Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
If Harm is broken, what's the best house rule for it?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Anubis" data-source="post: 359443" data-attributes="member: 2358"><p>Harm needs a save. Think about it, and compare it to other Clkeric spells.</p><p></p><p>Slay Living: 5th-level spell, touch, save or die, save takes 3d6+X damage</p><p></p><p>Destruction: 7th-level spell, target, save or die, save takes 10d6 damage</p><p></p><p>Notice that both have saves, and both deal damage on a successful save, but only one requires an attack. Attacks are easier to make than saves in nearly every circumstance, so a touch spell with no save is more powerful than a target spell with a save.</p><p></p><p>Harm and Heal, being 6th-level spells, should fall between these two spells.</p><p></p><p>Being reduced to 1d4 hp, for all intent and purposes, is the same as death. The power of this spell isn't about NPCs using it on PCs, but rather a PARTY of PCs going up against SINGLE creatures of an appropriate CR, such as a devil, demon, or dragon. When a PARTY goes up against a single powerful creature, a common tactic is for Cleric to delay and Fighter to ready an action to attack after Cleric casts his spell. They have discussed tactics already and know the score. Cleric uses Harm, Fighter attacks and kills. Not INSTANT death, but that is semantic nonsense because I have yet in my years of gaming seen an enemy bounce back from Harm. That along says something.</p><p></p><p>You can't make decisions on the POSSIBILITY that the enemy could dodge or heal himself or herself, but rather on averages. On average, anything hit by Harm dies.</p><p></p><p>This is simply not right, seeing as it overpowers EVRY OTHER SPELL on the Cleric list except for Miracle and MAYBE Gate. Against single enemies, Harm is UNBEATABLE.</p><p></p><p>If you MUST keep the spell powerful, I suggest giving it a save and getting rid of the touch attack. If that doesn't work for you, keep the touch attack, give it a save, make it 5th-level instead of 6th-level, and make Say Living and Raise Dead 6th-level spells.</p><p></p><p>Here is my personal suggestion.</p><p></p><p><strong>Harm</strong></p><p>Necromancy</p><p>Level: Clr 6, Destruction 6, Drd 7</p><p>Components: V, S</p><p>Casting Time: 1 action</p><p>Range: Touch</p><p>Target: Creature touched</p><p>Duration: Instantaneous</p><p>Saving Throw: Will half (see text)</p><p>Spell Resistance: Yes</p><p></p><p><em>Harm</em> charges a subject with negative energy that causes the loss of all but 1d4 hit points. Upon a successful save, the subject is reduced to half of its current hit points.</p><p></p><p>If used on an undead creature, <em>Harm</em> acts like <em>Heal</em>.</p><p></p><p>To balance this with Slay Living, which now *seems* more powerful, simply give Slay Living AND Raise Dead casting times of 1 round. That should fix all problems.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Anubis, post: 359443, member: 2358"] Harm needs a save. Think about it, and compare it to other Clkeric spells. Slay Living: 5th-level spell, touch, save or die, save takes 3d6+X damage Destruction: 7th-level spell, target, save or die, save takes 10d6 damage Notice that both have saves, and both deal damage on a successful save, but only one requires an attack. Attacks are easier to make than saves in nearly every circumstance, so a touch spell with no save is more powerful than a target spell with a save. Harm and Heal, being 6th-level spells, should fall between these two spells. Being reduced to 1d4 hp, for all intent and purposes, is the same as death. The power of this spell isn't about NPCs using it on PCs, but rather a PARTY of PCs going up against SINGLE creatures of an appropriate CR, such as a devil, demon, or dragon. When a PARTY goes up against a single powerful creature, a common tactic is for Cleric to delay and Fighter to ready an action to attack after Cleric casts his spell. They have discussed tactics already and know the score. Cleric uses Harm, Fighter attacks and kills. Not INSTANT death, but that is semantic nonsense because I have yet in my years of gaming seen an enemy bounce back from Harm. That along says something. You can't make decisions on the POSSIBILITY that the enemy could dodge or heal himself or herself, but rather on averages. On average, anything hit by Harm dies. This is simply not right, seeing as it overpowers EVRY OTHER SPELL on the Cleric list except for Miracle and MAYBE Gate. Against single enemies, Harm is UNBEATABLE. If you MUST keep the spell powerful, I suggest giving it a save and getting rid of the touch attack. If that doesn't work for you, keep the touch attack, give it a save, make it 5th-level instead of 6th-level, and make Say Living and Raise Dead 6th-level spells. Here is my personal suggestion. [B]Harm[/B] Necromancy Level: Clr 6, Destruction 6, Drd 7 Components: V, S Casting Time: 1 action Range: Touch Target: Creature touched Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: Will half (see text) Spell Resistance: Yes [I]Harm[/I] charges a subject with negative energy that causes the loss of all but 1d4 hit points. Upon a successful save, the subject is reduced to half of its current hit points. If used on an undead creature, [I]Harm[/I] acts like [I]Heal[/I]. To balance this with Slay Living, which now *seems* more powerful, simply give Slay Living AND Raise Dead casting times of 1 round. That should fix all problems. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
If Harm is broken, what's the best house rule for it?
Top