Old Fezziwig
hell yes bro
A Dozen Effects of Lingering Spell Energy is a short, 5-page PDF from Ronin Arts detailing the ways that left-over spell energy can be harnessed and used by spellcasters. Like the other products in the "A Dozen..." line, this book has a very clean, super-functional layout and design — there are no pieces of art or extraneous borders, allowing the product to focus on the topic at hand. It's almost like a little magazine or journal article. Finally, sidebars are used to detail and discuss tangential issues (such as the differentiation of arcane and divine spell energy and Mr. Reed's professional biography).
Mechanically, dropping lingering spell energy into your game is a fairly simple process, a (rather difficult) Spellcraft check allows a caster to identify a cloud of spell energy and a (far simpler) Spellcraft check allows the caster to harness it. If two casters attempt to tap into the same cloud, an opposed check is used, with the better roll tapping the energy. Tapped spell energy can be held in the character for one minute, after which, he suffers a chance of permanent physical damage (permanent loss of 1 hp/level of the spell cast). Releasing it before than enables the character to achieve a variety of effects, and Reed details possible effects in the PDF, although he does enourage the PCs and DMs to be creative in their uses of the energy. All in all, I like the fact that the mechanics are simple, building upon existing skills and mechanics. After all, the event's somewhat like a grapple, except it operates on a level beyond the physical. The potential permanent loss of hp feels a little bit awkward to me, but the damage done can be easily adjusted (and, besides, the chances of a character suffering hp loss, which only happens after a failed Will save and a percentile roll, feels rather slim). Personally, I think I'd prefer ability damage here, with the complex formulas from a foreign caster's spell overwhelming the wizard's mind. In the long run, though, this problem is exceedingly minor.
The spell effects themselves look remarkably like spells, even down to having a level, although they are not attached to spells themselves. Presumably, a spellcaster would have to harness a cure wounds or heal spell in order to acces temporary healing, but it's left loose and is certainly open to interpretation as appropriate; I can imagine situations where elemental creatures would access the lingering energy of certain elemental spells (wall of stone for an earth elemental, maybe) and use that to heal themselves. Celestials might use spells with positive energy for this, demons, negative energy spells, and so on. Some of the effects, such as arcane heart, aura of desecration, and condemn, are particularly interesting and do neat things (condemn severs the connection of a divine spellcaster and his deity for a short period of time), while others are less neat -- the acidic spit, arcane surge, and ray of decay effects do little more than more damage. The use of spell energy to cause additional damage bothers me slightly, as I feel like it's the least imaginative option available. In essence, by giving the character the ability to do extra damage without costing him a spell, it may even be unbalancing. Some might say the hp granted by temporary healing do the same thing and "good for the goose, good for the gander," but those hp are temporary.
In the end, I really like the idea and the atmosphere it adds to a campaign (this would fit really well, for instance, in Eberron with its living spells and such). It gives the world's magic some depth without making it so completely different that it no longer represents itself well. My only complaint, as noted, is the the rather pedestrian powers granted by some spell energy effects, but by ignoring this and using the other effects as guidelines, the potential's there for a wizard to do as much neat stuff with spell energy as a cleric can do with positive energy and his turn undead ability.
Mechanically, dropping lingering spell energy into your game is a fairly simple process, a (rather difficult) Spellcraft check allows a caster to identify a cloud of spell energy and a (far simpler) Spellcraft check allows the caster to harness it. If two casters attempt to tap into the same cloud, an opposed check is used, with the better roll tapping the energy. Tapped spell energy can be held in the character for one minute, after which, he suffers a chance of permanent physical damage (permanent loss of 1 hp/level of the spell cast). Releasing it before than enables the character to achieve a variety of effects, and Reed details possible effects in the PDF, although he does enourage the PCs and DMs to be creative in their uses of the energy. All in all, I like the fact that the mechanics are simple, building upon existing skills and mechanics. After all, the event's somewhat like a grapple, except it operates on a level beyond the physical. The potential permanent loss of hp feels a little bit awkward to me, but the damage done can be easily adjusted (and, besides, the chances of a character suffering hp loss, which only happens after a failed Will save and a percentile roll, feels rather slim). Personally, I think I'd prefer ability damage here, with the complex formulas from a foreign caster's spell overwhelming the wizard's mind. In the long run, though, this problem is exceedingly minor.
The spell effects themselves look remarkably like spells, even down to having a level, although they are not attached to spells themselves. Presumably, a spellcaster would have to harness a cure wounds or heal spell in order to acces temporary healing, but it's left loose and is certainly open to interpretation as appropriate; I can imagine situations where elemental creatures would access the lingering energy of certain elemental spells (wall of stone for an earth elemental, maybe) and use that to heal themselves. Celestials might use spells with positive energy for this, demons, negative energy spells, and so on. Some of the effects, such as arcane heart, aura of desecration, and condemn, are particularly interesting and do neat things (condemn severs the connection of a divine spellcaster and his deity for a short period of time), while others are less neat -- the acidic spit, arcane surge, and ray of decay effects do little more than more damage. The use of spell energy to cause additional damage bothers me slightly, as I feel like it's the least imaginative option available. In essence, by giving the character the ability to do extra damage without costing him a spell, it may even be unbalancing. Some might say the hp granted by temporary healing do the same thing and "good for the goose, good for the gander," but those hp are temporary.
In the end, I really like the idea and the atmosphere it adds to a campaign (this would fit really well, for instance, in Eberron with its living spells and such). It gives the world's magic some depth without making it so completely different that it no longer represents itself well. My only complaint, as noted, is the the rather pedestrian powers granted by some spell energy effects, but by ignoring this and using the other effects as guidelines, the potential's there for a wizard to do as much neat stuff with spell energy as a cleric can do with positive energy and his turn undead ability.
