Persistent Spell - Abuse?

[Thanee]

I like a feat (i.e. Greater Extend Spell) that increases the duration step by step, from rounds to minutes to tens of minutes to hours to days.

A +2 modifier per step sounds about right, as does Extend Spell as a prerequisite.

Bye
Thanee

 

[fafhrd]

For another option, if allowed, you could go with Elemental body from the Spell compendium (yes that one again). 7th level. Hour per level. If you take the air form, you get flight equal to your movement(perfect). While, by default, it isn't quite as fast as the other options, it also grants you immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, crits, and flanking. You get darkvision 60' and the air mastery ability. All in all a pretty nice package.

 

[TheGogmagog]

That's what I was thinking, Thanee. If you are doing house rules.
From round per level to min per level +2, to 10 min per level +4, to hour per level +6. By the time you have 7th level slots, the round per level spell will last most of your waking day.

Unfortunatly my group prefers to stick with Raw, regardless who is DMing.

 

[Jack Simth]

I've always like the idea of a Persistent Acid Arrow. Take 2d4 points of damage every round all day. THAT'S something you'd have to have taken care of.

Slight problem - Acid Arrow doesn't qualify ("Range: Long: 400 feet + 40 feet/level") as it isn't fixed.

Well.... maybe if you cast it on yourself....

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Jack Simth
Slight problem - Acid Arrow doesn't qualify ("Range: Long: 400 feet + 40 feet/level") as it isn't fixed.

Well.... maybe if you cast it on yourself....

Ah, my bad. I guess I missed that first line of the feat. People in my group are known to do that. It's always like 'This is uber' then someone else goes 'That's too buff' and the w/e is looked at and the sentence specifically denying exactly what is being done is pointed out and the player is like 'Awww.'

Happens often with every player, so it's not like anyone of us is cheating.

Still Persistent Acid Arrow would be cool. *sigh*

 

[Jack Simth]

Compare to Extended Maximized Acid Arrow: 8 damage per round for 2*caster level rounds (minimum caster level 13th for the 7th level slot) for 16*caster level damage (if not stopped with Dispel Magic or some such...) or an Empowered Maximized Acid Arrow *+1d4 damage per round for caster level rounds (averages 10.5 * caster level, minimum caster level 15th for the 8th level slot). Now, the persistant variety, while only averaging 5 damage/round, is going to end up dealing 5*10*60*24=72,000 HP of damage (barring Acid Resistence or the spell being terminated, of course). How much healing can your Cleric put out over the course of the day? Hope the Wizard's one prepared (Greater) Dispel Magic works... or that somebody has a Resist Energy handy....

Mind you, if you happen to have Divine Metamagic (Persistant), what's that do to, say, a Symbol of X; does it go from Permanent until Discharged to 1 day (which means it just keeps going off once it's triggered the first time?)

 

[ARandomGod]

I've always like the idea of a Persistent Acid Arrow. Take 2d4 points of damage every round all day. THAT'S something you'd have to have taken care of.

AAHHH! Get it off me, it burns, IT BURNS!


Dayum, I'm gonna have to suggest that one at my next game session. Heck, why wait until then? I'm gonna email the suggestion right now.

Slight problem - Acid Arrow doesn't qualify ("Range: Long: 400 feet + 40 feet/level") as it isn't fixed.

Well.... maybe if you cast it on yourself....

Aww... That's what I get for just simply not having the Persistant Spell in any game I GM in (but someone in a game I'm playing in does have it).

Now, the persistant variety, while only averaging 5 damage/round, is going to end up dealing 5*10*60*24=72,000 HP of damage (barring Acid Resistence or the spell being terminated, of course). How much healing can your Cleric put out over the course of the day? Hope the Wizard's one prepared (Greater) Dispel Magic works... or that somebody has a Resist Energy handy....

Ahh, this reminds me of the first adventure in a game-world I really enjoyed (Custom). There were these spiders, see... and if they bite you they were poisoned. Take d4 damage, fort save DC 15 for half. Now do it again in a minute (secondary effect, normal, nothing to worry about). Now again one minute later... and again... Ok, sure it only lasted 10 minutes. But players tended to THINK it was persistant after a few minutes.

Plus, for first to second level characters (actually sometimes third, depending on how you got this far), 10d4 points of damage is really bad. It was meant mainly to suck up the cleric's healing. I found it very frightening when I was a player. When I was the GM later on (running it on new ppl), they found it much, much worse. Of course, they didn't bring along a cleric (or a druid, or a bard, or a paladin). Good think THEY had found the healing fountain room that we missed when I was a PC. It was awesome to see them start running for it after a few minutes had passed.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I like a feat (i.e. Greater Extend Spell) that increases the duration step by step, from rounds to minutes to tens of minutes to hours to days.

A +2 modifier per step sounds about right, as does Extend Spell as a prerequisite.

Bye
Thanee

that's what I've done and it works out well. I also dont allow it to work with spells of a fixed duration, so that spell: flight, swift if that lasts 1 round then it wouldn't work, if it is 1 round a level it would. Also I modifed some spells that I thought would be abusive with this feat to have a fixed duration, usually as if the eprson casting it were 10th level.

 

[Patlin]

There really isn't much in the way of middle ground with persistent spell. Nearly every option is useless (persistent prestidigitation) or hideously broken (persistent wraithstrike--and if your DM is silly enough to allow this get a greater ring of spellstoring so you can give it to the fighters

I agree. There are very few spells which can be made persistent, and most of them are useless. Of the ones that are usefull, they seem overly so to the point of being broken. Persistent Snipers shot would allow an arcan trickster to sneak attack without range restrictions all day. Combine with overland flight and improved invisibility and reign down sneak attacks with long range spell at over 400 feat? No, it just seems wrong.

I think I'll scratch extend and persistent out of my plans completely, and replace them with purify and repeat. Neither of these thrill me, but at least what they do is fairly well defined and at least occasionally usefull. Now if only more than half my party were good aligned...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think I'll scratch extend and persistent out of my plans completely, and replace them with purify and repeat. Neither of these thrill me, but at least what they do is fairly well defined and at least occasionally usefull. Now if only more than half my party were good aligned...

I guess you are going for something like an Arcane Trickster, but if I am wrong, a good option is Sculpt Spell. Makes a lot of area effect spells more useful...