Is Wraithstrike the wrong level?

[Mort]

I'd say it's way, way too low. Low enough to fit into a Wand of Wraithstrike.

Actually, this wouldn't do much - activating a wand is a standard action, and since it's a self only spell, you would get no attacks that turn. The only possible benefit would be for AoO's you get before your next turn.

 

[Vanye]

The problem I have with Wraithstrike is that it doesn't just give a bonus to hit, it completely negates certain types of AC. Sometimes it nets +5 to hit, but it can also net a +500 to hit. I thought we learned that open-endedness like this was bad from 3.0 Harm, but apparently WotC forgot about that somewhere along the line.

brilliant energy weapons still exist....and they are a more permanent form of the wraithstrike spell in many ways. Not quite as effective, since they can't affect non-living things, but very similar.

 

[Boondoggle]

Ahh, but brilliant energy does not ignore natural armor, and has a cost magnitudes more than a 2nd level spell.

I think as a 3rd level spell that affected only the next attack, it would be balanced.

 

[Slaved]

Brilliant energy is also very overcosted for any game I have ever been in.

If it only worked on the next attack on the same round it was cast it could be brought down to first level I think. It is melee only right? If so then you are most likely looking at needing to cast it defensively and then you get a bonus ranging from +0 up to something potentially pretty high against specific foes. By comparison true strike always gives a +20, ignores certain modifiers, works on a greater range of attacks (ranged attacks, can be put into wands, and so forth), but takes more time to cast.

That does not seem terribly out of line to me. 1st level, swift action, only next attack this round, melee attack only, makes it a touch attack.

I would even like it as an offensive spell that someone would cast on a creature so that the next attack on them was a touch attack, so long as it happened within a very short time frame. Possibly even with no save or SR but close range. Later on have cone effects and longer durations. I like it, I may have to suggest something to the dm about it.

 

[Thurbane]

Wraithstrike meets advanced Will-o-wisp swarm...

 

[IanB]

Wraithstrike may be better than brilliant energy during its duration, but it should still probably be lower level than that spell that makes a weapon brilliant energy for 1 rd/level, which is something like 6th or 7th level I think. (No books handy. It was in... Complete Mage? Maybe?)

That still leaves a lot of room for upping the level, of course.

Another possibility is that perhaps it should be removed from the Sor/Wiz list and left only on prestige class lists. It can't be 5th level for an assassin anyway.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

If you use class defense, then Wraithstrike is no longer the mad power ninja spell that it is in a standard no-variant game. Everyone's touch AC (or pretty much everyone's) is going to be higher, so getting to swing at their touch AC isn't going to be broken.
Class Defense variant + Wraithstrike at 2nd level looks balanced on paper.

 

[molonel]

We took Wraithstrike out of our game because it was simply too good not to cast. Why cast a spell that gives you a bonus to-hit when you can cast a spell that bypasses armor, shields, enhancements on armor, enhancements on shields, natural armor and just about everything except for dex bonuses, deflection and insight bonuses?

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

A. Not true. Even a core rules only fighter with Combat Expertise and a Tower Shield can get an AC that CR 20 dragons need to roll decently in order to hit. A character who uses non-core options to optimize AC can make the dragon actually unlikely to hit at all--and without reaching the heights of Pun Pun ridiculousness.

B. Even against a normal AC, the dragon will only hit reliably if it not Power Attacking

You PC will almost never have an AC that the dragon can't hit with reasonable certainty. It might make a difference of 2 attacks at most that didn't hit.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Wraithstrike is absolutely heinous, especially when combined with pretty common fighter/mage tactics. Wraithstrike, meet contingent improved blink (or contingent blink at lower levels or just straight-up blink at mid levels). Whatever you're facing, unless it has Uncanny Dodge, or See Invisibility/True Seeing (and your DM rules that it helps against blinking foes--blindfight doesn't), its AC=10+deflection mod+/-size mod. At level 15, that's a Cornugon dead in one round with attacks left over. At level 16, that's an angel of decay dead in one round with attacks left over. (By the time the character hit level 17, the campaign had banned the spell).

Full disclosure means that I probably should mention that I also arcane striked a top level spell, Power Attacked for full, and had a wounding weapon (which made a difference against the Cornugon, though I didn't try to argue that touch attacks bypass DR so maybe it canceled out).

Putting it and arcane strike on an otherwise core rules only NPC with meager equipment, meant that, every round, he took an fully prepped and healed PC from full hit points to nearly dead with unlucky rolls and from full to dead with average ones.

Now for the real question--is a spell that is that good for the people who actually use it (you know, fighter/mages with power attack, Arcane Strike, and good weapons and defensive spells) appropriate at any level? I think not.