Falling Icicle
Adventurer
I have revised my suggested spell changes for the new playtest packet:
Cantrips: I think damaging cantrips scale at the same rate as cleric deadly strike (2[W] at 9th and 3[W] at 19th). However, I would add the caster's magic ability modifier to their damage. That way, they aren't inferior to simple weapons. It would be silly, IMO, if a cleric could pick up a crossbow and do better damage than a cantrip. I think they should be about equal.
Animate Dead: This spell is problematic for several reasons. On one hand, the minions it creates are pitifully weak. They also last only 24 hours, which is stupid. (Where do zombies and skeletons in adventures come from if they can only remain animated for 1 day?) On the other hand, there's no set limit on how many minions you can have, wrecking the action economy and slowing the game to a crawl. I also think it's silly that the spell goes out of its way to tell everyone how “badwrongfun” it is. What is the point of adding that clause to the spell, except to encourage self-righteous DMs to ban players from using it?
I would change the spell in the following ways: 1. Change the casting time to 1 action, so that it can be used in combat. 2. Allow the spell to be cast as a ritual. 3. Instead of letting you conjure more minions with higher level slots, let you conjure a more powerful minion. 4. Put a limit on how many minions you can control at a time (such as your Cha bonus, minimum 1). 5. Let the caster pay black onyx gems to make the pet permanent. 6. Remove the morality clause. Let people decide at their own table and in their own campaigns what is taboo and what isn't.
Arcane Lock: It should be possible for people to unlock the object without using the knock spell, otherwise this spell makes things rogue-proof, which is just wrong.
Astral Projection: Should be a ritual. Also, the cost is excessive. Astral projection already comes with considerable risk.
Circle of Death: The expensive material component is ridiculous, especially when you can do just as much (or more) damage with other spells that cost nothing.
Cloudkill: This spell needs to have its damage drastically reduced. Right now it's as powerful as cone of cold, which is the same level, but keeps repeating that damage each and every round.
Comprehend Languages: why does this spell require you to touch something to read it?
Destruction: The requirement to have a 500gp holy symbol should be removed.
Earthquake: If I read this correctly, you can open fissures with this spell and then cease concentrating on it, ending the effect and instantly killing everyone in the area with no saving throw. The instant death with no save part of this spell needs to be removed. Just treat targets in closed fissures like they're buried in rubble.
Fireball: The range needs to be extended to at least 100 ft. 50 ft. is just too close.
Fly: This spell should be higher level. At least 4th, maybe 5th.
Guidance: This spell is annoying. Since it can be cast at-will, there's really no reason not to use it on every single check someone makes out of combat. I'd either change it to 1st level, or put some limit to how often someone can benefit from the spell, such as not letting an individual benefit from the spell more than once per day.
Irresistible Dance: Instead of making the target dance for 10 days if you use its true name, I would instead make it so that using their true name makes them have disadvantage on their saving throws against the spell.
Knock: The loud noise created by this spell seems totally unnecessary. I can understand why they want the spell to be inferior to rogues and others with the skill to open locks, but it already is.
Mass Heal: This spell should just do what its name implies – cast heal on multiple targets.
Meteor Swarm: They either need to specifically state that the damage from overlapping meteors don't stack, or they need to drastically reduce the damage of each meteor. 48D6 damage is beyond ridiculous, even for a 9th level spell!
Planar Ally: The suggested payments are ridiculous. 10,000gp for a 10 day task? That's the cost of an artifact! As with Trap the Soul, True Resurrection and Wish, I think someone took these prices right out of 3rd edition without realizing just how much money that is in Next.
Polymorph: Where do I begin? This spell is ridiculously broken and needs to be completely rewritten. For starters, they should probably make the save-or-lose part and the buff part separate spells (i.e. Polymorph and Baleful Polymorph). For another, the spell shouldn't be “look through the monster manual and turn into the most powerful beast you can find with HD equal or less than your own, and then make the fighter cry as you show him how it's done.” IMO, the spell should only be able to turn you into a small number of specific animals, useful more for utility (flight, underwater breathing, etc) than as a combat buff. Let turning into lions, tigers and bears be the druid thing. Also, the forms you can turn into and their stats should be listed under the spell. If they want spells to turn into other, more powerful creatures, then they should make different, higher level spells for that.
