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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Asha'man" data-source="post: 4717986" data-attributes="member: 52424">This does not actually bear directly on your Arcane Archer, but I thought I should share it with you. It is my (untested) house rule on death spells:When you cast a death spell on someone, roll 1d8 (possibly it should be 1d10? Death spells tend to be single-target, and direct-damage tends to have multiple targets) per caster level (fortitude half). If the target has that many HP or less, they die. If they have more, there is no effect. This was directly inspired by the granted power of the Death domain, as I realized it was a great way to integrate save-or-dies with damage dealing. Under this version, save-or-dies become viable only once some regular damage has been dealt, unless the caster is much stronger than the target, in which case I think they're entitled to show off. It makes death spells something of a gambit: You get to roll a bigger die than with a direct damage spell, but if it doesn't actually kill the target, there is no effect. This makes the death spells the flashy fight-enders I think they should be, while keeping them mechanically distinct and hopefully, more balanced than they currently are. The one problem is that this doesn't solve "save or don't technically die, but you might as well" spells like Insanity, Dominate Person or Baleful Polymorph, because this mechanic seems forced and unfitting for those spells. (although I have some different ideas in the case of Flesh to Stone) Also, this might be something of an over-nerf in the case of Phantasmal Killer, but then, Illusions aren't supposed to be overt attack spells anyway, so maybe it's all right.</blockquote>

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