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T&B: Is Energy Substitution (Sonic) unbalanced?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord Pendragon" data-source="post: 10220" data-attributes="member: 707"><p>First, the nit-pick: <em>Shout</em> is 4th-level, but <em>Cone of Cold</em> is 5th-level. So one big reason it's better, energy-substitution or no energy-substitution, is because it's a level higher than its competition.</p><p></p><p>But regarding your point, I had this same difficulty in a thread a while back discussing energy weapons. The DMG lists Frost, Shocking, and Flame weapons, but Sonic and Acid weapons are conspicuously absent. (Yes, I know they're in Faerun, but I don't exactly quote the FRCS when discussing balance. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" />)</p><p></p><p>My argument: Sonic weapons (or here, spells,) are more powerful, because they face few or no resistances.</p><p></p><p>The counter-argument: Though this is true, it is balanced by the fact that, along with resistant creatures, cold, fire, and electricity energy types benefit from creatures that are <em>particularly vulnerable</em> to them, while there are few (if any) creatures especially vulnerable to sonic damage. Also, you must consider certain regenerating creatures, which aren't affected by sonic energy at all, but only fire and acid. When all this is taken into account, they're relatively equal.</p><p></p><p>So by the counter-argument, substituting the <em>Shout</em> spell into a <em>Wave of Cold</em> should be on average just as useful as substituting the <em>Cone of Cold</em> into a <em>Cone of Cacaphony</em>, because there will be times when cold is preferable to sonic.</p><p></p><p>Whether you agree with the reasoning is up to you, of course.</p><p></p><p>Btw, there are sounds that cannot be heard. My layman's brain is telling me, in fact, that most sounds that cause severe damage are outside of the range of human hearing. While this may or may not be true, I wouldn't say the <em>Cone of Cacaphony</em> must necessarily alert the entire dungeon to the party's presence...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord Pendragon, post: 10220, member: 707"] First, the nit-pick: [i]Shout[/i] is 4th-level, but [i]Cone of Cold[/i] is 5th-level. So one big reason it's better, energy-substitution or no energy-substitution, is because it's a level higher than its competition. But regarding your point, I had this same difficulty in a thread a while back discussing energy weapons. The DMG lists Frost, Shocking, and Flame weapons, but Sonic and Acid weapons are conspicuously absent. (Yes, I know they're in Faerun, but I don't exactly quote the FRCS when discussing balance. :p) My argument: Sonic weapons (or here, spells,) are more powerful, because they face few or no resistances. The counter-argument: Though this is true, it is balanced by the fact that, along with resistant creatures, cold, fire, and electricity energy types benefit from creatures that are [i]particularly vulnerable[/i] to them, while there are few (if any) creatures especially vulnerable to sonic damage. Also, you must consider certain regenerating creatures, which aren't affected by sonic energy at all, but only fire and acid. When all this is taken into account, they're relatively equal. So by the counter-argument, substituting the [i]Shout[/i] spell into a [i]Wave of Cold[/i] should be on average just as useful as substituting the [i]Cone of Cold[/i] into a [i]Cone of Cacaphony[/i], because there will be times when cold is preferable to sonic. Whether you agree with the reasoning is up to you, of course. Btw, there are sounds that cannot be heard. My layman's brain is telling me, in fact, that most sounds that cause severe damage are outside of the range of human hearing. While this may or may not be true, I wouldn't say the [i]Cone of Cacaphony[/i] must necessarily alert the entire dungeon to the party's presence... [/QUOTE]
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T&B: Is Energy Substitution (Sonic) unbalanced?
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