Arcane Ward Clarification

[Sage of Souls]

So, can someone please clarify how Arcane Ward works for me?

It says that it blocks damage equal to its "intensity", then reduces its intensity by 1. Does this mean that a ward that has 3 "intensity" will block 3 damage on one round, 2 damage on the next round, and then 1 damage on the round after that? For a total of 6 damage in 3 rounds?

That doesn't seem like how Arcane Ward works in pen-and-paper, and it feels a lot weaker than it should be.

I've also read that it doesn't stack with other sources of temporary hp, even though it's not classified as temporary hp? Is that correct?

It feels like they really gimped Abjuration Wizards with their ward unless I'm not understanding something correctly.

[Recjawjind]

1: Yes, thats how it works here
2: Its weaker low levels, but UTTERLY TURBOBROKEN at high levels. Past level 10, it feels like your wizard suddenly turned on godmode. Warding bond the wizard and you quite literally get THOUSANDS of effective HP. Recharge it with shield, counterspell and glyph of warding when you drop below like 20 charges.
3: It should totally stack with temp HP, but past a certain level you literally take 0 damage from all sources, so the temp HP might as well not exist.

Past level 10, my gale has literally taken a grand total of 0 damage, on tactician.. (yes, i kept track.)

[Clive Hawkins]

You are correct in the way that it works.

Although it's more powerful in BG3.

Especially when you get the perk that gives you a shield equal to your Wizard level when you Short Rest. 12 instant stacks. That's almost 80 invisible HP they have to smash through. But this scales as you can just upcast Glyph of Warding every turn (better than Fireball in every way.) You've got an unkillable Mage at that point.

[Sage of Souls]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

1: Yes, thats how it works here
2: Its weaker low levels, but UTTERLY TURBOBROKEN at high levels. Past level 10, it feels like your wizard suddenly turned on godmode. Warding bond the wizard and you quite literally get THOUSANDS of effective HP. Recharge it with shield, counterspell and glyph of warding when you drop below like 20 charges.
3: It should totally stack with temp HP, but past a certain level you literally take 0 damage from all sources, so the temp HP might as well not exist.

Past level 10, my gale has literally taken a grand total of 0 damage, on tactician.. (yes, i kept track.)

Originally posted by Clive Hawkins:

You are correct in the way that it works.

Although it's more powerful in BG3.

Especially when you get the perk that gives you a shield equal to your Wizard level when you rest. 12 instant stacks. Then you can upcast Glyph of Warding every turn (better than Fireball in every way.) You've got an unkillable Mage at that point.

I see. Do you need to make use of multiclassing or gimmicks to make it that strong or does it get that strong on its own? I'm trying to stay a pure Wizard in my playthrough, so I'm just curious how well that'll hold up on its own.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Sage of Souls:

I see. Do you need to make use of multiclassing or gimmicks to make it that strong or does it get that strong on its own? I'm trying to stay a pure Wizard in my playthrough, so I'm just curious how well that'll hold up on its own.

No multiclassing needed.
All you need is someone that can cast warding bond, like a cleric. There are also 2 rings that let one person cast warding bond on the other.
Because it effectively doubles the size of your ward, you take 0 damage from practically everything, so whoever warding bonded them also takes 0, since it's post-mitigation damage that gets transfered. Also means no concentration saves, since well, 0 damage.

[Clive Hawkins]

No gimmicks, no multiclassing.

Your Ward simply becomes overpowered at Level 10 when you Short Rest.

You also get Otto's Irresistable Dance at Level 11 which essentially one-shot's bosses and doesn't have a saving throw.

So if you did want to multiclass it's only advisable to do so after Level 11 for a one level dip in say Light Cleric or Ranger for Heavy Armor and Shield proficiency. Or respec and go Fighter 1 / Wizard 11 when you hit level 12.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Clive Hawkins:

No gimmicks, no multiclassing.

Your Ward simply becomes overpowered at Level 10 when you Short Rest.

You also get Otto's Irresistable Dance at Level 11 which essentially one-shot's bosses and doesn't have a saving throw.

