Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Telekinesis Is A Bad Spell, For The Game
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8983438" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>A couple thoughts on establishing "balance points" for assigning a level to telekinesis:</p><p></p><p><strong>Breadth Not Depth: </strong>5e's <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/telekinesis" target="_blank">telekinesis</a> gives more versatility than AD&D – it allows you to move creatures (not the case with AD&D's version) & it gives you fine motor control over things like tools. However, it has a little less versatility than d20 telekinesis.</p><p></p><p>But maybe that versatility could be broken away into other spells/powers, allowing for more "depth/power" to what each telekinetic-themed spell/power does.</p><p></p><p>For example, 5e's catapult is pretty similar to the "violent thrust" option of the d20 version of telekinesis.</p><p></p><p>Actually, regarding the comment about the Telekinetic feat's shove-at-range being weak... the d20 telekinesis spell had one of the options being "combat maneuver" which is almost what Telekinetic gives you (d20 has longer range & allowed you to grapple/disarm, whereas 5e is limited range shove but it's only a bonus action). Maybe a better description than "weak" would be that it's "circumstantial" – in the right environment / context, knocking a creature prone or pushing it off a ledge is awesome.</p><p></p><p><strong>Falling Objects May Persist: </strong>5e's telekinesis persists even if you drop an object on a creature, allowing you to drop multiple objects (or creatures) over its 10 minute duration. In contrast, in the AD&D version if you launched an object at a creature the spell ended (but damage was capped at 1 point/caster level).</p><p>...However, 5e AFAIK has still not codified how much damage a falling object deals, so without an agreed upon norm the exact power level of telekinesis is up for debate.</p><p></p><p><strong>Party Flight. </strong>5e's telekinesis can also be used to allow the whole party to fly on a hovering 1,000 lb object – same duration, same concentration as the fly spell, only it works for the whole party and it requires the caster's action to move at a slower speed. So if you're looking for reducing the level of telekinesis but maintaining this "party flight" aspect, bearing in mind what it does in comparison to 3rd level fly spell is important while balancing.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps a good rule of thumb for balancing telekinetic-themed spells/powers is "the bigger it is, the slower you move it"...which is how the <em>catapult</em> and <em>telekinesis</em> spells are differentiated now.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 8983438, member: 20323"] A couple thoughts on establishing "balance points" for assigning a level to telekinesis: [B]Breadth Not Depth: [/B]5e's [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/telekinesis']telekinesis[/URL] gives more versatility than AD&D – it allows you to move creatures (not the case with AD&D's version) & it gives you fine motor control over things like tools. However, it has a little less versatility than d20 telekinesis. But maybe that versatility could be broken away into other spells/powers, allowing for more "depth/power" to what each telekinetic-themed spell/power does. For example, 5e's catapult is pretty similar to the "violent thrust" option of the d20 version of telekinesis. Actually, regarding the comment about the Telekinetic feat's shove-at-range being weak... the d20 telekinesis spell had one of the options being "combat maneuver" which is almost what Telekinetic gives you (d20 has longer range & allowed you to grapple/disarm, whereas 5e is limited range shove but it's only a bonus action). Maybe a better description than "weak" would be that it's "circumstantial" – in the right environment / context, knocking a creature prone or pushing it off a ledge is awesome. [B]Falling Objects May Persist: [/B]5e's telekinesis persists even if you drop an object on a creature, allowing you to drop multiple objects (or creatures) over its 10 minute duration. In contrast, in the AD&D version if you launched an object at a creature the spell ended (but damage was capped at 1 point/caster level). ...However, 5e AFAIK has still not codified how much damage a falling object deals, so without an agreed upon norm the exact power level of telekinesis is up for debate. [B]Party Flight. [/B]5e's telekinesis can also be used to allow the whole party to fly on a hovering 1,000 lb object – same duration, same concentration as the fly spell, only it works for the whole party and it requires the caster's action to move at a slower speed. So if you're looking for reducing the level of telekinesis but maintaining this "party flight" aspect, bearing in mind what it does in comparison to 3rd level fly spell is important while balancing. Perhaps a good rule of thumb for balancing telekinetic-themed spells/powers is "the bigger it is, the slower you move it"...which is how the [I]catapult[/I] and [I]telekinesis[/I] spells are differentiated now. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Telekinesis Is A Bad Spell, For The Game
Top