Power Word Kill: While I'm glad that they buffed it from 50 to 100 HP, it still uses the problematic hp threshold mechanic (if a target has the right number of hp, it dies without a save. If it has too many hp, the spell is wasted to no effect. I don't think either extreme is acceptable). I also miss the true name part of the spell. I suggest making the spell do a lot of necrotic damage instead, and giving the target disadvantage on its save against the damage if its true name is used. Also, why is this spell enchantment instead of necromancy?
Power Word Stun: I have the same problem with the HP threshold mechanic used in this spell as PW Kill. I'd make the spell automatically stun the target for 1 round, and give it a save to break free on later rounds. If its true name is used, give it disadvantage on its save.
Ray of Enfeeblement: I think limiting the target to 1 damage is way too much. I'd remove the damage restriction, but I'd make it so the target suffers disadvantage on ALL strength and dexterity checks, not just attacks. With those changes, the spell could probably go back to being level 1.
Ray of Frost: I suggest lowering the damage die to d6 but making it slow the target to half speed instead of -10 ft.
Read Magic: Why is this even a spell? Shouldn't people be able to do this with an Int check? At the very least, make it a 1st level ritual so that it isn't a cantrip tax. Another note, since this spell is required to decipher scrolls, and it isn't on the cleric spell list, that means clerics can never use scrolls. The same goes for paladins and rangers. Oops!
Regenerate: This is the only spell that's a ritual that I think probably shouldn't be. A character can cast this every 11 minutes as a ritual for free. With a bit of downtime, the caster can heal the entire party's injuries without spending any spell slots, money, or anything else but time. Granted, it is a 7th level spell, but still. Are we supposed to just assume that at 13th level healing becomes free?
Sacred Flame: this spell should use an attack roll instead of a saving throw. That, or they need to bring back Lance of Faith (or even better, have both spells, so clerics have more than one attack cantrip to choose from).
Scrying: I think it should be possible to scy on locations as well as creatures with this spell.
Trap the Soul: 1,000gp per HD is beyond ridiculous. Trapping a 10th level creature costs as much as an artifact! Even 100gp per HD would be a high cost, considering there are many other ways to get rid of people that are free. Also, having the cost vary by the target's HD creates some gameplay and immersion issues. HD is a purely game mechanical term. How is someone in the game world supposed to know how many HD a person has? The gem should have a flat cost. Require the caster to know the target's true name or something instead.
True Resurrection: The 25,000gp cost of this spell is insane. Raise Dead is 500gp and Resurrection is 1,000. Why should the 9th level version cost 25 times as much as the 7th level version? 2,500 gp is probably what they really meant (and would still be very expensive).
Scorching Ray: with the latest packet, they made this spell gain +2d6 damage for each level beyond 2nd (by adding an extra ray per level). This makes this spell scale a lot better than other single target spells, like magic missile and blight.
Silence: This spell completely shuts down all spell casters with no saving throw, effectively making it a 2nd level double-width anti-magic field. Absolutely ridiculous. An older packet allowed those in the area to make a check to try and cast spells through it. That needs to come back, or the spell needs to be MUCH higher level than 2nd!
Stinking Cloud: This spell needs to have its damage drastically reduced. Right now it's as powerful as fireball, which is the same level, but keeps repeating that damage each and every round. In the past, this spell didn't even do damage at all, it was for obscuring and nauseating people. Why not bring that back?
Water Breathing: This should be a ritual.
Water Walk: This should be a ritual.
Wish: The option to make magic items and other wealth needs to be changed. A wizard can sit in his tower and conjure 25,000 gp of wealth or a rare magic item each and every day, not caring about the fatigue drawback of the spell. Creating permanent wealth or magic items should require some kind of sacrifice, like expensive material components or some other great cost. On the other hand, I don't think the other options listed (like giving the party greater restoration) deserve the drawback of the spell. Making the wizard suck for days in the middle of an adventure because he used a get out of jail free card is a bit harsh.
