Originally Posted by
Segev
For me, the war wizard is a flop because there's nothing inspiring in it. It LACKS ribbons. And its abilities are flavorless. You could have called it "duelist wizard" or "coffee addict wizard" and it would have been more flavorful just by the humorous suggested explanation as to why they get the init boost.
It doesn't DO anything exciting, just mechanically good (at least at level 2), and it certainly doesn't feel "war wizard"-y.
I have some loose brainstorm-y ideas, but you asked for feedback on yours, not someone else's build (even though I wouldn't have even started thinking about this without seeing your thread).
Again, I don't see much flavorful about "war wizard" in a numeric boost to counterspelling, especially since just upcasting the spell is the more likely solution. Risking a 3rd-level spell slot is only going to happen if they are guessing about the target spell's level, or can't afford to match it but still want to at least try. The Abjuror's ability to snap up some spell slot energy is certainly better. And, again, this fix feels more like something that goes on the "duelist wizard" (just like the init boost) than on a "war wizard."
A war wizard should have things that make him more effective as artillary and as mass crowd control or buffing. Things that let him sacrifice precision for size, or which let him extend his support to larger units. Not an evoker, who can drop fireballs on his allies, but an artillarist who can drop fireballs on the left flank of an army. The trick would be to keep him from stepping more on sorcerers' metamagical toes than is absolutely necessary, and keeping him relevant in the focus of the game: small scale battles. A theme of remote-casting might work. Not "500 miles away in a bunker" remote, but "from across the battlefield" remote.