My rant on Energy Substitution.

[Bonedagger]

Energy Substtution was a bad idea from the beginning.

It makes the game (more ) unbalanced.


Example (Sonic vs. Fire.. Yes, I know. Have been discussed a lot):

If Sonic was that easy to come by everybody would be using it. Most supernatural creatures are immune to the more mudane elements but not sonic. After a little planetraveling most would know this. They would then share their experience with the next generation... Why even keep those fireball scrolls around.


(I'm also assuming that a sorc. can chose this feat. And then what about all those with resistances. If they have just one energy vulnerbility their resistances becomes more or less useless when facing a sorc.)

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The spell Shout does IMO give a good example on how much damage (And sideeffects) a sonic attack should do for a 4th level spell.

BTW. Who got the idea that fire damage should equal sonic damage. Didn't anybody get the idea that some thing are just less damaging than others? (See Shout) Another reason why nobody uses sonic (fire)balls in the core rules.

LOL. "Oh no. All elements are equally damaging to everything."...


Energy Substitution seems like a munchkins idea to try and gain easy power.

 

[smetzger]

One thing. Microwaves are sonic energy and are pretty deadly IRL. When I think of a SonicBall spell I think of a burst of microwave energy that 'cooks' creatures.

 

[Darklone]

Energy substitution is splatbook content and therefore banned from my games.

I do like the sonic spells elsewhere, shatter and shout are good examples, but IMHO the only way to balance that Energy sub feat (sonics... did anyone take something else?) is to rule that silence stops it completely.

Which has been discussed in the rules forum to the death.

 

[Psion]

One thing. Microwaves are sonic energy

Not. Microwaves are electromagnetic energy. Sonics are vibrational kinetic energy.

 

[Enkhidu]

Not. Microwaves are electromagnetic energy. Sonics are vibrational kinetic energy.

Yup, he's right.

Y'know, I always viewed sonics as literally "shaking things apart," when I describe what happens in the middle of a sonic effect.

 

[Uller]

I encountered my first PC using energy substitution the last game I DMed.

It didn't seem overly unbalanced. For a Sorcerer, it turns a 1 action (fire based) fireball into a full round (sonic) fireball. That's a big cost, IMO. For wizards, the cost is less of course, but it still costs a feat. If it bothers you so much, just make it use up a higher level spell slot (maybe 1 or 2 levels). Or just ban it.

IMG, all splat book stuff is subject to DM review before it can be used and even if I allow it in one game, I may ban it later (consistancy be damned...if something is screwing up the balance in my game, I'm gonna ban it).

 

[Bonedagger]

Or just ban it.

This is just my rant. I never allowed Energy Substitution in the first place.

 

[Taluron]

"... Energy sub feat (sonics... did anyone take something else?) ..."

Well, my cold-themed wizard took substitution Cold and my electric-themed wizard took sub Electricity. I don't have any with substritution sonic since I've yet to make a character that specializes in that area. If I every give my bard any sorc or wiz level I may but until then...

 

[Uller]

Another thing you can do is increase or decrease damage dice based on energy type. Rank the energy types from most to least effective:

Fire
Electricity
Cold
Acid
Sonic.

When you switch energy types, if it is lower on the scale, you reduce the damage die type as per the weapons of varying size chart. So d6 goes to d4. You never increase the die type (that would be munchkin). Maybe Acid damage is divided over several rounds and sonic adds a chance to deafen and stun the target (Fort save to avoid).

So a fireball in any other form would only do d4 damage per level (max 10d4). An Acid Fireball would divide it's damage over 1 round per 3 levels of the caster (3d4 per round). A Sonic Fireball would stun targets for 1 round and deafen them for 1 minute per level of the caster(fort save negates) or something like that...

 

[Piratecat]

It's caused no problems in my game. *shrug* I think it's fine.