Cantrips: I think damaging cantrips scale at the same rate as cleric deadly strike (2[W] at 9th and 3[W] at 19th). However, I would add the caster's magic ability modifier to their damage. That way, they aren't inferior to simple weapons. It would be silly, IMO, if a cleric could pick up a crossbow and do better damage than a cantrip. I think they should be about equal.
Animate Dead: This spell is problematic for several reasons. On one hand, the minions it creates are pitifully weak. They also last only 24 hours, which is stupid. (Where do zombies and skeletons in adventures come from if they can only remain animated for 1 day?) On the other hand, there's no set limit on how many minions you can have, wrecking the action economy and slowing the game to a crawl. I also think it's silly that the spell goes out of its way to tell everyone how “badwrongfun” it is. What is the point of adding that clause to the spell, except to encourage self-righteous DMs to ban players from using it?
I would change the spell in the following ways: 1. Change the casting time to 1 action, so that it can be used in combat. 2. Allow the spell to be cast as a ritual. 3. Instead of letting you conjure more minions with higher level slots, let you conjure a more powerful minion. 4. Put a limit on how many minions you can control at a time (such as your Cha bonus, minimum 1). 5. Let the caster pay black onyx gems to make the pet permanent. 6. Remove the morality clause. Let people decide at their own table and in their own campaigns what is taboo and what isn't.
Arcane Lock: It should be possible for people to unlock the object without using the knock spell, otherwise this spell makes things rogue-proof, which is just wrong.
Astral Projection: Should be a ritual. Also, the cost is excessive. Astral projection already comes with considerable risk.
Circle of Death: The expensive material component is ridiculous, especially when you can do just as much (or more) damage with other spells that cost nothing.
Cloudkill: This spell needs to have its damage drastically reduced. Right now it's as powerful as cone of cold, which is the same level, but keeps repeating that damage each and every round.
Comprehend Languages: why does this spell require you to touch something to read it?
Destruction: The requirement to have a 500gp holy symbol should be removed.
Earthquake: If I read this correctly, you can open fissures with this spell and then cease concentrating on it, ending the effect and instantly killing everyone in the area with no saving throw. The instant death with no save part of this spell needs to be removed. Just treat targets in closed fissures like they're buried in rubble.
Fireball: The range needs to be extended to at least 100 ft. 50 ft. is just too close.
Fly: This spell should be higher level. At least 4th, maybe 5th.
Guidance: This spell is annoying. Since it can be cast at-will, there's really no reason not to use it on every single check someone makes out of combat. I'd either change it to 1st level, or put some limit to how often someone can benefit from the spell, such as not letting an individual benefit from the spell more than once per day.
Irresistible Dance: Instead of making the target dance for 10 days if you use its true name, I would instead make it so that using their true name makes them have disadvantage on their saving throws against the spell.
Knock: The loud noise created by this spell seems totally unnecessary. I can understand why they want the spell to be inferior to rogues and others with the skill to open locks, but it already is.
Mass Heal: This spell should just do what its name implies – cast heal on multiple targets.
Meteor Swarm: They either need to specifically state that the damage from overlapping meteors don't stack, or they need to drastically reduce the damage of each meteor. 48D6 damage is beyond ridiculous, even for a 9th level spell!
Planar Ally: The suggested payments are ridiculous. 10,000gp for a 10 day task? That's the cost of an artifact! As with Trap the Soul, True Resurrection and Wish, I think someone took these prices right out of 3rd edition without realizing just how much money that is in Next.
Polymorph: Where do I begin? This spell is ridiculously broken and needs to be completely rewritten. For starters, they should probably make the save-or-lose part and the buff part separate spells (i.e. Polymorph and Baleful Polymorph). For another, the spell shouldn't be “look through the monster manual and turn into the most powerful beast you can find with HD equal or less than your own, and then make the fighter cry as you show him how it's done.” IMO, the spell should only be able to turn you into a small number of specific animals, useful more for utility (flight, underwater breathing, etc) than as a combat buff. Let turning into lions, tigers and bears be the druid thing. Also, the forms you can turn into and their stats should be listed under the spell. If they want spells to turn into other, more powerful creatures, then they should make different, higher level spells for that.
