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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rystil Arden" data-source="post: 2098073" data-attributes="member: 29014">Without the GP cost, Forcecage would become much more important.Almost anyone can break their buddies out of an Ectoplasmic Cocoon, whether or not they are prepared for it.  Nobody but a high level Monk (and some PrCs) can escape from Forcecage unless they are specifically prepared to deal with it, or happen to have prepared spells that will help.  If you say "But every rogue carries around scrolls of Disintegrate to break Forcecage" then fine, but you've just allowed Forcecage to dictate strategy in your game.  That alone gives it power.  Let's try to get rid of the emotional charge of pisonics by thinking of these as poisons: Poison A costs X amount (the casting opportunity cost).  It can poison a bunch of people, but there's a (more than 50%) chance it won't work for each person.  Also, it becomes obvious that they are poisoned, and nearly anybody (at the level you would use it) can cure the poison immediately except the people who were poisoned.Poison B costs is significantly more expensive than Poison A.  It can probably only poison one person but maybe two.  It automatically succeeds.  Also, it becomes obvious that they are poisoned, but almost nobody can cure the poison unless they were specifically prepared to do so.Which poison would you buy if you wanted to poison someone?  Poison B.  Which poison would you toss around for kicks if you didn't care as much: Poison A.  They are balanced only because of the price. Feel free to poke holes in the analogy, but it makes its point.</blockquote>

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