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Examples of Power Creep?
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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 2045181" data-attributes="member: 3424"><p>Oh, I do agree that there are poorly-thought out spells. However, I don't think that the majority of them are bad enough to cause problems. In my view, the key questions that should be asked are: who's going to use it, what else they could be doing, and how often can they do it?</p><p></p><p>Take <em>wraithstrike</em> for example. It's a second level spell for assassins, sorcerers and wizards that is cast as a swift action (like a free action, but you only get one per round) and makes your melee attacks melee touch attacks for one round. Who's going to use it? Pure sorcerers and wizards are unlikely to have much use for it as being in melee is generally not a good idea for them. Fighter-types who can convert large amounts of BAB to damage with Power Attack can get some use out of this spell, but the chance to hit starts falling off rapidly, even for touch attacks, with each successive iterative attack. This is deadliest in the hands of rogues (and assassins), who can use it to make multiple touch sneak attacks when flanking. However, a rogue who has taken enough sorcerer or wizard levels to cast this spell would have sacrificed at least 1 point of BAB and 2d6 of sneak attack damage. Meaning, he's made himself less effective for the rest of the time in order to pull this off a few times a day. Some people don't mind this, but others do. Of course, there's always Use Magic Device, but if he's manipulating a scroll or wand, he'll probably need Quick Draw to ready his weapons after that, and Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting to get the most attacks. Using such a combination, a high-level rogue (19th level) can strike six times per round for 60d6 worth of sneak attack damage plus weapon damage. Impressive, until you consider that a core rogue with those feats, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, <em>greater invisibility</em> and several flasks of acid can get seven ranged touch attacks for 77d6+7 acid damage, and can do it again in the next round.</p><p></p><p>Of course, once you add extra damage from weapon abilities (<em>holy</em>, <em>flaming</em>, <em>shock</em>, <em>bane</em>), the rogue with the <em>wraithstrike</em> wand will probably get the edge on damage again. So, it's probably a good option. But I don't think it's an overwhelmingly good one.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I won't argue that feats like Practised Spellcaster make multiclass spellcasters more powerful. So, if you're looking at power creep in terms of specific classes or class combinations, I suppose it exists. However, if these changes simply make an underpowered option more in line with other characters of the same level, I don't think power creep will have occured with respect to the game as a whole.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 2045181, member: 3424"] Oh, I do agree that there are poorly-thought out spells. However, I don't think that the majority of them are bad enough to cause problems. In my view, the key questions that should be asked are: who's going to use it, what else they could be doing, and how often can they do it? Take [I]wraithstrike[/I] for example. It's a second level spell for assassins, sorcerers and wizards that is cast as a swift action (like a free action, but you only get one per round) and makes your melee attacks melee touch attacks for one round. Who's going to use it? Pure sorcerers and wizards are unlikely to have much use for it as being in melee is generally not a good idea for them. Fighter-types who can convert large amounts of BAB to damage with Power Attack can get some use out of this spell, but the chance to hit starts falling off rapidly, even for touch attacks, with each successive iterative attack. This is deadliest in the hands of rogues (and assassins), who can use it to make multiple touch sneak attacks when flanking. However, a rogue who has taken enough sorcerer or wizard levels to cast this spell would have sacrificed at least 1 point of BAB and 2d6 of sneak attack damage. Meaning, he's made himself less effective for the rest of the time in order to pull this off a few times a day. Some people don't mind this, but others do. Of course, there's always Use Magic Device, but if he's manipulating a scroll or wand, he'll probably need Quick Draw to ready his weapons after that, and Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting to get the most attacks. Using such a combination, a high-level rogue (19th level) can strike six times per round for 60d6 worth of sneak attack damage plus weapon damage. Impressive, until you consider that a core rogue with those feats, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, [I]greater invisibility[/I] and several flasks of acid can get seven ranged touch attacks for 77d6+7 acid damage, and can do it again in the next round. Of course, once you add extra damage from weapon abilities ([I]holy[/I], [I]flaming[/I], [I]shock[/I], [I]bane[/I]), the rogue with the [I]wraithstrike[/I] wand will probably get the edge on damage again. So, it's probably a good option. But I don't think it's an overwhelmingly good one. I won't argue that feats like Practised Spellcaster make multiclass spellcasters more powerful. So, if you're looking at power creep in terms of specific classes or class combinations, I suppose it exists. However, if these changes simply make an underpowered option more in line with other characters of the same level, I don't think power creep will have occured with respect to the game as a whole. [/QUOTE]
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