Shivering Touch, alot of power for such a little spell?

[Arravis]

I think having it where the subject's Dex score cannot drop below 1, like in Ray of Enfeeblement, would work quite well.

What kind of fix would you guys propose?

 

[Corlon]

you have to watch out for spells, especially in the 3rd party publishers (not excusing all the WoTC mistakes ). They can generally be put together without much thought, or be abused very easily.

Then again, with 1 round/level and SR applied, it doesn't seem all that bad. Perhaps add a thing that raises the damage/x caster levels, so that it can do 3d6, but only at higher levels.

 

[Derren]

you have to watch out for spells, especially in the 3rd party publishers (not excusing all the WoTC mistakes ). They can generally be put together without much thought, or be abused very easily.

You know that Frostburn, the book where the spell appeared in, is a WotC book?

The spell has only very few limiting factors which mostly can be negated easily.

1. Cold creatures are immun. Nothing you can do against that, but such creatures aren't that common.
2. Range touch. As I said before, not a problem for a cleric and a wizard has Spectral Hand
3. SR. SR is a joke now. A simple Assay Resistance or a Lower Spell Resistance from a wand used by a other party member and SR is gone.
4. The possibility to roll low Dex Damage. Enter lesser Rod of Maximize which means doom for everything with less than 19 Dex.

 

[Arravis]

Yeah, I wish the excuse was that it wasn't a WoTC book... oh well. No suggestions on how to make this a balanced spell?

 

[DreamChaser]

Lets not forget the extra oomph this spell would gain against fire subtype creatures (like red dragons for example).

This spell needs only one thing to make it balanced: Fortutude half.

DC

 

[Derren]

To make it balanced it must get a save (for half is good), make it a penalty so it doesn't stack and that it can't drop Dex below 1.

That might even make the spell to weak, so you might be able to drop one of them (not the save I hope)

 

[azmodean]

Not allowing it to drop dex below 1 would make it somewhat resonable IMO. Then it's just a penalty instead of having the ability to incapacitate a target. In the same vein making it a penalty would be fine, I don't believe a penalty to a stat can incapacitate, can it?

Alternatively a fort or will save would bring it in line with a hold spell as far as power is concerned.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

This spell needs only one thing to make it balanced: Fortutude half.

Well, just on general principles of spell design, I disagree.

Spells should generally either require an attack roll, or allow a save-- it's rarely both. (There are exceptions, but they are outliers.)

I would bet my life that the "minimum 1" text gets picked up in errata. That's clearly a parameter of these types of spells.

With that qualification, it's still a great spell, perhaps a bit too powerful yet, but certainly scaled on a par with Ray of Enfeeblement. It is a 3rd level spell slot after all.

It also compares favorably to Touch of Idiocy-- but there's no doubt that 3d6 to a single stat is better than 1d6 spread over three stats.


Wulf

 

[Derren]

Spells should generally either require an attack roll, or allow a save-- it's rarely both. (There are exceptions, but they are outliers.)

Which is total crap in my opinion. A attack roll is nowhere near to the power of a save. Look just at true strike, it makes attack rolls meaningless. And most attack rolls go against touch ACs which aren't very high.

 

[Thanee]

There's quite a bit of overpowered stuff in Frostburn... Cold is the element of high magic, didn't you know that?

Bye
Thanee