[Epic Spells] Could I have fries with that?

[Jeph]

I'd like to order up an Epic spell, specifically, one which I have very little idea about how to create. What do I want?

I want it to do 1 die of damage to everything on some plane of existance.

I really am not sure how to create it. Frankly, my biggest problem is getting the damage DOWN from the ungodly high levels in the spell seeds, and getting the range up to titanic levels. So far, I think I've got something--using the Energy: Another Use sidebar on page 97 of the ELH to create a weather effect. This has a DC of 25 and a 2 mile radius. Now, I'm thinking about then buying +1 die of damage (up from 0 dice, +2 DC), then reducing it to a d4 (nice cheap -5 DC), then doing something uterly profane with range increases, something like increasing it 2,000 times to get the radius of effect the same size as the Earth (4,000 mile radius, +8,000 DC), and thus able to effect everything on the face of the planet. Then doing EVERYTHING to lower the DC--as much Backlash as you can get (about -40), burn 10,000 exp (-100), increase casting time by 100 days and 10 minutes (-220 DC), then do something like spend a few months Gating in mid-power Demons and ritualize it for a 6th level slot with 300 participants...

Raining down fiery death across the entire world is HARD, and I don't even know if I'm doing it right.

 

[Pax]

While a SPHERE 4,000 miles in radius would occupy the same approximate volume as the Earth, for a STORM to cover the entire SURFACE of the Earth, it would need a radius of some 12,500 miles -- you need to cover the entire circumference of the planet with your weather-of-death, not the diameter of the planet.

A good starting point for you might be "Rain of Fire" -- 1 point of fire damage to everything within a 2 mile radius.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

1d4 points of damage... Has a fair chance to kill most Elves, Halflings, Half Orcs and Humans on the target plane. (Can epic spells be maximized? ). Commoners do only have a 1d4 hit points.
Seems like an interesting epic level story background... (Stop and find that evil wizard bastard that keeps killing millions of innocend plane inhabitants)

Maybe you should check a spell with the highest radius so far, but has a level scaling damage. (Like 1d6 points of damage per level in a 2 mile radius). Instead of increasing damage by level, increase range by level. (Epic Spells and epic caster level would mean a very big radius)

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Belbarrus]

"1d4 points of damage... Has a fair chance to kill most Elves, Halflings, Half Orcs and Humans on the target plane. (Can epic spells be maximized? ). Commoners do only have a 1d4 hit points. "


Well, I think what the person fails to realize is that there are more life-forms than PC Races. Just think of the sheer number of insects, rodents and other creatures that have 4 or less hit points. Someone is planning to destroy all birds, bugs, fish, seals, monkeys, hamsters, rats, mice, lobsters, raccoons, plants, cats, dogs, baby animals, baby intelligent races, etc, etc, etc,etc,etc in the entire UNIVERSE???!!

I dont think that the player or the DM fully understands the implications here.

Belbarrus

 

[der_kluge]

I don't know, most creatures would simply cower underground and wait for the thing to pass. Likewise, any creature in the ocean would be unaffected, as well as all the underground inhabitants. If it was fire-based, it would likely set all the jungles and forests of the world ablaze, and that would probably end kill wiping out the rest of the stuff that survived the initial rain of fire.

 

[Aaron2]

1d4 points of damage only has a 32% chance of killing a creature with 1 hit point. Most creatures will stabilize.

PK are as follows: 1 hp 32%, 2 hp 20%, 3 hp 10%, 4+ hp 0%.

I'd make it 2d6.


Aaron

Is anyone else having trouble loggin in?

 

[Kerrick]

I assume this is for story purposes and not being cast by a PC. With that assumption in mind, I'd say Why bother with the stats at all? Just invent some stuff, because the PCs will never (if their DM is in his right mind) get hold of it.

For example, there's a spell in our world called Earthwrack. In a nutshell, it fuses the continental plates together for a full week, then recracks them, and everything on the planet takes 100d6 damage, with no save. As you can very well imagine, this spell has been cast only once, and even then it didn't go all the way. It had some incredible requirements, though:

You had to carve one menhir (standing stone) for each week of the year; these must be virgin stone, quarried from a place that hasn't had worked tools touch stone within one mile; each quarrying place must be at least ten miles apart. The stones were all carved with runes by blind dwarves with bone chisels, who were then buried alive at the bases.

You must sacrifice: 2,000 HD of creatures with magic resistance (this spell was created back in the bad old days of 1E); 100 HD each of earth, air, fire, and water elementals; 250 HD of fiends; 50 HD of celestials; and cave in the heads of at least 100 druids of 5th+ level.

The caster must sacrifice HALF her XP. The spell takes 30 days to cast.

Earthwrack was cast 500 years ago by the single most powerful being on the face of Shtar; she was thwarted during the casting by a group of powerful adventurers. While she didn't succeed in killing everything, she did succeed in killing off most life; in addition, the planet was plunged into an eternal summer - that's right, folks, winter became unheard of. The mean temperature worldwide became around 70 degrees, which didn't affect the polar ice caps much, since they weren't that big to begin with, and Shtar is a fair bit bigger than earth anyway.

Don't forget, too, that if you're planning on a doing a spell like you're planning on doing, don't forget the long-term ramifications. Dealing even 1d4 points of damage to every living being on the face of the planet (depending on the energy used) could potentially create an ecologica disaster. Someone already mentioned killing off all the insects, small mammals, fish, etc.; these things are at the bottom of the food chain, in most cases, and thus support all other forms of life. Even with magic to replenish the slain creatures, this could be a very bad thing.

And one final point, as an aside -

Now, I'm thinking about then buying +1 die of damage (up from 0 dice, +2 DC),

Ehhh... can't do that. That factor is applied to damage spells only - you'd have to have the normal energy seed in there also to deal the elemental energy you want.

 

[Tewligan]

While a SPHERE 4,000 miles in radius would occupy the same approximate volume as the Earth, for a STORM to cover the entire SURFACE of the Earth, it would need a radius of some 12,500 miles -- you need to cover the entire circumference of the planet with your weather-of-death, not the diameter of the planet.

A good starting point for you might be "Rain of Fire" -- 1 point of fire damage to everything within a 2 mile radius.

It's gonna have to be a helluva lot bigger than THAT - he said "plane", not "planet". Is that possible for even an epic spell?

 

[Saeviomagy]

It's gonna have to be a helluva lot bigger than THAT - he said "plane", not "planet". Is that possible for even an epic spell?

Anyone remember the old high-level campaigns book for 2nd ed.

Didn't that have something awfully similar to the epic level spells? Including planar-wide spells? You might want to see how all those line up with current epic spells.

 

[Pax]

Nope. Not without one HECK of an Ad Hoc DC modifier.