Math Wizard – Possibly the smartest character build ever
I am creating a Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition game supplement. Yay! *jumps around the room* It’s a new build for the wizard class, and it’s called… wait for it… Math Wizard. My Math Wizard build has powers that have roots in mathematics and science. Currently, I only have one sentence for the flavour description:
Everything can be reduced to an equation.
“Yeah, but I can create a build with powers based on rocket science. That would be smarter than yours!”
Yes. I suppose you could. Let me ask you, does your build have powers that require you to understand the mathematical principle behind it before you can use it effectively?
Introducing the class feature that was initially named “Pythagorean Positioning”. If you use an arcane power, and you’re in an occupied square that forms a right-angled triangle with 2 other occupied squares, you gain a damage bonus to your power. There are 3 types of right-angled triangles formed with the standard battle grid.
- Straightforward
- Diagonal
- Slanted
Here’s a diagram to show you how they are formed on the grid:
The green dot represents you. The red dots represent a creature (either an enemy or your ally).
The straightforward triangles and diagonal triangles should be easy to verify. The slanted right-angled triangle takes a bit of skill to verify. I suggest you don’t try to form the slanted triangles because your DM (and the other players) might not be able to verify that it is a right-angled triangle.
Arguing over the validity of your slanted right-angled triangle is not worth the debate. Unless calm intellectual arguments are your group’s kind of thing. Or you’re playing D&D with a bunch of mathematicians. In which case, go for it.
With this build, if you’re generally good with math, you can possibly be on par with a striker for damage using a controller. Gives you an incentive to brush up on your Fibonacci numbers, doesn’t it?
Of course, not all the powers require such deep academic skill. Mechanically speaking, they are similar to the powers of other classes. There’s a range, a target, damage dice and so on. You’ll get so much more satisfaction from playing as a Math Wizard though.
Imagine slipping casually into conversations,
“You know, I did a Swap of the Twin Primes for last night’s game, and it completely flipped the battle in our favour!”
Or being able to say,
“That red dragon died because I missed with my Barber’s Paradox.”
Think about the possibilities. Just think about it.
UPDATE: Download the free preview now (PDF).
4 Responses to “Math Wizard – Possibly the smartest character build ever”
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Math Wizard
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Math Wizard
You will experience possibly the smartest character build ever in D&D 4th edition. To use the Math Wizard build effectively, you might actually have to understand math principles. Shocking, I know.
About Vincent
I play D&D semi-regularly. I like magic users (thus mostly falling into controller roles). I tell funny adventure stories.
I also write about math and programming and other interesting topics at polymathprogrammer.com. I publish a monthly online magazine Singularity for curious artists and intellectuals.
Honestly, it feels somewhat superficial and conceptually weak.
Complex numbers causing psychic damage? Well, certainly I found it quite hard to understand constructing them from the ring of polynomials by taking equivalence classes of $latex X^2+1$, but damage?
To be slightly more constructive: 4E relies a lot on movement, so try messing with that. Topology is your friend. Have powers that alter the notion of distance and what it means to be near or far. A curse that makes someone count diagonal moves twice when moving. A spell that associates two squares with each other, so that any creature occupying one is also on the other and can move and fight (and be targeted) as if standing in either. A spell such that anyone directly targeting the mathemagician treats the distance as squared.
Or perhaps something to do with symmetries.
Hi Tommi, part of this creation is to entertain people. I think some of the D&D powers are just a little too serious. So my aim is to weave math/science concepts into D&D with a touch of imagination (bordering on outright impossibility, maybe even inanity), together with some fun. And introducing readers and players to some educative material. Hopefully. Possibly.
And I agree with you on the movement. I’m creating powers that mess with the positioning of enemies. You have actually given me quite a few ideas. I like this one in particular:
“A curse that makes someone count diagonal moves twice when moving”
Actually, I like them all. You are obviously a much better D&D player than I am…
Thanks for your comments.
Hello Vincent.
First, my criticism is very much a gut feeling and may or may not generalise to other people. I’d assume it does not, mostly. You asked for opinions in the PDF and my opinion I gave.
I have played maybe four sessions of 4E and grew bored of it; the combats were taking all the time from the interesting material. I do know a bit about mathematics and maybe, maybe, even RPG design.
Hey Tommi, I thank you for your comments. Frankly speaking, I have no idea how people would take to it. I only know there’s no one (at least that I know of) who’s doing something like this.
And I can totally understand what you mean by combats detracting from the interesting stuff. I feel my group concentrates on the combat mechanics too much, to the point where storytelling and roleplaying (what I’m more interested in) becomes less important.
I hope to correct that. I’ll be the DM for our next game (due in *checks clock* about 15 hours). Hopefully, I’ll give them a different game from what they’re playing. If nothing else, they’ll get the chance to be completely wiped out… muahahaha…
Thanks for your comments. They mean much to me, especially since you’re a math person.