Sleep II through Sleep IX: Feedback, please!

I’ve been thinking about slavery recently – specifically, slavery in the Underdark. And it occurs to me that the best way to capture slaves is to make them fall asleep . . . no bruises! Until you want them to have bruises . Thus, it makes sense that slavers would have developed Sleep spells beyond 1st level.

Below is my first crack at developing such spells – ranging from 2nd level (Sleep II) to 9th level (Sleep IX). The “heavier sleep” effect would *generally* not be available to the PCs, but it’s in there for flavor.

Let me know what you think! Are any overpowered? Underpowered? How would you change them?

Sleep II
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell affects 2d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
2) The spell affects creatures of up to 5HD, not 4HD.
3) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell; the first time the creature is about to be woken by slapping, shaking, or wounding, it must make another saving throw versus the spell (at +1 for each hp of damage done, if wounding was involved); if the save is unsuccessful, the victim does not wake up. The second time, however, the waking attempt is automatically successful.

This last effect requires that a “power component” be used -- a scattering of special rose petals, taken from a flower the elves call Corellon’s Dreamcatcher. If mundane material components are used (rose petals or a pinch of sand), the sleep is no heavier than that caused by the 1st level spell.

Sleep III
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell affects 3d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
2) The spell affects creatures of up to 6HD, not 4HD.
3) The spell affects a 20’ spread, rather than a 15’ burst
4) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell . .


Sleep IV
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell automatically puts creatures of 1HD and lower to sleep (no save). These creatures do not count against the HD limit of the spell.
2) The spell affects 4d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
3) The spell affects creatures of up to 8HD, not 4HD.
4) The spell affects a 30’ spread, rather than a 15’ burst
5) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell . .


Sleep V
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell automatically puts creatures of 2HD and lower to sleep (no save). These creatures do not count against the HD limit of the spell.
2) The spell affects 5d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
3) The spell affects creatures of up to 10HD, not 4HD.
4) The spell affects a 30’ spread, rather than a 15’ burst
5) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell . . .


Sleep VI
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell automatically puts creatures of 3HD and lower to sleep (no save). These creatures do not count against the HD limit of the spell.
2) The spell affects 6d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
3) The spell affects creatures of up to 12HD, not 4HD.
4) The spell affects a 40’ spread, rather than a 15’ burst
5) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell . . .


Sleep VII
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell automatically puts creatures of 4HD and lower to sleep (no save). These creatures do not count against the HD limit of the spell.
2) The spell affects 7d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
3) The spell affects creatures of up to 14HD, not 4HD.
4) The spell affects a 50’ spread, rather than a 15’ burst
5) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell . . .


Sleep VIII
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell automatically puts creatures of 6HD and lower to sleep (no save). These creatures do not count against the HD limit of the spell.
2) The spell affects 8d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
3) The spell affects creatures of up to 16HD, not 4HD.
4) The spell affects a 60’ spread, rather than a 15’ burst
5) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell . . .


Sleep IX
As the 1st level arcane spell Sleep, with the following exceptions:
1) The spell automatically puts creatures of 8HD and lower to sleep (no save). These creatures do not count against the HD limit of the spell.
2) The spell affects 10d6HD of creatures, not 2d4.
3) The spell affects creatures of up to 18HD, not 4HD.
4) The spell affects a 60’ spread, rather than a 15’ burst
5) Victims are put into a heavier sleep than that caused by the 1st level spell . . .

First off, I like the idea.

However, shouldn't there be an easier way then creting new spells? Perhaps this is just a limit of the system, but more then anything else I'm getting a little tired of all these spells that do the same thing at a little extra power. Nothing against Forrester or his idea. As I said I like it and I really think it fits. We can sort of enhance spells through meta magic, and I think WotC is doing good with it, I just think they need to go farther.

Sorry for diverting your thread, Forrester. I like the spells and the Heavier Sleep part is perfect. My only concern is the power of the spells. Potentially, it could be over real fast for the victims of this spell. Few spells that I know of will incapicate a group this fast. I wish I had a a book handy I'd compare this to Power Word Stun. That's the only other spell off the top of my head that can do this sort of thing that fast. Granted, that requires no save.

I think the maximum hit dice affected increases too rapidly. How about:

level 1: 4 hd
level 2: 5 hd
level 3-4: 6 hd
level 5-6: 7 hd
level 7-8: 8 hd
level 9: 9 hd

The increase in radius and in total hit dice affected should compensate for the lower rate of increase in hit dice affected.

