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*Dungeons & Dragons
Alternative 4th Edition: Spell Durations
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<blockquote data-quote="loseth" data-source="post: 4146330" data-attributes="member: 54535"><p>[Multi-forum post: RPG.net and ENWorld]</p><p></p><p>Rewind. It's 2004 and Wizards decide they are going to do a 4e. After a big, super-secret board meeting, they decide that they are going to aim at making 4e 95% or more compatible with 3.5e. In essence, 4e will be a revised, streamlined 3.5e. They've hired you as a freelancer to deal with spell durations. You have to make changes to any spell descriptions necessary in order to re-work them with a focus on simplifying the tracking of durations during combat. Here are the rules WOTC gives you:</p><p></p><p>1) Whatever changes you make MUST not invalidate existing 3.5e stat-blocks or chagne the effects of spells in such a way that they would confuse an experienced 3.5e DM. </p><p></p><p>2) The only spell durations you are allowed to use are:</p><p></p><p> i) instantaneous</p><p> ii) until caster's next turn </p><p> iii) encounter</p><p> iv) 1 day</p><p> v) x minutes, hours or days (per level if desired) OUTSIDE OF COMBAT</p><p> vi) permanent</p><p></p><p>3) You are allowed to rebalance spells SLIGHTLY by, for example, adjusting their damage. For example a spell that in 3.5 did 1d6 dmg per round and had a duration of 1 round +1 per caster level might be changed to 1d6+1 dmg per caster level with a duration of instantaneous. However, such re-balancing must be as minimal as possible.</p><p></p><p>4) WOTC will pay you $200,000 for the finished job (you know how well this biz pays!), so don't make them mad by straying from the guidelines or throwing a hissy fit because you think 'it's not D&D if it doesn't have level-based durations!'</p><p></p><p>So, how do you do it? What sort of balancing principles would you go for in changing x rounds/level spells into 1-round or 1-encounter spells?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="loseth, post: 4146330, member: 54535"] [Multi-forum post: RPG.net and ENWorld] Rewind. It's 2004 and Wizards decide they are going to do a 4e. After a big, super-secret board meeting, they decide that they are going to aim at making 4e 95% or more compatible with 3.5e. In essence, 4e will be a revised, streamlined 3.5e. They've hired you as a freelancer to deal with spell durations. You have to make changes to any spell descriptions necessary in order to re-work them with a focus on simplifying the tracking of durations during combat. Here are the rules WOTC gives you: 1) Whatever changes you make MUST not invalidate existing 3.5e stat-blocks or chagne the effects of spells in such a way that they would confuse an experienced 3.5e DM. 2) The only spell durations you are allowed to use are: i) instantaneous ii) until caster's next turn iii) encounter iv) 1 day v) x minutes, hours or days (per level if desired) OUTSIDE OF COMBAT vi) permanent 3) You are allowed to rebalance spells SLIGHTLY by, for example, adjusting their damage. For example a spell that in 3.5 did 1d6 dmg per round and had a duration of 1 round +1 per caster level might be changed to 1d6+1 dmg per caster level with a duration of instantaneous. However, such re-balancing must be as minimal as possible. 4) WOTC will pay you $200,000 for the finished job (you know how well this biz pays!), so don't make them mad by straying from the guidelines or throwing a hissy fit because you think 'it's not D&D if it doesn't have level-based durations!' So, how do you do it? What sort of balancing principles would you go for in changing x rounds/level spells into 1-round or 1-encounter spells? [/QUOTE]
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