Ray of Enfeeblement any good?

[Elder-Basilisk]

Compared to Horrid Wilting, Wail of the Banshee, Gate, meteor swarm, etc. it actually looks rather anemic. . . . even if it were legal.

I have a level 17 wizard with specialty in necromancy..... I empowered my ray of enfeeblement 4 times, making it a level 9 spell. 1d6 x 3 3-18+5 sometimes dropping 23 strength from a target..... Quite powerful, dont you think?

 

[green slime]

Checked out the latest SRD, looks like they changed the text for Ray of Enfeeblement, so maximizing it is an exercise in futility. Never take the Maximize Spell feat. Take Empower spell.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A 3rd-level spell new to 3.5, ray of exhaustion, exhausts the target. Being exhausted means -6 Str, -6 Dex and moving at 1/2 speed. 'course, it allows a Fortitude save - but a successful save means only that you're just fatigued (-2 Str, -2 Dex, can't charge or run) rather than exhausted.

One interesting thing about Ray of Exhaustion is that even if they have a Fort Save of +55 and have never failed a Fort Save in their lives, two castings will make them exhausted.

On the first successful save, they become fatigued. On the second successful save, they become fatigued again... and when you're already fatigued, anything that would[i/] make you fatigued instead makes you exhausted (and this effect is explicitly noted in the spell description).

So if you're already fatigued, on a failed save, the spell makes you exhausted, and a successful save... makes you exhausted.

Stacking an exhaustion -6 penalty with a (1d6+5) x1.5 - an average of -12, for an average total of -18 - takes one round, two 3rd level slots and a 7th level slot at 17th level, or three rounds and three 3rd level slots for an average of -13 at 5th level. (And three ranged touch attacks, SR applies, of course, but saves are irrelevant.)

-Hyp.

 

[green slime]

Or one round if you port over Simbul's Spell Sequencer from Magic of Faerûn.

Absolutly nightmarish that spell. What were they thinking of?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Or one round if you port over Simbul's Spell Sequencer from Magic of Faerûn.

Well, you can do all three in one round using 3.5 Core Rules, but you need to be 17th level to do it.

-Hyp.

 

[Bauglir]

You could do it using Contingency to fire off the third spell off a simple (free) action..

 

[Hypersmurf]

You could do it using Contingency to fire off the third spell off a simple (free) action..

"The spell to be brought into effect by the contingency must be one that affects your person."

-Hyp.

 

[Bauglir]

Ok then, you could only do it that way if you were trying to blast away your own strength..

 

[reapersaurus]

Wait a minute.

Has anyone asked WotC about the no-save Ray?
Looking at it again, it doesn't make sense that they changed the Ray of Enfeeblement to a no-Save in 3.5E.
AFAIK, it wasn't considered underpowered in 3E.
Further, a no-save effect in a 1st level spell is pretty rare. Magic Missile is just damage - it doesn't handicap a creature's main attack mode.

I'm guessing that many people have seen this incongruity, which is why there's quite a bit if discussion about it, but it just hit me as very strange today.

Admit it: many people are now considering RoE to be a standard spell that they prepare, for use against any creature that relies on STR.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Magic Missile is just damage - it doesn't handicap a creature's main attack mode.

It does if you cast enough of them

-Hyp.