Kwalish Kid
Explorer
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/ei/ei20030105a
In this article by Andy Collins, Epic Insights: Tweaking Your Epic-Level Game, we see that WotC has owned up to the fact that spells like Harm just don't fit in D&D.
The article is really a showcase for a No "Save or Die" Spells variant of D&D. Perhaps this will be incorporated into 3.5E in the summer, if it receives accolades on the WotC message boards.
(Note that there are two other variants given some space, but the second also includes the changes to Harm. The third is pretty much useless: it's about not stacking metamagic feats. Heck, in our game, we thought that you couldn't apply the same feat to a single spell twice, so this is news to me.)
In this article by Andy Collins, Epic Insights: Tweaking Your Epic-Level Game, we see that WotC has owned up to the fact that spells like Harm just don't fit in D&D.
While that can be a reasonable solution for groups willing to look past the letter of the rules in favor of the spirit of an enjoyable game, it's not always enough simply to say, "Hey, stop casting harm on every dragon you meet!"
The article is really a showcase for a No "Save or Die" Spells variant of D&D. Perhaps this will be incorporated into 3.5E in the summer, if it receives accolades on the WotC message boards.
(Note that there are two other variants given some space, but the second also includes the changes to Harm. The third is pretty much useless: it's about not stacking metamagic feats. Heck, in our game, we thought that you couldn't apply the same feat to a single spell twice, so this is news to me.)
Last edited: