Herein I describe details of my ongoing campaigns, discuss the D&D game, and talk about other issues in gaming that I find relevant. I am not very fond of 4th edition, having played it once and found it too WoWish. Consequently most of my articles will reference 3.5 and previous editions.
This Spells Trouble, Part III
Posted 14th November 2008 at 06:39 AM by airwalkrr
Updated 1st December 2008 at 10:11 PM by airwalkrr
Updated 1st December 2008 at 10:11 PM by airwalkrr
I just got out of the hospital, so this will be a short installment. However, I will make it up to you by providing you an additional installment next week, free of charge!
Last time we broached the topic of spells, we discussed powering down a few spells. Next I'd like to turn to a couple spells that could use some powering up.
Entropic shield is my first example. This little-used spell is often neglected because it just doesn't do much. It is like blur, but only for ranged attacks. A 1 in 5 chance of missing a character against ranged attacks only isn't going to do them much good unless they are fighting arrow demons, and at that point, why not just cast blur? Let's bump this up to a 50% miss chance for ranged weapons and let it see a bit more action.
Gaseous form is often touted as the ultimate getaway spell. Maybe in a dungeon tightly packed with nothing but doors, but certainly not most places. Moving at a speed of 10 (and a fly speed no less, meaning no running) means even a heavily armed cleric can follow you wherever you go and beat down any door in his way before you get too far. Sure it has it's uses for surprising enemies and sneaking around, but those are often ancillary thoughts when it comes to this classic. Players want to vanish into a puff of smoke when they cast this spell. This is not to mention the indignant ease with which PCs can follow a vampire back to its coffin. I say give the gaseous form a fly speed equal to its base land speed and now things are a bit more interesting.
Well, that's all I have time for today. Next week, This Spells Trouble, Part IV.
Last time we broached the topic of spells, we discussed powering down a few spells. Next I'd like to turn to a couple spells that could use some powering up.
Entropic shield is my first example. This little-used spell is often neglected because it just doesn't do much. It is like blur, but only for ranged attacks. A 1 in 5 chance of missing a character against ranged attacks only isn't going to do them much good unless they are fighting arrow demons, and at that point, why not just cast blur? Let's bump this up to a 50% miss chance for ranged weapons and let it see a bit more action.
Gaseous form is often touted as the ultimate getaway spell. Maybe in a dungeon tightly packed with nothing but doors, but certainly not most places. Moving at a speed of 10 (and a fly speed no less, meaning no running) means even a heavily armed cleric can follow you wherever you go and beat down any door in his way before you get too far. Sure it has it's uses for surprising enemies and sneaking around, but those are often ancillary thoughts when it comes to this classic. Players want to vanish into a puff of smoke when they cast this spell. This is not to mention the indignant ease with which PCs can follow a vampire back to its coffin. I say give the gaseous form a fly speed equal to its base land speed and now things are a bit more interesting.
Well, that's all I have time for today. Next week, This Spells Trouble, Part IV.
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