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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 361692" data-attributes="member: 3051">I'm of the opinion that Harm needs to be fixed, but Touch spells in general also need a tweak.  I mean, a range of Touch should be a BAD thing.  Instead, you're forced to have dragons go through elaborate precautions just to stay alive.Part of the problem, IMHO, is that these attacks are too consistent.  There's no save, and at high level you can Cast Defensively automatically.  So here are some changes to make things more unpredictable:1> When a touch attack is done, it is considered to be still in the process of casting from the moment it's cast to the moment it's delivered.  That means if you're hit while trying to deliver it (by an AoO or readied action) you must make a Concentration check as if hit while casting a spell.  A roll of a 1 on this check means you hit yourself accidentally (no save, no SR, WHAM)This partially solves the "Cleric take an AoO and Harm the dragon" problem, at least if they cast BEFORE running in.  Getting hit for that much is going to fizzle the spell, and there's the off chance of much worse.  Now, admittedly in the base MM all Dragons have a DEX of 10 and no Combat Reflexes, but that's an easy change (IMC the average dragon is DEX ~16 with 4 less STR and 2 less CON, and most pick Combat Reflexes early on).  Since they have nice reach, it becomes very tough to deliver a touch spell safely.2> On a touch attack roll, if you roll a 1 you hit yourself (no save, no SR).  A "ranged touch" attack does the same, although at the DMs discretion you could instead hit an unintended target near the line of sight.On the other hand, if you roll a 20 on the attack roll, you do a "critical" attack, bypassing saves (and SR?).3> Casting Defensively is too consistent.  At low levels you can almost never succeed; at high levels it's automatic.  So, change how Cast Defensively works, making it more like an opposed roll against the other guy's attack bonus.For example, make the existing check a bit easier at low levels (DC 10+(2*spell level) instead of 15+spell level), and use however much you exceed the check by as a Dodge AC bonus against AoOs.  Failure still causes you to lose the spell, though.EXAMPLE: Bob the Cleric (level 15, CON 12, Concentration +20) wants to Harm a Great Wyrm.  He runs up, and tries to cast the spell defensively.  The DC is 22 (10+6*2), so he'll succeed unless he rolls a 1, but we want to know by how much.  He rolls a 10, giving a result of 30, so his AC increases by 8 against the resulting AoO.  In most cases that'd make him practically untouchable, and most enemies wouldn't waste their AoO hitting something with that kind of AC bonus.  In this case, though, the dragon still whacks him anyway, causing him to lose the spell; bobbing and weaving doesn't help you dodge an arm the size of a bus.Now, personally, I like this better than just adding saves on a case-by-case basis, but you can do that too.</blockquote>

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