I think a scalable version of the sleep spell is a very good idea. It makes sense to me to have a wizard learn one spell (sleep) and have it get more powerful as he gets more powerful. I as a wizard would not want to take the time and resources it would require to scribe 9 different sleep spells into my spell book.

I think I would simply let sleep affect 2d4+1d4 creatures per level of caster to a maximum of 20d4, or if you with 15d4 to keep it on par with your version.

I don't think I would give the spell a free affect against creatures of low HD without a save, that is a double bonus. You could include the effect that they fall asleep no save, but they count as twice the HD when determining how many you can affect.

I would allow it to affect up to 4HD creatures plus +1 HD per every caster level to a max of 20 HD.

I don't know how I would affect the radius

As to the heavier sleep, I like the idea, and I think that it should be kept, perhaps you could make it that characters of 2 HD +1 HD/4 levels are affected by this heavier sleep. Creatures of higher HD are affected as per normal sleep.


Just my thoughts, but I think a powerful sleep spell is a great idea.

Cheiromancer said:

I think the maximum hit dice affected increases too rapidly. How about:

level 1: 4 hd
level 2: 5 hd
level 3-4: 6 hd
level 5-6: 7 hd
level 7-8: 8 hd
level 9: 9 hd

The increase in radius and in total hit dice affected should compensate for the lower rate of increase in hit dice affected.

Click to expand...

I think you should change the orginals spell to the quoted above. I also don't think you need all 9 versions.

I would suggest a 3rd level spell that effects 4d6HD and up to 6 hd creatures.

ANd a 5th level spell that effect 6d6 and maybe 7 hd. That one could include the no save to 1hd, too.

Forrester said:

Thus, it makes sense that slavers would have developed Sleep spells beyond 1st level.

Click to expand...

Does it really make sense that slavers would make a habit of trying to enslave "legendary" characters (ie those beyond 10th level)?

Re: Re: Sleep II through Sleep IX: Feedback, please!

hong said:

Does it really make sense that slavers would make a habit of trying to enslave "legendary" characters (ie those beyond 10th level)?

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Way ahead of you. Okay, slightly ahead of you -- I'm working on a couple scaleable Sleep spells (one at 3rd or 4th level, one at 6th or 7th) that have lower maxes, as the main purpose of the spells *is* supposed to be to capture slave-material. I'll post them by this weekend.

However, keep in mind that slave material can include ogres, trolls, and perhaps even giants. I wasn't thinking about characters so much -- though I wouldn't call 10th level PCs "legendary".

And that they want to get EVERYONE with this spell, even the leaders -- because if the leaders don't fall asleep, and then manage to wake up their people in the next few rounds, all is for naught.

Greater Sleep

What does everyone think of this spell?

Greater Sleep

Enchantment (Compulsion)
[Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. 10 ft./level)
Area: Several living creatures within a 30-ft.-radius burst
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

As sleep, but roll 1d4 per caster level to determine how many total HD of creatures may be affected. No creature is affected whose HD is 4 or more higher than the caster's level. So a 10th level wizard can affect creatures of up to 13 HD.

Re: Greater Sleep

Dr. Zoom said:

What does everyone think of this spell?

Greater Sleep

Enchantment (Compulsion)
[Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. 10 ft./level)
Area: Several living creatures within a 30-ft.-radius burst
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

As sleep, but roll 1d4 per caster level to determine how many total HD of creatures may be affected. No creature is affected whose HD is 4 or more higher than the caster's level. So a 10th level wizard can affect creatures of up to 13 HD.

Click to expand...

I like it, but I think the max HD should max out. So, it's be no more then 4 higher then the caster or 20HD can not be effective, whichever is lower.

Re: Greater Sleep

Dr. Zoom said:

What does everyone think of this spell?

Greater Sleep

Enchantment (Compulsion)
[Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. 10 ft./level)
Area: Several living creatures within a 30-ft.-radius burst
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

As sleep, but roll 1d4 per caster level to determine how many total HD of creatures may be affected. No creature is affected whose HD is 4 or more higher than the caster's level. So a 10th level wizard can affect creatures of up to 13 HD.

Click to expand...

I think that this is fine as written actually. Compare and contrast with the cleric spell (5th level) Greater Command.
Incidentally, slower scaling wouldn't work. By the time you are throwing 9th level spells, what is the probability of you encounter a 9HD creature? Very very low.