Please rate Delay Spell

[Hypersmurf]

One example off of the top of my head I can give is to cast a few Delayed area effect spell spells infront of a creature you bound within a Planar Binding spell, set to go off in 5 rounds certainly motivates the creature to accept your bargain, eh?

Out of curiosity - why is "Accept the bargain or my delayed Cone of Cold will get you!" more effective than "Accept the bargain or I'll cast Cone of Cold on you!"?

-Hyp.

 

[Spatula]

Useless feat. Delayed Blast Fireball's main use was that it got past Globes, and in 3E it has a higher save DC (and damage cap? don't remember). A metamagicked delayed spell doesn't have a better DC, doesn't have a higher damage cap, and possibly might not even penetrate a Globe, depending on the DM. It *might* be useful in some rare situations, but at a +3 increase and the cost of a feat, it's not worth it.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Only useful in a few contrived situations, and then frequently its not really useful but just has a cool special effect. Overall it just sucks at +3 levels.

 

[MerakSpielman]

There are character concepts where this could be useful. Mostly stealty ones, using it to plant a diversion and so on.

Clerics could use it to get an automatic healing spell 4 rounds after combat starts, knowing that they will probably be injured around then and have little time to spare.


But I agree with the others. +3 is absolutely insane. +1 maybe. I might even go for +0, since it doesn't really increase the effectiveness of the spell. Even at +0, I can't see the average adventuring spellcaster using it that often.

 

[Trine]

+1... alright, I could see that. +2 is strongly pushing it. +3 is just too much.

Useful for NPC's who want to do one specific thing. Much much less useful for PC's. The level adjustment would just mean it wouldn't be used all that much.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I can think of a few clever tricks for +0 spell level. It is already an extremely mediocre feat for a +1 penalty.

I would rate this a '0' if the option were allowed -- a perfect example of how not to create a metamagick feat.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Hypersmurf-2 reasons

1) Because just saying it might be a bluff, and the fiend might attempt to call you on it.

2) And because its more like, accept my bargain or be affected by 5 simultaneous Cone of Colds

 

[Hypersmurf]

2) And because its more like, accept my bargain or be affected by 5 simultaneous Cone of Colds

Yeah, but if you can cast five delayed Cones of Cold, then you could cast five Maximised Cones of Cold instead. They're not simultaneous, but the fiend isn't going anywhere...

-Hyp.

 

[Celebrim]

This is a feat which does not have alot of good symmetric uses, and as such won't benifit the average PC party.

This is a feat for individuals who solve problems with extreme stealth, reconaisance, and trickery and are probably acting alone.

I've had a character that could have made alot of use of this feat, but for standard PC's, it's pretty useless.

I'm not going to convince you that at a +3 penalty this is a better than average feat - even I don't believe that. But if you think this is a useless feat, give it to a high level Arcane Trickster or spell oriented Assassine NPC and use him as a foil for the PC party. Skilled use of this feat could be REALLY annoying, and I (having played that sort of character as a PC) can tell you that the designers probably were right to err on the side of caution with 'delayed' spells.

But that doesn't mean I don't think it wouldn't be better balanced at +2.

But +1 would make it _WAY_ too good of a spell.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Excuse my french, but the five delayed Cone of Colds is a poor idea -- even ignoring the question of energy immunity. Cast Otto's Irrestible Dance, Symbol of Pain, Symbol of Hopelessness, Horrid Wilting, and threaten to follow up with a Trap the Soul and I promise you that fiend will submit like a well-trained dog.

Delaying is a cute trick -- cute in the sense of diminuitive, but it is not substitute for the raw power of a much higher level spell.

Realistically, the only thing Delay is good for is Ghost Sound and Silent Image. I suppose you could do a Delayed True Strike, but if you want to go that route you will get better mileage out of Quicken.