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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Norfleet" data-source="post: 1166576" data-attributes="member: 11581">Well, hong, it should be rather obvious to anyone that to fall into tired, repetitive patterns of spell usage makes one very predictable. If you always enter a building through the door, people come to expect this, and therefore will start preparing for your entrance through the door. Therefore, you surprise them by going in through a wall. Similarly, spells should be used in frequently unorthodox ways: Otherwise, they become as predictable as door usage.The simple surprise value of using a "defensive" tool in a more offensive manner should be enough to catch people completely off guard, and when people are caught completely off guard, in D&D terms, this can equate to things such as opportunities for CDGs, sneak attacks, and saving throw penalties or even loss. When people are hit by a disintegrate spell, they get a fort save. Bleh. When people are crushed under thousands of tons of rock due to the disintegration of a load-bearing structure 3 floors above them that triggered a massive cave-in that collapsed through multiple levels, they don't get a save! Ha!In effect, by giving the spells an intended purpose, and making very generous avoidance systems against that intended purpose, you've rendered that purpose the least effective way to use it. By misusing it, you once again regain the all important SURPRISE AND TERROR! And that's the entire point.Without surprise and terror, you're left with something which is just kind of pedestrian and dull.</blockquote>

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