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<blockquote data-quote="Olrox17" data-source="post: 7022012" data-attributes="member: 6801397">Good point. I agree that control spells are useful in breaking the routine of &quot;I attack, I hit, I damage&quot;. And that's why I decided early on that HP thresholds should NOT grant an immunity, but rather a reduced effect.An example:A player casts hypnotic pattern (a third level AoE spell) on a Roc (CR 11, 248 HP). The Roc fails its save. According to the rules, the Roc should now be charmed and incapacitated for quite a while, without a save to end the effect.In my system, the Roc would now be charmed for the same duration. Not incapacitated. I'm pretty sure the players will still be able to use the charmed condition to their advantage!Yes, HP thresholds would definitely make control spells casted from low level slots less powerful. That's intentional. Right now, direct damage spells and control spell are roughly balanced at the time you get them. Fireball and Hypnotic Pattern, for instance, are both capable of wiping the floor with a group of, say, gnolls. The two spells are balanced when you both get them at level 5. Fast forward to high levels, when you're dealing with a group of frost giants. Fireball deals around 25% of their health, while Hypnotic Pattern is just as good as before, if not better, simply because you can now spam it. Crowd control spells get more and more overpowered as you level, because they stay just as effective while you get to cast more of them. That said, it is my intention to keep control spells useful even when they have no chance to beat the HP threshold. Through a reduced effect, as I said above.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Olrox17, post: 7022012, member: 6801397"] Good point. I agree that control spells are useful in breaking the routine of "I attack, I hit, I damage". And that's why I decided early on that HP thresholds should NOT grant an immunity, but rather a reduced effect. An example: A player casts hypnotic pattern (a third level AoE spell) on a Roc (CR 11, 248 HP). The Roc fails its save. According to the rules, the Roc should now be charmed and incapacitated for quite a while, without a save to end the effect. In my system, the Roc would now be charmed for the same duration. Not incapacitated. I'm pretty sure the players will still be able to use the charmed condition to their advantage! Yes, HP thresholds would definitely make control spells casted from low level slots less powerful. That's intentional. Right now, direct damage spells and control spell are roughly balanced at the time you get them. Fireball and Hypnotic Pattern, for instance, are both capable of wiping the floor with a group of, say, gnolls. The two spells are balanced when you both get them at level 5. Fast forward to high levels, when you're dealing with a group of frost giants. Fireball deals around 25% of their health, while Hypnotic Pattern is [I]just as good as before[/I], if not better, simply because you can now spam it. Crowd control spells get more and more overpowered as you level, because they stay just as effective while you get to cast more of them. That said, it is my intention to keep control spells useful even when they have no chance to beat the HP threshold. Through a reduced effect, as I said above. [/QUOTE]

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