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Brainstorming on spell fixes
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<blockquote data-quote="akbearfoot" data-source="post: 5472464" data-attributes="member: 33560"><p>I don't think I much agree with a lot of things on that list. Some of them are good fixes, but some done seem necessary.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I've never seen divine power abused. In most of our games fights only last 4-8 rounds. The only time divine power has ever even came into play, that was after Righteous Might, and other buffs, which makes a cleric fearsome but he spent half the battle powering up.</p><p></p><p>Polymorph has always been problematic, I recommend Pathfinder's fix for that. Then again, I also consider almost all of their polymorph spells to be weak, except maybe the top version of the respective lines.</p><p></p><p>Shapechange is easily fixed by changing the HD cap to Caster level, instead of twice caster level. Or by limiting it to creatures you've spent some time dealing with in person, and disallowing Advanced versions/templates. Applying all of limitations would probably nerf the spell too much to make it worth taking.</p><p></p><p>Entangle is overpowered for its level, but I don't think I've ever seen it abused to the point it ruined a game, or even an encounter. Faerie Fire is overpowered for its level too, but its another example of mechanics that are powerful that don't really fundamentally break a game.</p><p></p><p>Resist Energy, Protectiion from evil, Freedom of Movement, Knock, Comprehend Languages, Mind Blank, Enlarge Person, and the wall spells mentioned...Why change these? With the exception of enlarge person, none of these spells are offensive in nature. They are mostly either reactive spells, or prepatory defenses, or obstacle removal utility. A Mage that gets grappled is a:useless and B:dead. They must have spells of various levels that keep them from getting hit, or mitigate the damage they take, or they are dead(which means not fun to play).</p><p></p><p>Mind blank mainly does 1 thing. It preserves secrecy at high levels. the DM can't spy on the mage, and the PCs can't spy on any high level BBEGs or any other particularly essential plot NPC that the PCs want to thwart or vice versa. Also gives the player a security blanket that feels great at the cost of an 8th level spell slot. Otherwise it doesn't do much because you can always just scry another party member, or dispel it, or metafaculty, or divine intervention to justify the occasional need to knock it off of him. Also, I think mindblank is 'assumed' on at least some characters at high levels. Practically everything has a menacing aura. And with wizards will saves aren't 'save or die'...they are 'save or your party dies'</p><p></p><p>Enlarge person, and the mass versions of it. Has this ever been abused? The only serious benefit is Reach. Which is really good at levels 1-3, but less and less beneficial the higher you get because PCs are pretty much always outsized by the bad guys.</p><p></p><p>Knock...it bogs a game down when the PCs have to spend 2 minutes taking 20 to knock down every door in a dungeon. Even worse if you use traps on some of your doors. then every door becomes an encounter on its own and you'll have paranoid PCs asking 20 questions about every 5' square in the dungeon. Not fun. totally not a big deal if the PC gets to occasionally flex his magic muscle and say "that door we can open fast!'</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="akbearfoot, post: 5472464, member: 33560"] I don't think I much agree with a lot of things on that list. Some of them are good fixes, but some done seem necessary. I've never seen divine power abused. In most of our games fights only last 4-8 rounds. The only time divine power has ever even came into play, that was after Righteous Might, and other buffs, which makes a cleric fearsome but he spent half the battle powering up. Polymorph has always been problematic, I recommend Pathfinder's fix for that. Then again, I also consider almost all of their polymorph spells to be weak, except maybe the top version of the respective lines. Shapechange is easily fixed by changing the HD cap to Caster level, instead of twice caster level. Or by limiting it to creatures you've spent some time dealing with in person, and disallowing Advanced versions/templates. Applying all of limitations would probably nerf the spell too much to make it worth taking. Entangle is overpowered for its level, but I don't think I've ever seen it abused to the point it ruined a game, or even an encounter. Faerie Fire is overpowered for its level too, but its another example of mechanics that are powerful that don't really fundamentally break a game. Resist Energy, Protectiion from evil, Freedom of Movement, Knock, Comprehend Languages, Mind Blank, Enlarge Person, and the wall spells mentioned...Why change these? With the exception of enlarge person, none of these spells are offensive in nature. They are mostly either reactive spells, or prepatory defenses, or obstacle removal utility. A Mage that gets grappled is a:useless and B:dead. They must have spells of various levels that keep them from getting hit, or mitigate the damage they take, or they are dead(which means not fun to play). Mind blank mainly does 1 thing. It preserves secrecy at high levels. the DM can't spy on the mage, and the PCs can't spy on any high level BBEGs or any other particularly essential plot NPC that the PCs want to thwart or vice versa. Also gives the player a security blanket that feels great at the cost of an 8th level spell slot. Otherwise it doesn't do much because you can always just scry another party member, or dispel it, or metafaculty, or divine intervention to justify the occasional need to knock it off of him. Also, I think mindblank is 'assumed' on at least some characters at high levels. Practically everything has a menacing aura. And with wizards will saves aren't 'save or die'...they are 'save or your party dies' Enlarge person, and the mass versions of it. Has this ever been abused? The only serious benefit is Reach. Which is really good at levels 1-3, but less and less beneficial the higher you get because PCs are pretty much always outsized by the bad guys. Knock...it bogs a game down when the PCs have to spend 2 minutes taking 20 to knock down every door in a dungeon. Even worse if you use traps on some of your doors. then every door becomes an encounter on its own and you'll have paranoid PCs asking 20 questions about every 5' square in the dungeon. Not fun. totally not a big deal if the PC gets to occasionally flex his magic muscle and say "that door we can open fast!' [/QUOTE]
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