Freeze soul is now disjoin soul. Heavy update.

[Ferret]

The newer one is below!

Freeze soul
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, M
Casting time: Standard action
Range: Close (25ft. + 5ft. / 2 levels)
Effect: One creature
Duration: 1 round/level.
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell resistance: Yes

With this spell you throw a shroud of obsidian dust over your target and split them between their current plane of existence and the realm of shadows if they fail their will save. After having part of them torn into the plane of shadows they are immediately frozen in this cold and desolate wasteland, being split like this takes it’s toll on the victim and they loose 1d4 hit points each round. This damage has no descriptor and is not affected by resistance, immunity, regeneration or fast healing.

For the duration of the spell, they have no physical body, on the plane of shadows or the plane they reside on, and they are treated as paralysed. Due to the lack of physical body they cannot be harmed, healed, or targeted by spells except for a Plane Shift heightened to 8th level, this shifts them back to their previous plane of existence. They cannot be rescued by any spell as they are sent to an unreachable part of the plane of shadows.

Material Component: Obsidian dust worth at least 300gp

The most updated version is below!

 

[Vrecknidj]

You say the spell shunts "part" of the target into the realm of shadows. What part? I mean, if someone's left arm suddenly gets all numb and turns gray, I can see this causing problems, but I don't see why it would make the person unable to attack or be hit.

Dave

 

[index]

I mostly agree with Vrecknidj.

Based on the description, this sounds like a slightly nasty version of Maze.

Stat it up at a higher level than Maze if you'd like detailed comments.

 

[Ferret]

Part as in not parts but like soul maybe or something. The same way that if you can go etherel when you do you can still be seen so not all of you goes into that plane.

Yeah it will be a high level, and in some ways like Maze...

 

[Ferret]

Anyone?

 

[index]

Ferret wrote:

> Anyone?

No, sorry.

(Just joking.)

Okay, here's your spell:

> Freeze soul
> Conjuration (Teleportation)

Etherealness and Ethereal Jaunt are Transmutation spells.
But Teleport and Maze are Conjuration spells... Shadow Walk
is Illusion (Shadow). (Why in the HECK did WotC move so
much stuff into Conjuration? Just being able to summon or
call a variety of critters with a variety of powers is
enough by itself.) (Seems as if 'shadow' should be a spell
descriptor instead of an illusion sub-school.)

> Level: Sor/Wiz 8

It's hard to guess the proper level for this spell, as I'll
discuss below.

> Components: V,S,M

What are the material components?

> Casting time: Full roundaction

Do you mean "1 round"? (Please proof-read.) Very
interruptable.

> Range: Close (25ft. + 5ft. / 2 levels)
> Effect: One creature
> Duration: Concentration up to 1 round every level.

Very interruptable.

> Saving Throw: Special

"Will negates (special)", might be a better way to phrase
this. BTW, if you're using a Will save, you might want to
specify whether vermin and other mindless creatures are
immune or automatically vulnerable. I don't think there are
any PH spells that use a Will save without being
mind-affecting, which would make constructs, undead, vermin,
etc immune. I'm guessing that Maze has it's weird mechanic
(no save but victim gets INT check every round) for this
very reason.

> Spell resistance: Yes
>
> With this spell you through a shroud of obsidian over your target and

s/through/throw/
Proof-read, please.

Is the shroud of obsidian a net actually made from
carefully shaped obsidian? Is this the material component?

> send their essence, the part that Is, into the realm of shadows if

Please use paragraph separation between flavor text and
rules text. Some PH spells don't do so, but it makes rules
adjudication easier later on.

> they fail a will save. This has several effects. Primarily they become
> incorporeal, unable to touch others, or be touched. Also failing

Does the victim gain all the benefits and penalties of the
Incorporeal subtype? Are they treated as a manifesting
ghost, except that they cannot de-manifest, and they are on
the Shadow plane instead of the Ethereal plane?

> another will save means that they must cower through the duration.

