New Spell: Does it Work?

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Help me review this spell. Does it work? Is it balanced? The concept is similar to the scene in Lord of the Rings when Gandalf reappears in Fangorn Forest and his "aura" overwhelms the heroes. I looked through the Book of Exalted Deeds but didn't see anything that was really appropriate (the spells tended to be too powerful).

Thoughts?

Avagadro’s Flaring Brilliance
Evocation [Good, Light]

Level: Sor/Wiz 4
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Area: 60-ft. radius burst
Duration: 10 minutes/level (D)
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Spell Resistance: Yes

Holding your hands aloft, you make a number of arcane gestures that fill the air around you with glowing runes of light that slowly fade from sight. Upon being attacked by a creature of evil, the runes suddenly explode in a flare of brilliant light that causes the enemies around you to recoil with discomfort. Your attacker is left clutching its eyes in agony as the brilliant explosion of light has overwhelmed its senses.

This spell has no effect unless the caster is attacked by an Evil creature. When that occurs, the caster is illuminated by a brilliant flash of light that causes all creatures of Evil alignment within 60 feet of the caster to be dazzled for 1 round.

Furthermore, if within 60 feet of the caster, the attacker must make a Fortitude save or be blinded for 1d4 rounds. If the saving throw is failed by 5 or more, the attacker is instead stunned for 1d4 rounds. Even with a successful saving throw, the attacker is still dazzled for 1 round as above. An attacker can only be affected by the blinding/stunning effects of the spell once per casting, but can be affected repeatedly by the dazzling effect.

Sightless and non-Evil creatures are immune to the effects of this spell.

***

Blinded: The character cannot see. He takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), moves at half speed, and takes a –4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) to the blinded character. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.

Dazzled: The creature is unable to see well because of overstimulation of the eyes. A dazzled creature takes a –1 penalty on attack rolls, Search checks, and Spot checks.

Stunned: A stunned creature drops everything held, can’t take actions, takes a –2 penalty to AC, and loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any).

 

[Brazeku]

It's good, but I think it's better suited as a divine spell for a number of reasons, the chief one being that by the time you hit level 7 as a wizard, personal defensive spells like that have little purpose. You could fix that by making it a touch spell.

Although, the tone still seems more 'divine' than wizardly.

EDIT: a few other things- you'll want to specify what 'attacked' means - like melee attacks, ranged attacks - do they actually have to connect for the effect to trigger? And a 60 ft burst is probably a bit much, I'd drop it to 30.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

It's made by a White Robed wizard who specializes in abjuration magic, thus what could be considered a divine aspect to the nature of the spell.

I used 60 feet based off the radius for daylight. I figured it's a higher level spell so should at least be the same radius. Also, with a 30-foot radius, ranged attackers would have a much easier time of avoiding triggering the effects.

I used "attacked" because I wanted to capture melee attacks, ranged attacks, targeted spells, etc. The attack doesn't have to be successful, it just has to be a hostile action against the caster.

Hmmm, but maybe I should add the qualifier that Evil creatures must also be hostile. Otherwise being attacked by a single Evil creature could reveal any number of other Evil creatures in the area who may have no intention of attacking the caster (or who may not even be hostile to him).

 

[Brazeku]

Oh, for some reason I was under the impression that it hit ALL evil creatures within 60 with the possibility of stunning/blinding. If it's only the attacker then that's not a big deal.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

No, it does affect all evil creatures (at least, as written). But it takes one evil creature to actually attack the caster to trigger the brilliant flare.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Would the effect trigger if an Evil caster from, say, 400 feet away, targeted an ally of Avagadro with a fireball? Or does the "attack" have to target the caster of this spell in order for the spell to trigger?

It seems okay to me. At first I thought it was a little weak for 4th level, but, with the duration and area of effect, it seems okay.

Dave

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

The attacker must target the caster but doesn't have to be within 60 feet. Casting from long range still triggers the spell, but the attacker wouldn't be subjected to the spell's effects (although the attacker's evil allies within 60 feet would be). When I was designing the spell, I took that into consideration and figured that if the attacker was beyond 60 feet the distance would be great enough to "dilute" the flare for the attacker.

Area effect spells do not trigger the spell's effects unless the point of origin is a creature and that creature is the caster.