Possible Revised Spell Duration Workaround?

[wolfen]

Some of us are upset by the duration-shortening of some spells. Yes, it seems to emphasize combat over everything else. Perhaps there is a better answer to balancing the game than simply neutering the mage.


What if we allowed Heighten Spell to assist spells that are typically "friendly." Normally, Heighten Spell helps increase the DC of your spell -- but this is worthless for Invisibility, for example, unless your target doesn't want invisibility (unlikely).

SOOOo, What if every level increase for a spell doubled its duration? For example:

Invisbility cast as
2nd level: 1min/lvl
3rd level: 2min/lvl
4th level: 4 min/lvl

...and so on. Seems like a fair trade to me. Logically, it makes sense to enable a 12th level mage to have his spells last longer. Especially spells like Fly, Invisibility, Alter Self, etc...

And it's not as though it's a free fix, either. He's got to pay 1 Feat, and he must also pay for the higher level Spell slot.

Whaddya think?

 

[DaveStebbins]

So this essentially folds the Extend Spell feat's powers into the Heighten Spell feat? This would essentially eliminate the need for Extend spell.

-Dave

 

[Aaron2]

What I'm planning on for 3.5 is to have the Extend spell increase the duration by units instead of by 2. So, for example, the times will go from

1 round / level to
1 minute / level to
10 minutes / level to
1 hour / level to
1 day

So, Invisibility, at 2nd level will be 10 minutes per level at 3rd and 1 hour per level at 4th and all day at 5th.

Maybe its a bit much.


Aaron

 

[wolfen]

For the spells in question, Extend Spell is lame. Perhaps a compromise would be a requirement for the mage to have Extend Spell AND Heighten Spell. A synergy for non-combat, "friendly" spells makes a lot of sense.


Thanks for the input.

wolfen

 

[Anabstercorian]

What I'm planning on for 3.5 is to have the Extend spell increase the duration by units instead of by 2. So, for example, the times will go from

1 round / level to
1 minute / level to
10 minutes / level to
1 hour / level to
1 day

So, Invisibility, at 2nd level will be 10 minutes per level at 3rd and 1 hour per level at 4th and all day at 5th.

Aaron

This is essentially what I'm going to do, except that I won't let Extend Spell stack. Essentially boils down to a x10 duration.

In fact, I might just make it a x10 duration.

 

[wolfen]

Aaron,

My last post applied to Dave's post, not yours.

I think your idea is a good one, not overmuch. Think of it this way, 2E let even a 5th level mage be invisible ALL DAY. I don't think it's unreasonable to enable a 12lvl mage to extend the 3E Invisibility from 12 minutes to 2 hours.

Thanx for your idea.

wolfen

 

[DaveStebbins]

For the spells in question, Extend Spell is lame. Perhaps a compromise would be a requirement for the mage to have Extend Spell AND Heighten Spell. A synergy for non-combat, "friendly" spells makes a lot of sense.
wolfen

[DRS] I think all the metamagics have a limited range of spells for which they make sense, which makes them lame for many or even most spells. So I don't think that is a justification (by itself) for what you want to do.

That said, you're well within your rights to say you just don't like things the way they are, and have that be reason enough for a change. I think your synergy solution would work OK and I think the "order of magnitude" solution might also work. (Though you would have to rule on a case-by-case basis for that one; would a third level Melf's Acid Arrow have continuous damage for tens of rounds? My gut tells me there are spells out there for which the order-of-magnitude change would be unbalancing, but I can't think of any off-hand.)

-Dave