CA Spell: "Blast of Flame" - What the heck?

[Craer]

Blast of Flame is essentially Cone of Cold, but is a conjuration spell that doesn't allow spell resistance, and is a level lower. The only drawback seems to be it deals 5d6 less max damage. Can someone please explain to me how this isn't broken?

 

[Nightfall]

Creatures that are immune to fire?

 

[Craer]

Is that a common enough occurance to require a full level drop?

 

[Felon]

Blast of Flame is essentially Cone of Cold, but is a conjuration spell that doesn't allow spell resistance, and is a level lower. The only drawback seems to be it deals 5d6 less max damage. Can someone please explain to me how this isn't broken?

I doubt they can, my friend. I doubt they can.

 

[Aaron L]

Creatures that are immune to fire?

So, what about creatures that are immune to cold?

 

[Kelleris]

The no-SR is a big boost. But, really cone of cold is only 5th level because it's always been 5th level and because of the 15d6 cap.

 

[Victim]

Well, another thing to consider is that Cone of Cold sucks. It offers no benefits aside from direct damage; its only advantage over spells 2 levels lower is a higher cap (which is irrelevant when wizard/sorcs first gain access to it); and it has a poor range/area that keeps casters close to melee and exposes their friends to the spell.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I wouldn't say CoC sucks or is crap. It has its uses. But, that being said, make sure you know what those uses are b/c I've been burned in the past by relying on CoC and thinking it is better than it is (the range/area of the spell can be detrimental).

 

[Thanee]

I don't think it's that bad, really. Cone of Cold is not the best spell for it's level, try comparing with spells like Firebrand. I think a little advantage is ok for having a cone area as opposed to something like Fireball. Cone of Cold really could need that, too, like d8s instead of d6s and/or Fort (half) instead of Ref (half).

There is a very similar 3rd level spell already, BTW, just with acid damage.

Mesthil's Acid Breath from Magic of Faerûn (Player's Guide to Faerûn). It has close range only and does allow SR, tho, which seems kinda odd for a Conjuration (could be an oversight during the revision, tho, as the original is from 3.0, OTOH it would be a bit too good as a 3rd level spell without SR ).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I'd saying knocking off the lame-o SR restriction from Cone of Cold would go a long way to making it "1 level better". Cone of Cold does do potentially more damage (not at first, I'll grant you, but there's plenty of spells written with long-term payoff in mind) of a type that fewer creatures possess resistance to. Of course, the energy substitution feat might render the last point moot.

I guess you could go the other way around and slap the SR restriction on Blast of Flame and get the same conclusion, but I'm not a big fan of SR vs. energy damage.