Explosive runes as a weapon

[Strider an-ti-one]

spell: explosive runes , dispel magic
weapon: ninja star
1 put runes on stars
2 use stars on enemy
3 dispel runes
4 fail to make to dc
5 they active anyway
6 enemy takes 6d6 right yes or no

turn def. into off.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Um... maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it be a LOT easier (and take a lot less time) to just cast, say, Fireball? It seems to produce the same effect, and without all of the pointless steps.

 

[Strider an-ti-one]

that is true but how many fire balls can you set off in one turn since i can prepare them before battle say six stars i launch six of them one enemy then dispel magic in a burst than target since range is min10ft and max100ft and a radius of 10ft meaning i target all at once and then set them off 36d6 of damage min36 max216 i don't think fireball can do that

 

[Jack Simth]

Those steps are NOT pointless - Explosive Runes are "Permanent until discharged" - so with a few days off from other active spellcasting, your wizard could do quite a few of them, and give them to the party fighter - which are then given to the party rogue/fighter/whatever, who throws several of them into the opponent. Whoever has one then throws it at an opponent. On the Wiz's turn, if someone hit the oppoent with a ER weapon, the Wiz dispels and fails (deliberately) - dealing a bunch of damage to the "target" and anyone nearby. By the book, it should work.... although beware - if it's found out that you do this kind of thing a lot, people will start throwing dispels at your weapon caches to the same effect.

Likewise, Dispel is very useful for a caster to have on hand, as it can deal with so many different magical effects, while a Fireball is mostly only useful in combat. Being able to (effectively) hot-swap a Dispel for a Fireball that way could be very handy.

 

[Jack Simth]

Oh, and you will want to put the ER's on something durable - daggers, say - so that they are still intact after impacting with the opponent.

Edit: Oh, and not quite right - they get a reflex save for half, probably

 

[Bront]

spell: explosive runes , dispel magic
weapon: ninja star
1 put runes on stars
2 use stars on enemy
3 dispel runes
4 fail to make to dc
5 they active anyway
6 enemy takes 6d6 right yes or no

turn def. into off.

You trace these mystic runes upon a book, map, scroll, or similar object bearing written information. The runes detonate when read, dealing 6d6 points of force damage.

So...
1. Can't, not a viable writing surface.
2. See part 1
3. Fine, other than you have to A) Hit and then Dispell assuming it's embedded in victem or B) Dispel in mid attack, which would require a ready action by a fellow spell caster, and even that's stretching that rule.
4. Your chance of dispelling your own spell is 50% till 10th and 5% less per level beyond, so you're counting on something that is not garunteed to happen.
5. If you have somehow managed to get around the other issues listed in 1-4, this would happen, yes.
6. See part 5.

Now, the folly.

You are using 2 different 3rd level spells to have at 50% chance of doing 6d6 damage. Why not use 2 fireballs? Slightly bigger, but unless they have evasion, you'll do about the same damage even if they make the save. Better yet, use 2 Magic Missiles, which does a minimum of 6D4+6, no save or other trickeries done, only 2 first level spells, and a much better range and to-hit chance. Or 2 scorching rays, 2 level second level spells that use ranged touch attacks to do 4d6 with no save, and at higher levels, you get multiple rays.

While an interesting idea to use the spell, it's unwieldly, and you can duplicate similar effects with other spells to much better effect.

Edit: Fixed dispel chances.

 

[moritheil]

Bront is right - a strict reading means you can't use the surface of a star to scribe an explosive rune. Still, it is a clever idea, even if it means that any incidental dispel magics that get tossed your way can be fatal for the party.

 

[Jack Simth]

Let's see... if he drops the thrown weapons idea, he could put the Explosive Runes on a bunch of parchments, roll them up, weight and bind them (for ease of throwing), have them tossed into the opponent's square (possibly by having a bunch of them in a bag, and tossing the bag, open, at the square), and detonate them with dispel. They are on a writing surface, they are thrown at the square (not the opponent), they are unattended, they deal Force damage, there's enough of them that even with a 50% (although... if you make the ER's, and you cast the dispel, you roll 1d20+your caster level vs a DC of 11 + your Caster Level ... in other words, 1d20 vs. 11 - a 50% chance, exactly, until you hit the caps on the caster bonus for Dispel (10)) "fail" chance, some of them will go off. If you put 10 of them in the bag, five are likely to go off, and deal 30d6 force damage, reflex half (5 reflex saves, for half of 6d6 each) to everything within 10 feet of the bag.

It's more useful as a trap in a fortress - you have cheap maps, tapestries, books in display cases, et cetera, that have ER on them in non-obvious places ready for that Area Dispel.

Edit: Let's see... a sheet of paper is listed in the SRD for 4 sp; 20 of them would cost 8 gp. A basket to throw them runs 4 sp as well. 8 gp, 4 sp, and 10-20 days preparation for 60d6 force, reflex half, at 5th, in one round? Nifty!

 

[Bront]

On the Wiz's turn, if someone hit the oppoent with a ER weapon, the Wiz dispels and fails (deliberately) - dealing a bunch of damage to the "target" and anyone nearby.

I know as a game master, I would rule that you can't volutarily fail a dispel magic check, especialy since there is nothing in the spell writeup that allows you to do this.

 

[Jack Simth]

I know as a game master, I would rule that you can't volutarily fail a dispel magic check, especialy since there is nothing in the spell writeup that allows you to do this.

CASTER LEVEL

A spell’s power often depends on its caster level, which for most spellcasting characters is equal to your class level in the class you’re using to cast the spell.

You can cast a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level you choose must be high enough for you to cast the spell in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same caster level.

In the event that a class feature, domain granted power, or other special ability provides an adjustment to your caster level, that adjustment applies not only to effects based on caster level (such as range, duration, and damage dealt) but also to your caster level check to overcome your target’s spell resistance and to the caster level used in dispel checks (both the dispel check and the DC of the check).

(emphasis added)
Okay... so you can't deliberately flub it - but you can arrange so that your dispel check bonus is never over 5 by RAW, and the chance of you "successfully" failing the roll goes up as you increase in level.