Miasma: Slow Inevitable Death?

[Shaele]

--Vaxalon--
"but a 20th level fighter on his own is screwed"

That's true even without the Miasma spell. People without magical backup at high level are as screwed as infantry without artillery support.
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I'm not sure I buy this... you're saying that a 20th level fighter shouldn't be a match for a 7th level druid with this spell prepped?

Round 1. Fighter closes and attacks, causes a bit of damage.
Round 1. Druid casts Miasma on the defensive (not too tough, since it's a 4th level spell).
Round 2. Fighter is choking, manages to hit druid again, who is now hurt pretty badly.
Round 2. Druid casts nifty pass-through-plants spell on the defensive to escape and wait for the fighter to die.
Round 30. Fighter, unable to save himself, expires. Druid, fully healed, walks over and dances around the corpse.

 

[JLXC]

Heh... this spell is Barokin!

Truly. Imagine a 7th level Druid with Craft Wand feat. Imagine Wands of Miasma in the hands of low level Druids.

Miasma is wrong. No save, you die unless I cast a SUCCESSFUL Dispel Magic on you, at 4th freakin level.

 

[Caliban]

--Vaxalon--
"but a 20th level fighter on his own is screwed"

That's true even without the Miasma spell. People without magical backup at high level are as screwed as infantry without artillery support.
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I'm not sure I buy this... you're saying that a 20th level fighter shouldn't be a match for a 7th level druid with this spell prepped?

Round 1. Fighter closes and attacks, causes a bit of damage.
Round 1. Druid casts Miasma on the defensive (not too tough, since it's a 4th level spell).
Round 2. Fighter is choking, manages to hit druid again, who is now hurt pretty badly.
Round 2. Druid casts nifty pass-through-plants spell on the defensive to escape and wait for the fighter to die.
Round 30. Fighter, unable to save himself, expires. Druid, fully healed, walks over and dances around the corpse.

A 7th level druid wouldn't last even a single round against a 20th level fighter.

I've seen 10th level fighters deal 60+ points of damage a round, a 20th level fighter would easily be in the 90+ range.

Even assuming max hit points and a 16 Con, a 7th level druid would have 77 hit points at most.

If you are assuming that the fighter starts within weapons reach of the druid, the druid is dead, even if he get's initiative.

Now if you want to assume that the druid is safely out of reach of the 20th level fighter when he casts his spell, and is able to escape before the fighter reaches him, the spell will last 35 rounds. You can hold your breath for double your con. A 20th level fighter will probably have a Con in the low 20's, due to magic. Even if you assume a Con of only 15, he can go 30 rounds before he has to make suffocation checks. At 20th level his Fort saves are going to be high enough to allow him to last another 5 rounds easily.

But that only proves that level 20 fighters are hard to kill. When dealing with other 7th level characters (especially arcane casters), the spell is almost automatic death for those with low Con scores, unless they have access to magic that will allow them to live without breathing. (And you can't cast spells with somatic components when you can't breathe.)

 

[Greatwyrm]

Not to take a swipe specifically at JLXC, but a number of people wave things off as "broken", but don't make any suggestions for improving the game balance of those same items.

Given the restrictions I've already stated in earlier posts, I think the spell is powerful, but not to the point of destroying balance. For those who insist Miasma is just too good, what would you do to fix it?

--Should the duration be shorter? (e.g. 1 minute, X rounds/level)

--Should there be a save? (e.g. Fort negates? Fort saves instead of CON checks to avoid suffocation?)

--Shorter range? (e.g. Close or Touch)

Be specific (and "throw the spell out entirely" doesn't count).

 

[Greatwyrm]

You know what a Druids focus is right? Some misletoe...I make a variety of misletoe necklaces for different sized animals and voila, casting while wildshaped. Sure, you might need somebody to hang it around your neck and the snake shifted druid is out of luck, but it's not much of restriction.....

Yep, Druids wave mistletoe and holly and make fire fall from the sky and creatures leap from the earth. It's shameful, but true.

However, and I don't have a direct quote for this, I believe you need a form with some kind of hands or similar appendage to properly use material components and divine foci. I'm pretty sure that's in the description for the feat that lets you cast while Wild Shaped. Can anybody with MotW handy back me up on this?

 

[Rashak Mani]

Maybe a save of some sort should be in order... or a better definition of what some being attacked by Miasma can do. The text can be understood in many ways and leads to misintepretation.

If its only intended as a hassling spell then saves every round to concentrate or speak is in order... if its a killer a simple first round save that fails or stops effect could be the solution.

 

[Kosh]

(And you can't cast spells with somatic components when you can't breathe.)

Should 'somatic' be replaced with 'verbal' in the above quote?...

 

[Greatwyrm]

Maybe a save of some sort should be in order... or a better definition of what some being attacked by Miasma can do. The text can be understood in many ways and leads to misintepretation.

If its only intended as a hassling spell then saves every round to concentrate or speak is in order... if its a killer a simple first round save that fails or stops effect could be the solution.

How about a save during the first round to avoid the death effect. The gas keeps you from casting verbal component spells, yelling for help, screaming, or anything else vocal for the normal duration. Otherwise, you can take any action you normally could.

 

[JLXC]

Fortitude save.

Still deadly to Mages and such... but not insta-kill 4th level spell.

 

[Caliban]

Should 'somatic' be replaced with 'verbal' in the above quote?...

Yes...