No ranged-attack force effects

[wocky]

Can you think of any good reason not to have force effects that act as a ranged attack in the core books? By ranged attack I mean a spell that can be fired at any point in space instead of a particular opponent.

The only thing I can think of is that such a spell would let you fire at ethereal beings you are not able to see (as long as you know in which square they are and at a 50% miss chance for invisibility)... but I'm not sure that would be particularly broken.

 

[DanMcS]

Orb of Force is in Complete Arcane, and is a ranged touch attack. Is that what you mean?

Spiritual weapon is a force spell which attacks a target at range.

 

[wocky]

Spiritual weapon still needs you to be able to target (i.e. see) the objective... so it's not what I'm looking for.

Orb of Force is exactly what I mean. Why isn't there a core (i.e. PHB) spell like this one? And why is it a 4th level spell, when it's effect is just doing damage (it might as well have been level 1)? What is it so powerful about a ranged attack force effect?

 

[Miles Pilitus]

There are the lesser orbs, which I'm pretty sure are 1st level spells.

 

[Warmage-in-Onley]

Orb of Force is exactly what I mean. Why isn't there a core (i.e. PHB) spell like this one? And why is it a 4th level spell, when it's effect is just doing damage (it might as well have been level 1)? What is it so powerful about a ranged attack force effect?

Well the PHB has what it has as far as spells go, there's really no why involved as there are space considerations. Orb of Force is a 4th level spell for some good reasons - 10d6 damage, no save, no sr, no energy resistance, medium range, effect spell rather than targeted spell, and force type. Why so powerful? All of the above except for the damage!

Alas, there is no lesser orb of force that I know of.

 

[Pickaxe]

Can you think of any good reason not to have force effects that act as a ranged attack in the core books? By ranged attack I mean a spell that can be fired at any point in space instead of a particular opponent.

Bad memories of the magic bow of that ranger from the AD&D cartoon?

--Axe

 

[Paraxis]

Isn't magic missle a good enough level 1 force effect, I mean it auto hits so no crit like with a RTA but , auto hits is real nice to have especialy for a level 1 spell. If you want an RTA force I think wizards has a 1d6 magic missle alternate on their website that is one.

 

[Bront]

Well the PHB has what it has as far as spells go, there's really no why involved as there are space considerations. Orb of Force is a 4th level spell for some good reasons - 10d6 damage, no save, no sr, no energy resistance, medium range, effect spell rather than targeted spell, and force type. Why so powerful? All of the above except for the damage!

Alas, there is no lesser orb of force that I know of.

Some people think Orb of Force is broken at L4, and should be an L5 spell. Mostly the no SR, no DR, no Energy resistance part.

 

[Warmage-in-Onley]

Some people think Orb of Force is broken at L4, and should be an L5 spell. Mostly the no SR, no DR, no Energy resistance part.

Generally the same people that think ALL of the Orbs are broken, and I don't want to get involved in that debate. I do believe that Orb of Force is balanced with the other Orb spells - the lack of energy resistance is countered by the reduced damage.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

The reduced damage and the lack of a secondary effect, let's not forget.

Later
silver