DotF Spell: Spikes

[Shard O'Glase]

Ironwood two-hander?! Whoa. My cleric uses a greatsword! You mean I can get one of these made from ironwood, and it would still have an edge on it and all?

I am not that familiar with ironwood. PLEASE tell me the stats on an ironwood greatsword. Is it the same as a metal one? What's the market price on it? Man, I want one now for the Spikes spell alone.

Thanks.

That's how I read the ironwood spell, though I will freely admit I could of read it wrong. Market price on one would be probably the same as a two handed sword(I'd go for masterwork so it oculd be enchanted), and then I think iron wood is a 6th level spell so how much for a 6th level spell to be cast? Personally I'd encahnt(craft arms and armor) it with ironwood so a simple area dispel wouldn't revert it for good, and a targeted dispel would only supress its being ironwood for 1d4 rounds. Cost? up to the dm, but MoTW has an ironwood suit of fullplate that could be used as a guidline.

 

[Bobbystopholes]

As far as equaling the fighter with a few spells, you probably didn't have as many attacks per round (well, there is divine power and you definitely didn't have all the cool feats they should have. There are trade offs and then there are anti-magic fields and dispel magic. Then you are in trouble

 

[RogueJK]

There are trade offs and then there are anti-magic fields and dispel magic. Then you are in trouble

He's right...

Anti-magic fields and Dispel Magic completely remove my cleric from combat. And that's usually a pretty bad thing, since he's the only melee fighter that my party has.

Luckily, I've taken some steps to help against Dispel Magic, like the Spell Girding feat from MaoF, and a Ring of Counterspells with Dispel Magic in it. There's not much I can do about anti-magic fields, though.

*grumble* Freakin' anti-magic fields. There's no way to defeat them... They can't be dispelled, and they last for an ungodly amount of time. *grumble*

 

[Malin Genie]

Hang on a minute....

Brambles/Spikes work only on 'wooden weapons with a wooden striking surface' (my italics).

IMHO it is not reasonable to class a greatsword's edge, even an ironwood greatsword's edge, as a 'striking surface.'

 

[Chacal]

If you are a DM and want to be mean to your players, throw in a high level Treant/druid. It's hands, after all, are made of wood

I really like this one !!

Many thanks !!

Too bad I'll have to wait since they recently fought a treant.

Chacal

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

From Malin Genie

Brambles/Spikes work only on 'wooden weapons with a wooden striking surface' (my italics).

IMHO it is not reasonable to class a greatsword's edge, even an ironwood greatsword's edge, as a 'striking surface.'

What would you call it? It's the point, on the surface of the weapon, that strikes. I really can not see twisting those words to mean what you want them to. Any weapon which the surface of the weapon that interacts with the injured party is wooden would count by my reading.

So no spears (with metal heads), but a club is all good. Ditto for an ironwood greatsword.

I don't disagree that the spell is over the line, I just don't feel that redefining words is the answer. Rev up the old 'House-rule-o-matic' at go to it.

Edited to include the word 'wooden'...D'oh!

 

[SpikeyFreak]

Doesn't the spell increase the crit range too?

Don't have my books here, but...

A keen ironwood +1 scimitar with improved crit and spikes would have a crit of 9-20.

Scarey. And what is the bonus type on attacks?

--Rhote Spikey

 

[Larcen]

He's right...

Anti-magic fields and Dispel Magic completely remove my cleric from combat. And that's usually a pretty bad thing, since he's the only melee fighter that my party has.

Luckily, I've taken some steps to help against Dispel Magic, like the Spell Girding feat from MaoF, and a Ring of Counterspells with Dispel Magic in it. There's not much I can do about anti-magic fields, though.

*grumble* Freakin' anti-magic fields. There's no way to defeat them... They can't be dispelled, and they last for an ungodly amount of time. *grumble*

First, your cleric is the only melee fighter in the party?! How did THAT happen? How long you guys been playing like that, and how many people are in the party? Sounds like you guys are asking for trouble.

Second, regarding the Dispel Magic problem: I once posted a question on these boards on how I can make use of the "useless" Nystul’s Undetectable Aura spell my Magic Domain gives me. Lots of people responded that an area Dispel Magic would take out the NUA spell FIRST and leave the rest of my buff magic alone. I am not sure of the particulars now, but you may want to read up on the vagueries of Dispel Magic. NUA lasts a day per level (!) so it was perfect for this purpose. But even if you don't have access to the NUA spell, maybe you can use another spell to the same effect, i.e. using a long-lasting weak spell to "hide" more powerful ones from Dispel Magic. Hope this helps that brave cleric in battle...

 

[green slime]

Increased Threat Range

Yes indeed, it doubles threat range.

I see no harm in this spell, but I wouldn't let (nor would I expect) the enhancement bonus stack with GMW.

By the time Ironwood becomes readily available, it really isn't going to be over the top.

The question is should the threat ranges from "keen"(Keen Edge) and Spikes really stack?

Given that the spell was designed for blunt weapons (for which there has only recently appeared Impact in Magic of Faerûn), and in order to prevent all powergamers selecting wooden weapons over metallic ones, I would rule not.
Otherwise Weapon Masters will run around with 7-20 critical threat range Scimitars.

 

[green slime]

Larcen's NUA/NMA

These spells have as their target an OBJECT, and as thus the register as a permanently magicked/non-magicked item.

So "You" is not an object.

Area dispel's (from he SRD)

Area Dispel: The spell affects everything within a 30-foot radius.
For each creature who is the target of one or more spells, the character makes a dispel check against the spell with the highest caster level. If that fails, the character makes dispel checks against progressively weaker spells until the character dispels one spell (which discharges the dispel so far as that target is concerned) or fail all the character's checks. The creature's magic items are not affected.

So I can't see it fooling an area dispel, as written. But I like the idea, and perhaps it should be included in area dispels.