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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Al'Kelhar" data-source="post: 1895836" data-attributes="member: 7884">[RANT] Or "does someone in WotC hate evokers?"OK, the more WotC publications I see with new spells in them, the more frustrated I am that their spell designers don't even apply WotC's own design principles to spells, and continually come up with spells which one can only respond to with a bemused/annoyed "what the ...?".Issue #1: No conjuration spells are subject to spell resistance Read the SRD guys:Is it me, or is it the case that no friggin' spell from the Conjuration school applies spell resistance, even when it's conjuring energy.  If you read the DMG, it even states that Melf's acid arrow is an example of a Conjuration spell which is subject to spell resistance; and then the PH and SRD descriptions of the spell say it isn't.  And since then, every friggin' energy conjuring Conjuration spell hasn't been subject to spell resistance.  Maybe I could live with this, if WotC didn't keep friggin' creating more friggin' energy-conjuring Conjuration spells than you could poke a sharpened stick at, and which are equally powerful to their Evocation counterparts of an equal level.Guys, the spell design rules on this subject are simple.  STICK TO THEM.1.  Any spell which causes instantanous direct energy damage is an Evocation spell, and is subject to spell resistance.2.  Any spell which causes direct energy damage over an extended period is a Conjuration spell, and is also subject to spell resistance.3.  If, for some demented reason, a Conjuration spell is not subject to spell resistance, it must be balanced by (a) a saving throw; and/or (b) an attack roll; and/or (c) lower damage than a comparable spell which is subject to spell resistance.Issue #2: Where are all the good evocations?  Mid- and high-level evocation spells suck.  The evocation school should be the premier school for big, glorious, smack-down damage spells.  Whaddya get at mid- and high levels?  Some giant hands which can "flick the bird" to the bad guys but are useless for actually doing anything.  The 4th-level+ direct damage spells in the SRD are laughable.  And WotC obstinately refuses to either "fix" crappo spells like cone of cold, chain lightning and Otiluke's freezing sphere or to provide viable alternatives in any of their splatbooks and other products.  Spells which should be Evocation are instead made Conjuration or (more rarely) Transmutation, and are either woefully underpowered (e.g. dragon breath from Complete Divine) or incredibly broken [e.g. dragon breath from Draconomicon, legion's fire shield from Miniature's Handbook).Some other spell design principles which WotC should adhere to:4.  A spell which requires an attack roll should not generally be subject to a saving throw.5.  A spell which causes cold or sonic damage should do less direct damage than an equivalent-level spell of another energy type, but should require a Fortitude save (not a Reflex save), and should generally have secondary effects.[/RANT]Cheers, Al'Kelhar</blockquote>

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