Extend Spell and Chill Metal?

[Nifft]

How would the Feat Extend Spell interact with the spell Chill Metal? The spell does damage over time, so Extending it should IMO add rounds of damage.

Specifically, I think that each round's effect should take place twice in a row. Two rounds of no effect ("cold"), two rounds of 1d4 cold damage ("icy"), six rounds of 2d4 cold damage ("freezing"), then two rounds of "icy", and finally two rounds of "cold".

Likewise for the spell Creeping Cold from Masters of the Wild: IMHO extending it should result in six rounds of damage, specifically two rounds each of 1d6, 2d6 and 3d6 damage.

Should Remedy Light Wounds (Magic of Faerun) be able to be Extended?

-- Nifft

 

[kigmatzomat]

I agree in basic theory but don't think the spell should increase the transition time from "cold" to "icy" and "icy" to "freezing." It should get cold just as fast as normal and then last longer (i.e. be "extended". So I would recommend:

1. cold (no damage)
2. icy (d4 damage)
3-8 freezing (2d4 damage)
9-11 icy (d4 damage)
12-14 cold (no damage)

Which is still 4 rounds cold, 4 rounds icy, 6 rounds feezing.

It's a little more thinking but more "realistic", IMHO.

 

[Mahali]

This was talked about a lot when MotW came out and what to do with Creeping Cold.

A lot of different opinions. I'm for having the spell run its course twice in a row. It's simple and most importantly doesn't make your extended spell do less damage for the first 1/2 of the duration.

 

[Pax]

I really like King Matzomat's idea.

BTW, for the especially luxury-conscious cleric -- small, icecube-sized metal "dice" objects ... for use with drinks,a nd heat metal / chill metal (now, you too can have hot or cold drinks, on demand, in any location, in any weather ... heh!). Especially with Extend Spell.

A thought would be (if it could work, I don't have my books to hand ATM), a Persistent Heat Metal spell. Heh.

As for remedy light wounds: why not? If the spellcaster (likely a Druid) wants to burn the ... what, 2d-level spell slot ... why not?

 

[Nifft]

The thing is, these spells are effectively double-empowered, for the cost of one spell level instead of four. Extending these is better than Maximizing them (statistically).

Expected value(1d6) -> 3.5
Expected value(2d6) -> 7
Maximum value(1d6) -> 6

The only off-setting circumstance I can come up with is that these spells take longer to do the damage they do, and therefore a fair "balance" for having them do double damage is for them to take twice as long to get around to it.

-- Nifft

 

[Petrosian]

The answer i got from wotc qna a long while back was to double the duration but not the transition.

A once extended would be 1 round normal 1 round 1d4, 10 rounds 2d4, 1 round 1d4, then 1 round nothing again.

While this may seem to be an incredible gain, adding all 7 additional rounds to the most damaging region of the spell, it is not as great as it may seem because most enemies wont be around long enough for the spell to ever run its course.

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If you double each segment... 2 round nothing, 2 rounds 1-4, etc... you actually weaken the spell in practice as the longer delay before significant damage accrues is too long.
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[Pielorinho]

I agree with what Petrosian said -- and will point out that the spell has, in my experience, a very narrow window of usefulness. I've never seen anyone beyond sixth level cast heat or chill metal, because by that point, the amount of damage it does is trivial. It doesn't scale well at all. Making it more powerful is only a good thing, IMO.

Daniel