House-ruled Flaming Sphere

[KarinsDad]

The autodamage that Flaming Sphere provides isn't big damage,

It easily can be.

At second level, I once did more than 100 points of damage with Flaming Sphere in a encounter. One spell and the Wizard takes out 2 to 3 of the non-minion foes (damage-wise). That was easily 40% or more of the damage needed for that encounter, just from one spell.

That Wizard had Int 20 and a +1 item, so he was doing an average of 13 with the attack portion and 8.5 with the start of round portion. Even an 18 Int Wizard without an item would do 11 and 6.5.


My house rule for Flaming Sphere is a bit different. I have a generic must use an Action Point in order to sustain an Attack spell house rule (first time it is sustained, after that it's free). But, our Action Point system is different, so I'm not sure how well it would work with the standard Action Point rules.

 

[icemaze0]

This is not entirely true. Power level IS affected. You deal less raw damage. The enemy is given an option, either to move around the zone (letting you control the battlefield) or to ignore it and get hurt. Thing is, this choice makes the power less effective than if it just forced one of the options. Enemies tend to choose what is most favourable to them.

I totally agree to that. In fact I said power level is not affected by much.

What I mean is that although enemies now have a choice (between taking damage or moving out of the way) that choice can be made less pleasant through intelligent use of the Sphere and good teamwork.

For example the Wizard can place the Flaming Sphere next to a marked target (by a fighter). If he moves away and the fighter hits on his OA, the target must stop (so it also takes the sphere's proximity damage). If he shifts, it takes a basic melee attack as an immediate interrupt. This means the target's best bet is probably to suck it up and take damage.

This change makes Flaming Sphere (in my opinion) more fun, not only to play with, but also against.

That's the best result I could hope for.

 

[icemaze0]

I'm really starting to like the idea behind Jonathan Tweet's house rule that you only can get the benefits of an extended rest every four fights (two milestones).

That's interesting and might work, but could you provide an in-game explanation/justification for that? I know D&D 4e isn't the most realistic game ever made but isn't that a little too much? Isn't it better to fix a few powers rather than the whole rest mechanic?

 

[keterys]

Easy enough to explain - you just change the powers to not be 'daily'. For example: 'You only recharge your greater powers once per extended milestone.'

'Your healing surges represent your ability to spring back from amazing punishment and struggle on towards your goal. You only recharge them after an extended milestone.'

Etc. You might want to, at that point, set a small number of hp that people heal on resting for a night. It's not like actual wounds poof get better in the real world. Your luck, morale, and determination are not infinite wells, so you need to have some progress or victories to retap them. It'd work especially well if you could time story arcs appropriately.

 

[icemaze0]

Now it makes sense. Thanks.

 

[Hjorimir]

My own experience has been somewhat different. It isn't unusual at all for the player group to face between 6 and 8 encounters in a day (in hostile territory), so those wizard dailies don't seem to go very far. When I do hit them with a single encounter in a day, it tends to be a more challenging encounter (where I expect most of the characters to drop their dailies and balance accordingly).

So, for us, it doesn't feel the same way it feels for you guys...apparently.

 

[keterys]

I'm used to about three encounters per day at this point - very occasionally two, very occasionally four. I tend to get to play for LFR and Delve type games - I'm usually the DM - I have a wider variance when I run.

That said, even if you have seven encounters in a day... or perhaps especially if... I'd imagine that it's noticeable when certain dailies are used. Mostly I just don't like certain things - like autodamage in any form, obviating standard tactical options.