So your friends can Magic Missile them, but they can't
attack back. This IS a mind-affecting fear effect, right?
Explicitly say whether or not it is, please. If it's not
mind-affecting, how in the heck does it work?

> Thirdly, they take 1d4 damage each round due to the unfeeling cold of
> the Shadow plane, this bypasses resistance and regeneration or fast
> healing.

Why? People using Shadow Walk don't suffer this effect.
Describe it as due to the spell's interaction with the
Shadow Plane, not as a property of the plane itself. Or
describe it as an effect of being stuck partially on two
different planes. Or describe it as a side effect of the
separation.

Since they are (at least partially) on the Shadow Plane, can
they intentionally 'get lost' the way Shadow Walk passengers
can?

Unlike Maze, this spell offers a save. But once the victim
is affected, they cannot make an automatic escape attempt
each round, instead you must concentrate. That makes the
spell much weaker than Maze when the victim's team
outnumbers your team, and much stronger than Maze when your
team is bigger.

This is also a general utility spell. Pump up a friend with
bonuses against fear, cast this spell, and watch them walk
through walls.

I think this might be suitable as an 8th level spell, maybe
even 7th, since the victim is helpless only if they fail two
saves, but some clarifications are needed.

Yes, I'm asking a lot of questions, but any time you do
something unusual or new, you need to figure out how it's
going to work with other spells and powers.

--index

 

[Ferret]

Newt time can you write it so that it isn't in a narrow column, it's much easier to read. If you're writing it in note pad (which isn't that bad an idea) you can word wrap it by using the format tag at the top.

When I write I try to intergrate it all into one smooth piece of writing so that the reader can't just skip the 'fluff' and go to the crunch. It's how I like to write. I've put it how you like becasue I doubt anyone else will critique it, and I don't want to make it to hard to read for the reader.

All of the points you raise should have been addressed in the new spell.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Okay, I'm not sure I follow this. I'm going to try a re-write (no offense intended). Let me know if I've got the meaning of your spell.

Freeze Soul
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, M
Casting time: Standard action
Range: Close (25ft. + 5ft. / 2 levels)
Effect: One creature
Duration: 1 rd/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell resistance: Yes

During the casting of this spell, you throw a shroud of obsidian dust over your target (which does not require a ranged touch attack, this is simply part of the material and somatic components of the spell). The spell causes the target's body to disappear (though it is not disintegrated, has not been teleported, and isn't invisible as per that spell), and forces the target's soul into a Shadow fold where his body's position on the material plane had connected to the plane of Shadow's coterminous point. Losing contact with a body causes the target pain, resulting in 1d4 hit points lost per round until the target dies or is saved.

Short of a plane shift spell (or wish or miracle), the target cannot be rescued from his plight; although it's possible a wandering denizen of the plane of Shadow might take notice (but this isn't necessarily a good thing). The plane shift spell has a range of touch, so saving someone with this spell will require that the caster of the plane shift spell has the ability to travel to the place where the target is, and then use the spell.

Material Component: Obsidian dust worth at least 300gp


During the time this spell is in effect, what happens to the target's body? Is it just gone? If someone rescues the person's soul from the Shadow plane, is that soul now without a body?

Or, perhaps, did I just not get the meaning of your spell?

Dave

PS This sounds like a pretty cool spell concept, so I'm eager to see it worked out so I can then pilfer it from ya.

 

[index]

meta

Newt time can you write it so that it isn't in a narrow column, it's much easier to read. If you're writing it in note pad (which isn't that bad an idea) you can word wrap it by using the format tag at the top.

When I write I try to intergrate it all into one smooth piece of writing so that the reader can't just skip the 'fluff' and go to the crunch. It's how I like to write. I've put it how you like becasue I doubt anyone else will critique it, and I don't want to make it to hard to read for the reader.

All of the points you raise should have been addressed in the new spell.

OFF-TOPIC

Okay, first on my writing, I'll comment on your spell seperately.

