Rebuilding Evocation

I'm working on a homebrew world where the main school of arcane magic accessible to the PCs is evocation (and the main arcane spellcasting class is the warmage), so I wanted to think of ways to make evocation magic distinctive compared to the other schools (especially conjuration). So, I thought of the following as the basic "laws" of evocation:

1. Evocation magic manipulates and magically enhances energy and force.

2. Evocation spells should be the most effective when it comes to dealing hit point damage to multiple targets.

3. Evocation spells that deal energy damage cannot be entirely negated by energy resistance and immunity alone. Half the damage dealt by such a spell is from a "magical" version of the energy type that energy resistance and immunity do not protect against (unless the spell is successfully resisted).

4. All evocation spells are subject to spell resistance, which can reduce their effectiveness, but may not necessarily negate them. Evocation spells that deal energy damage which are successfully resisted deal normal energy damage (instead of half normal and half "magical" energy), and are now entirely subject to energy resistance and immunity.

5. The net effect of 3 and 4 is that a creature needs both spell resistance and energy resistance or immunity to completely negate the effect of an evocation spell that deals energy damage.

Any comments on these "laws"? Any other "laws" that you can think of?

3) and 4) seem to imply that now Evocation is a subschool of Conjuration (or they are at least cousins)

Maybe have specialities in the different energy types. Some casters learn all about fire, but not as much about electricity, etc. Good for flavor and for identifying adversaries.

Dave

Warmages already get a bunch of boosts which some people think balance out Evocation as a direct damage school. I haven't done the math myself, but if you allow them, and some feats which allow specific energy types to penetrate specific energy resistances, then you may not need to boost Evocation as a whole.

What specific parts of the rules are you addressing? The high-level impotence of direct damage?

Cheers, -- N

What specific parts of the rules are you addressing? The high-level impotence of direct damage?

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You are apeaking about attacking beings with SR, I hope... Scorching Ray can be lethal at even not-so high levels (Energy Admixtured Scorching Ray, 6th level spell dealing 8/16/24 dice of damage... death of one of my favorite chars... Also, Maximized Scorching Ray, 6th level spell 24/48/72 fire damage)

Land Outcast said:

You are apeaking about attacking beings with SR, I hope... Scorching Ray can be lethal at even not-so high levels (Energy Admixtured Scorching Ray, 6th level spell dealing 8/16/24 dice of damage... death of one of my favorite chars... Also, Maximized Scorching Ray, 6th level spell 24/48/72 fire damage)

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SR and energy resistance, yes. Three rays vs. fire resistance 10 are less impressive (42 damage instead of 72), and that's fairly common. Energy immunity is different, since those foes are frequently vulnerable to another energy type.

-- N

4 is broken with Magic Missile and would be moreso if not for the Shield spell (and 4 is broken to a lesser extent with any force or otherwise not-energy-resistable spell). It also basically renders SR near-as-well useless, since the Warmage has all the different energy types, so she can just use the one that you don't resist. The only critters that could get any use out of having SR are ones that are also immune (or highly resistant) to all energy types.

The others are powerful, but interesting--4 is, in my opinion, a terrible idea. (Note that the Orb spells not allowing SR are also, in my opinion, a horrible idea, but at least they mostly have a very short range)

Rystil Arden said:

The others are powerful, but interesting--4 is, in my opinion, a terrible idea. (Note that the Orb spells not allowing SR are also, in my opinion, a horrible idea, but at least they mostly have a very short range)

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Yes. I ignore the Conjuration Orb spells entirely. I've added some more acid arrow-style spells instead (no SR, acid damage, ranged touch, Conjuration, and less overall damage than the Evocation spell of the same level).

-- N

Nifft said:

What specific parts of the rules are you addressing? The high-level impotence of direct damage?

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Essentially, I want to make evocation distinct from conjuration, and better than conjuration when it comes to direct damage.

Rystil Arden said:

4 is broken with Magic Missile and would be moreso if not for the Shield spell (and 4 is broken to a lesser extent with any force or otherwise not-energy-resistable spell).

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Magic missile does not deal energy damage, so it would be completely negated by spell resistance.

Nifft said:

Yes. I ignore the Conjuration Orb spells entirely. I've added some more acid arrow-style spells instead (no SR, acid damage, ranged touch, Conjuration, and less overall damage than the Evocation spell of the same level).

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One other possibility is to shift the Orb spells to evocation, and allow spell resistance to completely negate magical energy damage. Hence, a creature with energy resistance/immunity but no spell resistance would still take damage from magical energy, a creature with spell resistance but no energy resistance/immunity would still take damage from the non-magical energy, and a creature with both could potentially be unharmed.

IMC, I boost high-level Evocations differently -- I give them bigger dice.

Cone of Cold: d8
Chain Lightning: d8
Delay Blast Fireball: d8
Greater Shout: d8
Polar Ray: d10
Meteor Swarm: d10

So, they're still being ignored by things that ignore them, but things that resist them are taking more damage, and things that don't resist are being killed faster.

Seeing a crit from a d10 power ray will be fun.

Cheers, -- N