[HR: Spells] Golan's Spells

On the other hand, that also means you can’t turn the thief into a toad to sneak into somewhere, or turn yourself into a toad to swim to shore instead of drowning… It does not significantly reduce the spell’s combat utility, but does significantly reduce its out-of-combat utility.

I dunno; it’s stronger than sleep in that it can affect targets of any HD and all targets within a radius, but weaker in that it allows saves and incapacitates for a much shorter duration. Given that a coup de grace requires that you not move prior (and I assume that there’s no cleave on a coup de grace?), 1d4+1 rounds of helplessness yields a substantial chance that some foes will be back in the fight before they can be beheaded.

The combination of damage and short-duration incapacitation with saves also means that this is a somewhat more merciful spell for a DM to deploy against a low-level party than sleep, too…

Exactly. I might put this back to level 2, but keep in mind that this spell has far less out-of-combat utility than Polymorph Other, for the reasons stated by jedavis.

This is a “strong” spell, but it is also limited:

  1. only one target per casting (unlike the much more deadly Sleep).
  2. Target gets to save.
  3. Relatively little out-of-combat use.
  4. It isn’t permanent; if target doesn’t get stomped (coup de grace), in an hour he’ll be back in his human form.

The main reason for this spell is thematic - I want my low-level mage to be able to turn people into toads, as in fairy tales.

Much weaker than Sleep in many respects, in fact:

  1. It allows saves.
  2. Not only that, BUT there is one save for the damage (for half damage), AND a separate save for the incapacitation.
  3. Duration is MUCH shorter.

Damage is also pretty limited - up to 3d6 at caster level 3.

Sure, this isn’t limited by HD, and you have a chance of knocking out powerful creatures (though they typically have good saves), but in the typical level 1 situation of several PCs vs. several goblins, this is weaker than Sleep.

Mind Blast - a low-level incapacitating spell. This is a Blast spell, “nausea inducing” with no damage (10 - actually dazes the targets, but same rules), affects a 10’ diameter sphere (x1.25), range - 0 (centred on caster) (x0.4), duration instantaneous (x1), no saving throw permitted (x1), arcane (x1). Total 5 points. This is a “classical” level 1 spell.

Mind Blast
Arcane 1
Range 0 (centred on caster)
Duration instantaneous

This spell allows its caster to emit a psychic “scream” in all directions around him, dazing friends and foe alike. The caster himself is immune to this effect; but all creatures within a 10’ sphere centred on him must save vs. poison [or petrification? or spells? which is more appropriate?] or be psionically knocked out for 1d4+1 rounds, fully incapacitated during that time.

Corrected version - NO SAVING THROW ALLOWED:

Mind Blast
Arcane 1
Range 0 (centred on caster)
Duration instantaneous

This spell allows its caster to emit a psychic “scream” in all directions around him, dazing friends and foe alike. The caster himself is immune to this effect; but all creatures within a 10’ sphere centred on him are psionically knocked out for 1d4+1 rounds, fully incapacitated during that time; no saving throw is allowed to avoid this effect.

Psychic Assault - a targeted damage spell. This is a Death spell, 1d6 damage per level (33), no maximum damage (x1.5), targets 1 creature (x1), range 30’ (x0.6), duration instantaneous (x1), no saving throw (x1), arcane (x1). Total 29.7 points - this is a level 3 spell.

Psychic Assault
Arcane 3
Range 30’
Duration instantaneous

The caster concentrates at a single target within 30’ range and lashes out at him with his mind, slashing and burning at the victim’s psyche and scarring his brain tissue. The spell does not allow for a saving throw and causes 1d6 damage per caster level, with no upper limit to the number of dice rolled (so a level 14 caster will cause 14d6 damage).

