Michael's MtG Spell thread (last update: Blockbuster 3/7/7)

[Michael Morris]

This is just a thread to keep myself sharp drawing up 1 new spell per day. Comments welcome.

Let's start with a spell from red's softer side.

Sense Emotion
Divination (Insight) [Red]
Level: (0), Brd 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Personal
Duration: Instantaneous
Target: You

"How many quarrels started, how many lives lost when a single gesture meant in friendship was mistook?" - Princess Anatole.

By means of this spell you ascertain a creature's emotion relative to you - this spell grants a +20 insight bonus to your sense motive check for this purpose. You roll that check as this spell is cast.

 

[JimAde]

Nice. Does "for this purpose" mean that it would not apply to, say, an attempt to defeat a feint?

Also, there's no duration. Do you make the Sense Motive roll as part of the casting?

 

[Michael Morris]

Nice. Does "for this purpose" mean that it would not apply to, say, an attempt to defeat a feint?

Also, there's no duration. Do you make the Sense Motive roll as part of the casting?

I forgot the duration. Making the sense motive roll a part of the casting dovetails nicely with this little cantrip though. And yes, this doesn't help with feints.

Also upped the bonus to +20 - if true strike can do +20 for attack rolls this is in line, especially considering the one use nature.

 

[punkorange]

nice, I'm looking forward to seeing more from this thread.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Very nice.

 

[tigycho]

Guidance

Divination
Level: Clr 0, Drd 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 minute or until discharged
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell imbues the subject with a touch of divine guidance. The creature gets a +1 competence bonus on a single attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. It must choose to use the bonus before making the roll to which it applies.

You are suggesting, then, that the your spell is roughly equal in power to Guidance. The reasons must be because Guidance...

...has a duration
...can be used for any skill check, attack roll or saving throw
...only grants a +1

True Strike

Divination
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

You gain temporary, intuitive insight into the immediate future during your next attack. Your next single attack roll (if it is made before the end of the next round) gains a +20 insight bonus. Additionally, you are not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target.

Focus: A small wooden replica of an archery target.

You are suggesting, then, that the your spell is one level in power below True Strike. The reasons must be because True Strike...

...can be used for an attack roll

Thus, we can see that a skill check bonus is worth less than an attack roll (which suggests that the bonus for guidance should really be a bit higher). How much better is a bonus to an attack roll? One spell level, apparently.

Can anyone else suss out anything else from these correlations? Are there any other spells by RAW that affect skill checks? If so, maybe we can derive their relative values.

Personally, I would go back to your original formulation of a +10 on sense motive for a 0 level spell, but that's a gut reaction.

 

[Michael Morris]

You are suggesting, then, that the your spell is roughly equal in power to Guidance. The reasons must be because Guidance...

...has a duration

And this does not.

...can be used for any skill check, attack roll or saving throw

skill checks, and for that matter only one specific application of one skill (sense motive has other purposes).

...only grants a +1

Given everything else that guidance does it's irrelevant.

You are suggesting, then, that the your spell is one level in power below True Strike. The reasons must be because True Strike...

...can be used for an attack roll

Thus, we can see that a skill check bonus is worth less than an attack roll (which suggests that the bonus for guidance should really be a bit higher). How much better is a bonus to an attack roll? One spell level, apparently.

Can anyone else suss out anything else from these correlations? Are there any other spells by RAW that affect skill checks? If so, maybe we can derive their relative values.

Personally, I would go back to your original formulation of a +10 on sense motive for a 0 level spell, but that's a gut reaction.

You're missing a lot more.

1) This is a bonus not to one skill - but to one particular application of a skill. Sense Motive has several other uses that this cantrip doesn't aid the caster with.
2) This is a bard spell. Bards don't get 1st level spells until 2nd level and their "people spells" are a lot better at 1st. For instance, who cares how someone feels about you if you can just cast charm person on them. Bards also have a class ability to sway emotions.
3) I can't think of anyone who would choose this spell over any 1st level spell a bard has to pick from, so that alone yells it needs to drop.

 

[Michael Morris]

Today is blue's turn - remaining low level. New mechanic here.

Silent Casting
Transmutation [Blue, Metamagic]
Level: (2)
Components: S, F

You expend a charge from a wand as part of the casting of this spell. This spell becomes silenced as per the feat. Your level, and not the level the wand is crafted at, controls all level variant effects of the spell contained in the wand.

 

[tigycho]

And this does not.

You're missing a lot more.

1) This is a bonus not to one skill - but to one particular application of a skill. Sense Motive has several other uses that this cantrip doesn't aid the caster with.
2) This is a bard spell. Bards don't get 1st level spells until 2nd level and their "people spells" are a lot better at 1st. For instance, who cares how someone feels about you if you can just cast charm person on them. Bards also have a class ability to sway emotions.
3) I can't think of anyone who would choose this spell over any 1st level spell a bard has to pick from, so that alone yells it needs to drop.

Please understand, I wasn't actually trying to tell you your spell was bad. I was trying to see if I could find any correlations between your spell and other existing spells that have simlar/related effects, in an effort to help test it.

Maybe I didn't make that anywhere nearly clear enough?

Re 1: I didn't miss that initially, but when it came to drafting my reply, it slipped out of my head. So, yeah, your spell may have the same bonus as True Strike, but we already know, from other parts of RAW, that attack bonuses are 'worth more' than skill bonuses, and your skill bonus is quite narrowly focused.

 

[tigycho]

Today is blue's turn - remaining low level. New mechanic here.

Silent Casting
Transmutation [Blue, Metamagic]
Level: (2)
Components: S, F

You expend a charge from a wand as part of the casting of this spell. This spell becomes silenced as per the feat. Your level, and not the level the wand is crafted at, controls all level variant effects of the spell contained in the wand.

New mechanic indeed. Ok, so, I have a Wand of Magic Missiles. I cast Silent Casting, and expend a charge of my wand, and I get a silenced Magic Missile, with variables determined as if by MY abilities, not the wand's (which operate at minimum possible caster level, if I recall)?

I don't think I've ever seen a Metamagic spell before. Nifty idea.

I hope I understood the intent correctly.