destinies (such as Demigod). New options include Astral Sword (swordmage, mass marking), Archlich (various undead powers and resistances, phylactery), Archspell (become a spell, bonus to a single spell), Feyliege (become King/Queen of faerie, charm bonus), Immanence (become pure energy, energy resistance), Lord of Fate (balances fortune), Magister (generalist spellcaster), Parable (character is an illusion, movement and avoidance), Sage of Ages (time control).
Arcane Power wraps up with a smattering of magic items (mostly tomes), a few new Rituals, and a handful of Arcane Backgrounds. I particularly like some of the Ritual additions, such as Telepathic Bond which can mentally link an adventuring group. On the whole it's a nice bit of support material for any spellcaster.