I word wrap at 60 columns for a few reasons:

(1) I'm used to email on a text display. After many levels of quoting, text that started out at 75 columns can end up unreadable.

(2) Speed reading is much easier when you only need to move your eyes down, rather than having to scan your eyes back and forth. That's why newspapers are printed with narrow columns.

I've had people tell me before that narrow columns look strange, but I've never had anyone tell me it was hard to read before. For most people, it's easier.

I'll try to avoid narrow columns in your thread, Ferret.

I don't use notepad. I refuse to ever pay for a Microsoft product ever again. I am running linux, and use vim as my editor of choice, followed by the ispell front-end for aspell as a spell checker. I prefer to use an external editor because I am very familar with the vim commands, so I can perform any of many different functions very quickly. Enworld doesn't seem to have a spell checker, and my browser certainly doesn't have one.

BTW, Ferret, by editing the spell in place and discarding the old version, you've made it difficult to comapre the new to the old. I don't know if that was your intention. When you make big changes during an edit of a post, please put 'EDITED' in capital letters at the top of your post.

Uh, nevermind, I guess I should have read the TITLE of your post, shouldn't I?

--index

 

[index]

Freeze Soul - or - Disjoin Soul ?

Freeze soul
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, M
Casting time: Standard action
Range: Close (25ft. + 5ft. / 2 levels)
Effect: One creature
Duration: 1 round/level.

Before, the duration was 'concentration, maximum 1 round/level'. I don't know if the spell is too powerful now.

An eighth level spell SHOULD be very powerful. But I recently re-read the PH spells, and it seems that with every change, WotC nerfs spells more and more.

Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell resistance: Yes

With this spell you throw a shroud of obsidian dust over your target and split them between their current plane of existence and the realm of shadows if they fail their will save. After having part of them torn into the plane of shadows they are immediately frozen in this cold and desolate wasteland, being split like this takes it?s toll on the victim and they loose 1d4 hit points each round. This damage has no descriptor and is not affected by resistance, immunity, regeneration or fast healing.

Am I allowed to nit-pick spelling and grammar, or should I worry about the spell mechanics? (BTW, when I'm cruising the web for stuff to use, I automatically skip anything with spelling or grammar problems that catch my attention.)

1d4 per round doesn't sound like much, but they are also paralyzed (can only defend themselves with Silent Still spells), and you seem to be trying to close up ANY defenses they might be able to find against the damage, other than the initial Will save.

For the duration of the spell, they have no physical body, on the plane of shadows or the plane they reside on, and they are treated as paralysed.

Are they changed into an incorporeal creature? Please explain the loss of physical body in game terms, so that when Joe User invents a another new spell three months from now, his DM will be able to figure out how it works with this spell. (The incorporeal subtype is described in the glossary of the Monster Manual. It seems to be described at http://underdark.iti.fi/~skiriki/SRD/TypesSubtypesAndAbilities.html . (I don't know if that is 3.0 or 3.5.) It is described at http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/theraven_stephenh/ctypes/Incorporeal_Subtype.html .)

Due to the lack of physical body they cannot be harmed, healed, or targeted by spells except for a Plane Shift heightened to 8th level, this shifts them back to their previous plane of existence. They cannot be rescued by any spell as they are sent to an unreachable part of the plane of shadows.

Okay, I see why you didn't just say 'paralyzed and incorporeal'. But are you sure 'paralyzed and incorporeal' wouldn't suit your purposes?

Ouch.

Many 'all powerful' spells either mention that Wish will restore the victim or, in a very few cases (such as Mindblank), explicitly say they trump Wish. Which applies here?

Material Component: Obsidian dust worth at least 300gp

Cheap at this level, but certainly enough to prevent use of Eschew Material Components. Nice.

Ferret, I raised lots of questions with the previous version of your spell. I wasn't saying you needed to change those things, I just wanted you to be aware of the implications of your spell.

--index