DM to DM...Spellfire?

[Neo]

I had a player in my group today ask if his player could be a spellfire wielder... my first feeling was to say no, but being a soft touch I decided to read the spell fire rules as presented in the Magic of Faerun and in the end decided to allow him.

Spellfire stipulates that you must ready an action to absorb a spell in order to absorb it or not, mostly due to you having a max limit related to your constitution that determines the maximum number of spell levels you can hold at any given time, any excess firing off at random people around you. So a spellfire wielder needs to be able to choose whether to absorb a spell and risk going over the limit at times or not and take the effect. However i felt that this with regards to beneficial magic was a little too convenient if the spellfire wielder was also a caster themselves.. i.e they buff up and then they absorb any incoming magics to unleash magical hell upon thier enemies.

As a result I stipulated that as a spellfire wielder no beneficial magical spells cast at or on him would work for him as these would automatically be absorbed..being the magical sponge that he now is. This of course would not affect any benefits from magical items such as worn rings, amulets, armours etc... as they are not technically spells cast at him.

Now I know the player in question is feeling a little hard done by, but when you take into account that spellfire effectively makes a character "immune to Magic", even risking going over thier maximum spell level limit is only a risk to those around them, never the spellfire wielder themselves.. I feel that such a limitation is a fair and reasonable balance.

What do you guys think?, reasonable ruling?, tough DM ruling? how would you guys handle it?

 

[Eldren]

This is a pretty tough call to make, because the spellfire rules don't really say anything one way or the other about it. Sure, a caster who was also someone with spellfire could amp themselves up, but let them. If they want to waste their spellcasting power for the day jacking up their spellfire levels, then they're going to have that many spells more that they can't really cast each day.


It gets a bit worse with the "Spellfire Channeler" prestige class, also from Magic of Faerun. They can store more Spellfire levels, although they run some risks. Thankfully, they didn't make it so that you can absorb spells cast at you as a free action, as though you were a walking Ring of Spell Storing.

Ultimately, I would just let the person use spellfire as written in the Forgotten Realms rules. You probably aren't going to notice a huge impact on your game. But be sure to implement the role playing side of things as well. Spellfire isn't limited to just one person in a generation, as was originally thought, but it's still rare enough, and powerful enough, that once word gets out that someone has it, organizations like the Zhentarim, the Red Wizards of Thay, and maybe even the Harpers, are going to become a regular force in that individual's life as they attempt to bend the power to their own purposes. Read Ed Greenwood's spellfire novels (Spellfire and Crown of Fire; I can't remember what the third one is called). Shandril Shessair has quite a bit to deal with once it's discovered that she has spellfire.

 

[Oaken25]

Read Ed Greenwood's spellfire novels (Spellfire and Crown of Fire; I can't remember what the third one is called). Shandril Shessair has quite a bit to deal with once it's discovered that she has spellfire.

Hand of Fire.

But also keep in mind those novels were written in 1e and 2e when Spellfire (even thought Hand of Fire might have been written after 3e was published) was a lot different.

The Spellfire in 2e's Volo's Guide to All Thing's Magical is a heck of a lot more powerful then 3e's "balanced" version.

 

[Nifft]

Given that most abuse seems to spring from using the Spellfire dude as a dump-tank for any unused spell levels at the end of the day, I'd simply make the Spellfire levels either:
a) go away when you sleep; or
b) have troublesome (fun for DM) effects if you dream.

You could expand (a) into "You lose 1 Spellfire level each hour", or even "you lose 1/2 your Spellfire levels each hour", and it would be more balanced.

-- N

 

[Aaron L]

I'd say that ruling was quite harsh, and it would be better to disallow spellfire alltogether that than to use it that way. I'd allow use of the feat as written, but then REQUIRE taking levels in the spellfire chaneller prestige class as soon as the requirements can be met. The feat alone is a bit much (for just a feat), but the feat and prestige class together are fine.

I've played in a game with a spellfire channeler/wizard, and he didn't overshadow any of the other characters. He always ran with a good amount of spellfire levels stored up, but that cost him several levels of wizard and didn't really make him any more powerful. A few times a day he could make big blasts, but then he was spent. He could absorb spells aimed specifically at him if he wanted to use that as his action, but he didn't do it that often. Usually he sucked energy out of wands that we didn't use. He healed a bit, but nothing to make note of. So, in my experience that rules as written are fine. Don't get worked up over the fact that the character can store up all those levels of spellfire, because it's effectively just a single target fireball. It allows a good boom and some feel good show off material, but then it's pretty much the end of the spellfire for that fight.

And the magic immunity thing, it only makes the character "immune to magic" if they spend all of their actions every round readying themselves to absorb spells, and then it only affects single target spells aimed at the spellfire wielder. And The spellfire wielder can't absorb spells he casts himself. Once he spends all of his spellfire, if he has used all his spells to buff himself and has nothing offensive, he has to ready to absord and hope that someone casts single target spells at him.

 

[Neo]

The varying views so far have given me much to think on.

I quite like the idea of the stored energy bleeding off, as it were over time I think thats a fairly reasonable thing to apply.

Something else which springs to midn now... is whether or not spellfire would absorb Divine AND Arcane magic? they may both be termed "magic" per se, but divine magic isnt like the weave at all, so by saying that spellfire cannot absorb Divine magic I could solve my concern of him tanking himself up with his own spells, but also remove the restriction fo him being able to benefit from beneficial magics cast on himself.

I have read Spellfire though quite some time ago, I cannot recall if she Shandrill comes under much in the way of clerical opponents or not and whether she absorbs their magic also?

 

[Robbert Raets]

but divine magic isnt like the weave at all

I think you're wrong there, chosen one. Multiple sources state that Mystra can deny spellcasting abilities to anyone, including gods and clerics, unless they tap into the Shadow Weave.

 

[Paka]

Does it make for a good story?

Yes, when the Evil Powers That Be discover the character has this the hunt will be on and the story will be hot.

Does it entirely over-shadow another character?

I don't think so. If anything, I think not allowing the character to get any buffs or Divine spells is harsh. I'd allow it as written in the feat. T

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't know how spellfire is written up, but you might want to take a page out of 3.5e and say that it only absorbs spells which allow spell resistance - thus leaving them still normally vulnerable to conjurations (which use magic to conjure a real thing).

I think this might be a nice balancing act

 

[Aaron L]

I think the Conjuration bit is something that will be updated in the Players Guide to Faerun, and I second the recomendation :