So if you did want to multiclass it's only advisable to do so after Level 11 for a one level dip in say Light Cleric or Ranger for Heavy Armor and Shield proficiency. Or respec and go Fighter 1 / Wizard 11 when you hit level 12.

Cleric 1 is actually an incredibly powerful dip, simply for sanctuary. Sanctuary DOES NOT break when you cast glyph of warding :)))))))))))))))
Become even more untouchable than you already are! Ascend as abju wizard!
(or just have shadowheart cast sanctuary on you)

[Quillithe]

I really want to try this at some point.

As a bonus maybe 1 level of a martial class to run around with magic plate + heavy armor master for another 5 damage absorb which is already pretty silly.

[Helen Carnate]

Not exactly how it works but close. Say you have it at 5 and get attacked and hit 4 times.

The first hit would absorb 5 points
The second hit would absorb 4 points
The third hit would absorb 3 points
The last hit would absorb 2 points.

It is not based on the number of rounds but the number of times you are hit. As you cast more Abjuration spells, that number increases.

These are not temp HP so any source of temp HP would not be affected. But what if you say had 1 level in Sorc and picked cold draconic bloodline? Well then you have an easy source of temp HP on top of that. On top of that Armor of Agathys happens to also be Abjuration so you get free base points to start. Upcast it for even more protection.
Throw in a level of War Cleric as well and you can also wear heavy armor, some of which can also absorb damage.

On its own it can be quite powerful but with help from other classes it can turn your mage into a tank.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

I really want to try this at some point.

As a bonus maybe 1 level of a martial class to run around with magic plate + heavy armor master for another 5 damage absorb which is already pretty silly.

1 level in cleric to sanctuary yourself :)
Glyph of warding DOES NOT break sanctuary :)))))))))))

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

I really want to try this at some point.

As a bonus maybe 1 level of a martial class to run around with magic plate + heavy armor master for another 5 damage absorb which is already pretty silly.

1 level in cleric to sanctuary yourself :)
Glyph of warding DOES NOT break sanctuary :)))))))))))

Seems very fair lol.

That spell is a bit much I think

[Recjawjind]

You could tank like 3-4 breath weapons from *TIAMAT* without going down.
At level 12.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Seems very fair lol.

That spell is a bit much I think

I thought tactician would be hard, knew I wanted gale in my team so I picked abju wizard right away. The *second* i saw the new arcane ward I was thinking "I bet thats broken later"
Lo and behold, I was right :>

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Seems very fair lol.

That spell is a bit much I think

I thought tactician would be hard, knew I wanted gale in my team so I picked abju wizard right away. The *second* i saw the new arcane ward I was thinking "I bet thats broken later"
Lo and behold, I was right :>

I admittedly only picked normal but I basically had to boot Karlach because throwing was too busted.

And even so Shadowheart and GALE usually have 90% hit chances on enemies! I feel like they could use a little more armor, everything feels a bit strong.

Summons

Stacking +spell dc items

This silly helm jaheira has that lets her get +2 spell dc stacks when she hits an enemy. And she's dual wielding. Just be gross on a dual wielding hasted fighter/caster with action surge, you could break saves

Honestly, most items? So many stackable -attack and -saves on enemies feels a bit much really.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

I admittedly only picked normal but I basically had to boot Karlach because throwing was too busted.

And even so Shadowheart and GALE usually have 90% hit chances on enemies! I feel like they could use a little more armor, everything feels a bit strong.

Summons

Stacking +spell dc items

This silly helm jaheira has that lets her get +2 spell dc stacks when she hits an enemy. And she's dual wielding. Just be gross on a dual wielding hasted fighter/caster with action surge, you could break saves

Honestly, most items? So many stackable -attack and -saves on enemies feels a bit much really.

Didn't even optimize around it
hehehehe spellsave dc30 goes brr
I eat legendary resistance for breakfast
Literally unsaveable hold person
https://steamcommunity.com/id/Recjawjind/screenshot/2012599246975795092/

[Keith 'Blood' Hanson]

Sounds interesting, but considering Gale is the 7th highest reason characters die, changing him from anything other than an Evocation wizard feels...risky. xD