How Visible is Eldritch Blast ?

[Hopping Vampire]

Warlock + Book of Vile Darkness = Brokernest character. beleive u me.

 

[azmodean]

If one of my players cares enough about this sort of thing to actually make up unique visual effects for spells, I go with it. There are of course two limitations.

1. It has to look like what it does, if it is fire based it must involve fire, if it does damage it needs to represent that somehow.
2. It looks like they are casting a spell. Regardless of how the visual is described, it does not hide the fact that it is a spell to resonably intelligent creatures.


For example, I will allow a player to declare that when his character casts a fireball it looks like flaming dragons fly from his arms and swirl around the target. However, this has the restriction that no one is going to think those are actual dragons, they look like spell effects.

In other words, the description is not allowed to effect either how the spell functions or how it is percieved.

NOTE: The same goes for melee and other types of combat as well.

 

[Mouseferatu]

If one of my players cares enough about this sort of thing to actually make up unique visual effects for spells, I go with it. There are of course two limitations.

1. It has to look like what it does, if it is fire based it must involve fire, if it does damage it needs to represent that somehow.
2. It looks like they are casting a spell. Regardless of how the visual is described, it does not hide the fact that it is a spell to resonably intelligent creatures.


For example, I will allow a player to declare that when his character casts a fireball it looks like flaming dragons fly from his arms and swirl around the target. However, this has the restriction that no one is going to think those are actual dragons, they look like spell effects.

In other words, the description is not allowed to effect either how the spell functions or how it is percieved.

NOTE: The same goes for melee and other types of combat as well.

Word. Exactly how I've done it, and how I like to see it done.

I can't for the life of me remember the issue number, but Mike Mearls had a fantastic short article about just this sort of thing in Dragon, a few years back. It should be required reading for anyone about to play a spellcaster, and I'd love to have a (legal) electronic copy of that article, simply so I could share it with all my players who are doing so.

 

[Whimsical]

Having an invisible Eldrich Blast would be superior to a visible one. As you can be concealed, hiding, or using Bluff, Sleight of Hand, or other misdirection to attack someone and have it not be clear that it came from you. I think that it would be worthy of a feat slot to make your eldrich blast invisible.

 

[Thanee]

Warlock + Book of Vile Darkness = Brokernest character. beleive u me.

Only as long as you do not realize, that those feats (I assume you talk about those) are not 3.5 compliant, and have been updated in the 3.5 version of the MM. BoVD is a 3.0 source.

Bye
Thanee

 

[moritheil]

Warlock + Book of Vile Darkness = Brokernest character. beleive u me.

Personally, I always thought that a Fiendish Phrenic Vow of Poverty Tarrasque with Spell Immunity: Wish would be the most broken character, but that just goes to show what I know.

 

[Bad Paper]

Only as long as you do not realize, that those feats (I assume you talk about those) are not 3.5 compliant, and have been updated in the 3.5 version of the MM. BoVD is a 3.0 source.

Is the Book of Exalted Deeds 3.0 or 3.5?