Mordenkainen's Disjunction: Should it be changed?

[William Ronald]

I have had a few players grumble when one of my characters has used the spell to take down an enemy's protections, and some of them were too close. I think a player should value a character's life more than a PC's equipment.

I also have seen a few DISASTROUS uses of the spell, so it is not used very often.

A logical alternative to Mordenkainen's Disjunction would be an 8th level spell that does the automatic dispel magic without draining items. (There was a 10th level spell, Nozur's Nullification, in the old Skills and Powers series that had a similar effect.)

 

[Psiblade]

I am definitely agree with the fact that this is a 9th level spell. The spell should be powerful and dangerous like wish. I am not in favor of changing the spell.


-Psiblade

 

[Fenes 2]

Sheesh! I read through part of the thread and even though the vast majority of voters would keep the spell as is, I can't beleive the number of mamby-pamby GMs out there! You won't use it? You won't use or allow other spells because they hurt the players too badly? Gimme a break! The world is a dangerous and lethal place! Go play the RPG, "Care Bears" or sumpin'!

Again, what is the point in playing if you don't have fun? Is it that difficult to grasp that not everyone likes to play in a "dangerous and lethal place" where PCs can die anytime and a single spell can wipe out items a PC and player enjoy?

I can't believe that all those "non-maby-Pamby DMs" would use such a spell if their players told them that it would ruin their fun. Would you do that, straight in the face of your friend, after he told you that using that spell would ruin the game for him?

(I know, you don't play with such people, but I wish you'd accept without eyerolling that not everyone shares your view. I don't play like that, but I have no problem with people playing "lethal" games, and I don't think it is wrong to play like that (even though I'd never do it myself).

 

[Victim]

Sure, Disjunction is a 9th level spell and should be powerful. However, in terms of permanent damage to characters, Disjunction is more effective than most attack magics, and has fewer countermeasures. Because it autodispels most effects, characters and NPCs heavily dependent on buffs for defense become helpless kittens. A powerful wizard foe, more powerful than the party, could have his defenses removed and thus die easily. With epic rules in effect, Disjunction is generally more effective than epic dispels. Obviously, the effectiveness of Disjunction compared to similar spells is out of line, as is the essentially irreperable damage it does to a character.

 

[hong]

IMO the easiest solution is to just ban all 9th level spells.


Hong "you think I'm kidding, don't you?" Ooi

 

[Nine Hands]

For me the permanent destruction of magic items is kind of a pain for everyone. I changed it so that the spell tears away magic of the item, but eventually it returns. It takes approximately 1 day per level of the caster for the magic items to return to normal.

There is an option to focus the spell on a single item to permanently destroy it. I am also toying with an idea to use action dice (since I use action dice in my campaign) to boost the effect of this. So a spellcaster could spend 2 action dice to permanently drain one target's items within the area of the spell, or spend 1 aciton die to target the spell on a specific person, etc.