D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Please PEACH my spell (series).

[Kanosint]

Hello,

This is a spell for my character. Eventually, my plan is to expand it to full level spell series (no, I know it's an unoptimized plan, but it's her signature spell)

I planned to make this a versatile, reliable spell slightly less powerful than the Orb spells, but still quite potent for Blasting.

Freudia’s Stakes of Joy I
Conjuration/Evocation [Cold]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5ft/2 levels)
Effect: 1 Ice Stake/level (max. 10)
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Special [see Text]
Spell Resistance: No

As you stretch out your arm, palm towards the target, dagger-sized shards of ice materialise out of thin air, leaving trails of vapour in their wake as they streak out from your hand.

Icicles dart forth from the palm of your hand. Each icicle deals 1d4 Piercing damage, and 1 Cold damage. This spell can be used in multiple ways, as described below. For the purpose of this spell, your BAB is equal to ¾ your CL using your primary casting ability as a bonus. At higher levels, it allows multiple attack actions, as with regular BAB.

Single Shot: When casting this spell you may make a full attack with the stakes. This requires a regular Ranged Attack.
Volley: Instead of a single stake, you may choose to fire a volley instead. You can mix volleys with single shots if you have enough attacks for it. Every volley expends 3 or more of the created stakes, and can thus only be performed if at least 3 stakes remain. A volley requires a ranged attack roll, receiving a +1 bonus on the attack roll for every stake above 1 (so a regular 3-stake volley gets a +2 bonus). Hitting deals regular damage. Every 3 points by which you exceed the opponent’s AC results in an extra hit with a stake. On a critical, only the first stake deals double damage.
Area: This takes up the full attack. It takes at least 5 icicles. Choose the area you wish to affect. It has to be a sphere with a radius of at least 5 feet, but there is no maximum other than a practical one. You need line of effect. Make a single ranged attack roll. Everyone inside the area of effect must make a Reflex Save (DC 10 + Spell Level + Casting Modifier, +(Attack Roll/5, rounded down), -5 for every 5 foot increase of the radius of the area, +1 for every icicle above 5.). On a success, they take no damage. Failure means they take damage. By every 3 points by which they fail, they receive one additional hit.

You can save any amount of icicles for up to 1 round + 1 rnd./5 levels, rounded down. After that time, all remaining icicles are lost.


Feedback is very welcome :3

Kind regards,

Kano.

 

[Celebrim]

Hmmm....

The maximum theoretical damage is 10d4+10, more than double magic missile, albiet in practice it will probably do less damage.
It has three modes of operation allowing it to be optimized as needed.
One of those modes of operation is a ranged area attack.

Mainly, I feel that this spell is too complicated. The calculation for spell DC of the area attack is so convuluted - requiring you to first compute a custom attack roll and then use that to compute a custom DC that depends on not one but two variables and involves division - that its unintentionally funny. And then, you have to compare the saving throw vs. the outcome and do subtraction to figure out what happened, and only then can you throw some other amount of dice for damage. It's just too much.

The first weakness of this spell is that you never actually realize the maximum damage (10d4+10). Realistically, you are going to do alot less damage. Exactly how much less on average I'm not sure, because doing the math to figure that out simply isn't worth it! The main weakness of this spell though is against creatures with DR and/or energy resistance. It's sorta balanced, although it feels to me like its too much wish fulfillment and too little trade off.

I'd like to see this spell rewritten in a way that is vastly simplified and requires much less calculation. I'd like to see this spell written in a way that it is simple enough that it doesn't require a flipping pages in a book whenever you want to cast it.

Some suggestions:

1) When used as an area attack, make the area of effect constant (20' diameter circle maybe), use a standard reflex save to avoid, and do constant damage (1d6 + 1 damage/per 2 remaining stakes) keeping the minimum 5 stakes to use it this way.
2) Elimenate the custom BAB, and just say that this is standard ranged melee attack with some constant like +2 bonus to hit.
3) Change the damage to 1d6+1 to compensate for the reduced number of attacks per round. I think this is reasonable given the weakness of this spell compared to autohitting force damage volleys.
4) Change the volley power to give you a +1 to hit and +1 to damage on the attack for each additional stake you put into an attack. Critical hit multiplies all damage.
5) Elimenate the spell expiration so that you only have to track stakes remaining, not both stakes remaining and rounds remaining. Make this a standard held spell that you can hold indefinately until you run out of stakes or cast another spell.

These changes make the spell far more abstract in its operation - there isn't a direct correlation between what you do and how the spell behaves cinematically - but in practice its probably doing about the same damage with far less calculation and delay to the game.

 

[Kanosint]

I calculated the average damage in each of the three modes currently at level 10.

Single shot will hit 8 times out of 10, on average, and thus, over 4 rounds it will deal 2 hits a round.

Volley will hit slightly less, 6 to 7 times out of 10, but it deals it in 1 round, making it better for 'kill the guy before he kills Joe the Fighter!' situations. It's also more accurate, making it something of a reversed Power Attack.

Area attack will hit with about 1 to 2 times out of 10 projectiles (per target) on a 10' area, it's an effective mode for smaller foes, and it can effectively deal small damage over a large area.

I agree with Celebrim, and, in fact, I'm quite glad to see that real thought was put in these points. I'll reply to 'em here.

1) I like it. It's simple, and I'll likely use this. It doesn't lose too much flavour, and it's still affected by the amount of stakes.

2) I dislike this point, though, albeit I thought about it. It was for one simple reason: projectiles per round without being too arbitrary. Cloud of Knives did something similar, I fell in love with that spell ;3

3) See above. Thought about it, but eventually decided against it.

4) Love it. I'd say +2 damage, though that might be too strong? Not sure. Still, it's quite a good 'fix' :3

5) I thought that'd be too OP, but... Yes, if it's not obviously exploitable, I'd happily change it.

3/5, lovely advice, all in all.

Kind regards,

Kano.

 

[Kanosint]

Hi there,

I cleaned up my spell a little. I hope it's usable like this? All feedback is welcome.

Freudia’s Stakes of Joy I
Conjuration/Evocation [Cold]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5ft/2 levels)
Effect: 1 Ice Stake/level (max. 10)
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Special [see Text]
Spell Resistance: No

As you stretch out your arm, palm towards the target, dagger-sized shards of ice materialise out of thin air, leaving trails of vapour in their wake as they streak out from your hand.

Icicles dart forth from the palm of your hand. Each icicle deals 1d4 Piercing damage, and 1 Cold damage. This spell can be used in multiple ways, as described below. For the purpose of this spell, your BAB is equal to ¾ your CL using your primary casting ability as a bonus. At higher levels, it allows multiple attack actions, as with regular BAB.

Single Shot: When casting this spell you may make a full attack with the stakes. This requires a regular Ranged Attack.
Volley: Instead of a single stake, you may choose to fire a volley instead. You can mix volleys with single shots if you have enough attacks for it. Every volley expends 2 or more of the created stakes, and can thus only be performed if at least 3 stakes remain. A volley requires a ranged attack roll, receiving a +1 bonus on the attack roll and a +2 bonus on damage for every stake above 1. On a critical, the extra damage is also multiplied.
Area: This takes up the full attack. It takes at least 4 icicles. It affects a 10’ radius. You need line of effect. Everyone inside the area of effect must make a Reflex Save (DC 10 + Spell Level + Casting Modifier, +1 for every 2 icicles). On a success, they take no damage. Failure means they take damage. By every 3 points by which they fail, they receive one additional hit.

You can save any amount of icicles for later use.

Kind regards,

Kano.