There are a few problems with that: First is that it both damages, and incapacitates. There may be two separate saves for these effects, but saves of most low-level creatures are quite poor (~60% chance of failing both for many creatures). Plus, even if they make the Save vs. Spells (most creatures’ worst save), they still take damage. Second, the damage is phenomenal. Other d6/level multi-target damage spells are not gained until 5th level (i.e. 3rd level spells). It may not scale to upper levels, but it only uses a 1st level spell slot. Third, incapacitation for 2 rounds at this spell’s range can easily allow the party to coup de grace as many enemies as there are party members. Not quite as powerful as Sleep, but then Sleep doesn’t do any damage. On area effect damage alone I would choose this over anything but Sleep. Lastly, if you’re comparing your new spells to Sleep, you’re doing it wrong. Sleep is utterly broken, and exists in its current form for legacy reasons (not that I don’t love it). Compare your offensive 1st level spells to Magic Missile. I have immense difficulty imagining taking Magic Missile over Blob of Goo if given the choice.

It seems like part of the problem here is the level-limited-damage multiplier on spell cost.

At 5th level, it makes sense to consider a spell that does 5d6 instead of one that topped out at 3d6. But at first level, it makes no difference at all.

Contrastingly, Magic Missile comes across as (quoted from the PC):

» Magic Missile: 1d6+1 damage per level capped at 1d
(33x0.1=3.3), target 1 creature +2 per additional 5
levels (x3), range 150’ (x1), duration instantaneous
(x1), no saving throw (x1), arcane (x1), total cost 10

… which is also highly dependent on the capping multiplier.

I think this one is also busted. The modifiers for “gaining” the new form’s mental abilities, and being “limited” to a single form don’t make a lot of sense (how are they limiting what this spell was intended to do?) in this case. Once again I think it’s a mistake to compare this to Sleep as a baseline. A better comparison might be Command, and I’d rate this as strictly better, even just based on duration. Lack of out-of-combat utility isn’t much of a limitation (not to say that it’s no limitation) for what is essentially an offensive spell. Personally, I’d rather see less combat effectiveness and more utility. For this particular spell I’d just say it really needs to be higher level.

By the way, I really like the ideas you’re coming up with (and looking forward to BCKS)! I’m just trying to look at these with a critical eye.

Yeah, it’s the nature of the system. Full points to Alex for the reverse engineering work that went into what I consider a brilliant tool. But, like any tool, you have to use it properly. It’s not some kind of bullet-proof, uber-balanced, point-buy system for creating new spells - it’s a framework for getting you in the ballpark.

Man! I’m starting to feel like a Negative Nelly…okay, too strong. Look at the nearest equivalent, Dimension Door: the main difference is the ability to target others, and it’s a 4th level spell. I think the problem is in the “only creatures can be targeted” modifier when you’re already limiting it to “self” (and I’d expect similar problems with any mutually exclusive constraints). I’d say this rates (weak) 3rd level.

Sorry for this…overpowered. It’s probably okay under a lot of circumstances (perhaps even weak) at low level, but no save, for anyone, ever? I’ll just wait until the ancient dragon attacks me, and, if I win initiative, we coup de grace and take its hoard. Basically there needs to be either a save, a limit to who it can effect, or a shorter duration.

You have a point here - I will give it back its save.

OK, level 3 it is.

Another option is to make it level 2, BUT give it the possibility of errors. This way it won’t be an accurate way to jump between points, but more of an escape hatch for Mages… Maybe even make it random (i.e. you roll 1d6 to determine direction, then 5d6x10 to determine range in feet).

This one actually concerns me, based in part on a post I wrote some time ago on ( http://wanderinggamist.blogspot.com/2013/02/of-reliability-and-house-rules.html ). This is the epitome of reliable damage. This will win wizard-duels between mages of similar level outright, in one shot, as long as the range is short and the dice roll at or just below expectation. I have very little doubt that my players would prioritize this up near fireball; same damage potential to high-value targets, but no save and no backblast in close quarters, and most dungeon or urban engagements take place within its range anyway.

I kinda like this one - it’s a good escape spell for a selfish wizard when the front line is down or if you’re isolated, but its use in more standard dungeon-formation fighting is pretty limited.

And even those uncapped d6/level 3rd level spells have the downside of easy friendly fire, with expand-to-volume and bounce-off-surfaces. I suppose a better spell than sleep for comparison would be Burning Hands, which is weaker both in die type (d4 vs d6) and area/range type (cone, which means you need a gap in the front line to fire through, vs burst).

Agreed. My players are already way too crazy without being able to snipe down whoever they want.