Power Word Kill: While I'm glad that they buffed it from 50 to 100 HP, it still uses the problematic hp threshold mechanic (if a target has the right number of hp, it dies without a save. If it has too many hp, the spell is wasted to no effect. I don't think either extreme is acceptable). I also miss the true name part of the spell. I suggest making the spell do a lot of necrotic damage instead, and giving the target disadvantage on its save against the damage if its true name is used. Also, why is this spell enchantment instead of necromancy?
Power Word Stun: I have the same problem with the HP threshold mechanic used in this spell as PW Kill. I'd make the spell automatically stun the target for 1 round, and give it a save to break free on later rounds. If its true name is used, give it disadvantage on its save.
Ray of Enfeeblement: I think limiting the target to 1 damage is way too much. I'd remove the damage restriction, but I'd make it so the target suffers disadvantage on ALL strength and dexterity checks, not just attacks. With those changes, the spell could probably go back to being level 1.
Ray of Frost: I suggest lowering the damage die to d6 but making it slow the target to half speed instead of -10 ft.
Read Magic: Why is this even a spell? Shouldn't people be able to do this with an Int check? At the very least, make it a 1st level ritual so that it isn't a cantrip tax. Another note, since this spell is required to decipher scrolls, and it isn't on the cleric spell list, that means clerics can never use scrolls. The same goes for paladins and rangers. Oops!
Regenerate: This is the only spell that's a ritual that I think probably shouldn't be. A character can cast this every 11 minutes as a ritual for free. With a bit of downtime, the caster can heal the entire party's injuries without spending any spell slots, money, or anything else but time. Granted, it is a 7th level spell, but still. Are we supposed to just assume that at 13th level healing becomes free?
Sacred Flame: this spell should use an attack roll instead of a saving throw. That, or they need to bring back Lance of Faith (or even better, have both spells, so clerics have more than one attack cantrip to choose from).
Scrying: I think it should be possible to scy on locations as well as creatures with this spell.
Trap the Soul: 1,000gp per HD is beyond ridiculous. Trapping a 10th level creature costs as much as an artifact! Even 100gp per HD would be a high cost, considering there are many other ways to get rid of people that are free. Also, having the cost vary by the target's HD creates some gameplay and immersion issues. HD is a purely game mechanical term. How is someone in the game world supposed to know how many HD a person has? The gem should have a flat cost. Require the caster to know the target's true name or something instead.
True Resurrection: The 25,000gp cost of this spell is insane. Raise Dead is 500gp and Resurrection is 1,000. Why should the 9th level version cost 25 times as much as the 7th level version? 2,500 gp is probably what they really meant (and would still be very expensive).
Scorching Ray: with the latest packet, they made this spell gain +2d6 damage for each level beyond 2nd (by adding an extra ray per level). This makes this spell scale a lot better than other single target spells, like magic missile and blight.
Silence: This spell completely shuts down all spell casters with no saving throw, effectively making it a 2nd level double-width anti-magic field. Absolutely ridiculous. An older packet allowed those in the area to make a check to try and cast spells through it. That needs to come back, or the spell needs to be MUCH higher level than 2nd!
Stinking Cloud: This spell needs to have its damage drastically reduced. Right now it's as powerful as fireball, which is the same level, but keeps repeating that damage each and every round. In the past, this spell didn't even do damage at all, it was for obscuring and nauseating people. Why not bring that back?
Water Breathing: This should be a ritual.
Water Walk: This should be a ritual.
Wish: The option to make magic items and other wealth needs to be changed. A wizard can sit in his tower and conjure 25,000 gp of wealth or a rare magic item each and every day, not caring about the fatigue drawback of the spell. Creating permanent wealth or magic items should require some kind of sacrifice, like expensive material components or some other great cost. On the other hand, I don't think the other options listed (like giving the party greater restoration) deserve the drawback of the spell. Making the wizard suck for days in the middle of an adventure because he used a get out of jail free card is a bit harsh.
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