Please rate Sculpt Spell

[Merlion]

I gave it a 7. Upon examination, it can do some pretty nifty things.

 

[Stalker0]

One of my favorite metamagic feats. Its better than enlarge spell for the most part, very customizable and at only +1 level very handy. I agree its definately more for sorcs, and goo for them!!! I've always thought metamagics were more for sorcs anyway. I give it an 8.

 

[Malin Genie]

IIRC there was a long and rather heated debate about this very feat ?here or ?some other boards...

The particular application being questioned was sculpted burning hands - the argument being whether you could get a 40ft cone out of it or not.

On the 'pro' side - 1d4/level to 5d4 is not much damage, so even in a cone where it catches a lot of enemies it isn't necessarily unbalanced. Also, the Feat specifically says "40ft cone" with no reference to the original spell statistics.

On the 'con' side, if you allow it, you have a 2nd level spell which is comparable to a triple-enlarged BH - a 4th level spell. Also, the Feat doesn't mention being able to change the Range - for Burning Hands this is 10ft.

If you read the PHB section under Range it states that the Range is the maximum distance from the caster at which the spell can have any effect - so somewhat counter-intuitively if a 5th level caster throws a Fireball to 600ft exactly, the Fireball only spreads backwards, not forwards, as the Area cannot extend past the Range. Similarly, the 'con' folks argue, you could sculpt a burning hands to a 40ft cone, but only that part of the cone which lies in the (10ft) Range of the spell actually "happens", the rest of the Area is lost (like the other half of the Fireball in the previous example.)

 

[Malin Genie]

IIRC there was a long and rather heated debate about this very feat ?here or ?some other boards...

The particular application being questioned was sculptedburning hands - the argument being whether you could get a 40ft cone out of it or not.

On the 'pro' side - 1d4/level to 5d4 is not much damage, so even in a cone where it catches a lot of enemies it isn't necessarily unbalanced. Also, the Feat specifically says "40ft cone" with no reference to the original spell statistics.

On the 'con' side, if you allow it, you have a 2nd level spell which is comparable to a triple-enlarged BH - a 4th level spell. Also, the Feat doesn't mention being able to change the Range - for Burning Hands this is 10ft.

If you read the PHB section under Range it states that the Range is the maximum distance from the caster at which the spell can have any effect - so somewhat counter-intuitively if a 5th level caster throws a Fireball to 600ft exactly, the Fireball only spreads backwards, not forwards, as the Area cannot extend past the Range. Similarly, the 'con' folks argue, you could sculpt a burning hands to a 40ft cone, but only that part of the cone which lies in the (10ft) Range of the spell actually "happens", the rest of the Area is lost (like the other half of the Fireball in the previous example.)

 

[Shard O'Glase]

the con folk were on crack.

Yes the range stops the area of effect. But a cones range is its area of effect. So a sculpted spell into cone becomes 40' range and 40' cone. That's the definition of how cones work.

 

[Naar]

I've found Sculpting a sonic blast into a cone and then Enlarging it pretty handy.

 

[Pax]

Re: Tricky rules question here

If you sculpted a grease spell into a cone,
the area of the grease spell changes,
but NOT the range of the spell, correct?

?

So your cone could start, for example, 20' in front of the caster?

Normally, as you know, cone's are range 0. Start right in front of the caster.

Cones ALWAY sstart at the caster, and progress to their range, in a 90-degree arc (as stated above).

So a Grease spell altered to a Cone, would have to start at the caster, and proceed to fill a 40' cone from there. IOW, it's pretty much a point-blank effect.

But, being a cone, it gets EVERYTHING in it's area, not just a single 10x10 patch.

 

[Hypersmurf]

How about spells that are "centred on caster" in their natural state?

For example, if (for whatever reason) you wanted to Sculpt a Bless spell, Area: All allies within 50 feet... or a Sculpted Antilife Shell (ooh, I wanna try that one!), Area: 10' emanation centred on caster... how would that interact with a Cone or 4x10' cubes shape?

-Hyp.

 

[Rary the Traitor]

How about spells that are "centred on caster" in their natural state?

For example, if (for whatever reason) you wanted to Sculpt a Bless spell, Area: All allies within 50 feet... or a Sculpted Antilife Shell (ooh, I wanna try that one!), Area: 10' emanation centred on caster... how would that interact with a Cone or 4x10' cubes shape?

-Hyp.

I doubt there are rules for that, but I'd say that a Sculpted Antilife Shell in the shape of a cone, for instance, would be a normal 40-foot cone starting from the caster and including him in the spell's area. That would prevent spells like Antimagic Field from being too powerful. As for the 4 10-foot cubes... well, I guess they'd all have to touch the caster. Or maybe they could have the normal's spell's maximum area as their range (10' in the antilife shell's case) but the spell would still affect the caster even if the cubes weren't in contact with him.

 

[smetzger]

6.85 after 48 votes

-------------------------
8. Large and in Charge

7. Expert Tactician, Divine Might, Chain Spell(7.15,52,45425), Energy Substitution(7.78,101,46982)

6. Superior Expertise, Improved Sunder, Knock-Down, Shield Expert, Divine Shield, Improved Shield Bash(6.38,50,40174), Shield Charge(6.78,49,43169)

5. Close Quarters Fighting, Hold The Line, Pain Touch, Augment Summoning(5.42,50,44968), Energy Admixture(5.91,57,46677), Eschew Materials(5.08,65,47143)

4. Blindsight 5-foot radius, Fists of Iron, Death Blow, Lightning Fists, Mantis Leap, Monkey Grip, Power Lunge, Rapid Reload, Sharp Shooting, Zen Archery, Empower Turning(4.18,56,38151), Divine Vigor(4.61,57,37849)

3. Feign Weakness, Extra Stunning Attacks, Dual Strike, Circle Kick(3.09,56,11716), Eyes in the Back of Your Head, Off-Hand Parry, Pin Shield, Prone Attack, Remain Conscious, Divine Cleansing, Divine Vengeance, Heighten Turning(3.95,41,39213), Quicken Turning(3.47,36,41330), Arcane Preparation(3.43,56,44560), Extra Slot(3.36,59,47474)

2. Eagle Claw Attack, Improved Overrun, Dirty Fighting, Snatch Arrows, Arcane Defense(2.34,53,44015), Cooperative Spell(2.10,51,46164), Delay Spell(2.57,69,46475)

1. Divine Resisitance