Spell Evaluation

[Sammael]

I just developed a new cleric spell but I'm unsure if it's too powerful for its intended level, so I figured I'd present it here for evaluation. Which level would you say it was?

Extinguish Element

Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft plus 5 ft/2 levels)
Target: One elemental object or creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude (1/2 damage)
Spell Resistance: No

You open a small conduit to the Negative Energy Plane, linking it to the targeted elemental matter. The target becomes infused with negative energy, decaying into its negative quasi-elemental counterpart (air to vacuum, earth to dust, fire to ash, water to salt).


The conduit can only affect a small amount of elemental matter before closing; for example, it is sufficient to break down a small boulder or extinguish a campfire. However, it is particularly harmful to elemental creatures of all types (except negative quasi-elementals, such as ash rats or dust mephits), which take 1d8 points of damage per level (maximum 10d8) and are shaken until the end of the encounter.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Should it read "Save: Fortitude Half (object)"? Only really matters if there are undead elementals out there, but...who knows?

What school of magic is this?

The shaken duration should probably be changed to round/CL, to better mesh with how most spells work. I assume the shaken condition affects even creatures immune to fear, or no?

With the no SR, I might have to call it level 4, but if it allowed SR, I wouldn't mind it at all as a level 3 spell.

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

I'd say it's a fourth level spell, too.

 

[Sammael]

Thanks for the replies! The school should be either Conjuration or Transmutation (depends on how you look at it), but I forgot to include it since IMC only wizard spells are subject to the school classification. Good tip about Fortitude half (object).

4th level for standard 3.5 rules sounds about right.

 

[Chronologist]

With the negative energy aspect this feels a lot like Necromancy. Also, how would this affect other types of elementals like Taint and Shadow?

 

[Sylrae]

Not to mention how does it affect undead, which are powered by the negative energy plance and healed by negative energy. I would argue that this would also heal them.

 

[Ashtagon]

Rather than say a small boulder or a campfire, you might want to specify how big a volume it will affect in more objective terms. My "small boulder" probably isn't the same size as your "small boulder".

 

[Sammael]

1. No Taint or Shadow Elementals in my game, since neither taint nor shadow are elements IMC. Thus, a non-issue.

2. In my games, it wouldn't heal them. It's meant to be disintegrate-lite that also works on elementals, not destruction-lite. I should probably change the flavor text to better reflect the spell's nature.

3. It is against my design philosophy to include such information in the description, because I have no intention of calculating the exact volume of each boulder or campfire encountered (which would create unnecessary delays during the game). IMO, the first time the spell is used in such a manner in any given game, the DM and the players would together establish the spell's limits for that game.

Of course, if you prefer to include such information for your games, you could probably extrapolate it from disintegrate.

 

[Sylrae]

1. The issue is still there, youre just not worried about it.
2. Negative energy (what you would get by connecting to the Negative Energy Plane) heals undead. It's what keeps them alive to begin with. That matters mostly if it's Negative Energy damage. You didn't really specify the damage type. Also, can you target things besides elementals? If I target Joe the Fighter, he's made of water, minerals, and air, with bits of electrical current thrown in for good measure. Does he take damage?
3. You don't need to do all the math, you could just say a boulder not bigger than X in any direction. Small is pretty vague. Is a small boulder a pebble? A rock the size of my head? A rock I could use as a chair? bigger? if a 'Small Boulder' is 15 feet across, it's considerably more useful than if a Small Boulder is 2 feet across. Not to mention, it could be subjective to the creature using a term like small. A small boulder, to an Ogre, is larger than a small boulder to a halfling.

 

[Sammael]

1. Most materials are only developed using core assumptions or campaign-specific assumptions; neither taint nor shadow elementals are even remotely core (in fact, even though I remember seeing them, I have no idea which book they're in - I would guess Heroes of Horror for taint, but shadow could be in any number of books). Since my campaigns do not use these elementals, and they will never appear in any of my campaigns, it's a non-issue for me. If you would like to use the spell in your campaigns, I guess it depends on how you treat shadow and taint elementals (which plane do they come from? can they be broken down into smaller "quasi-elements?")

2. As I stated, the spell needs some rewording to divorce it from the negative energy aspect. Disintegrate was the model, only made more specific (in the sense that it works only on elementals). Since the target is "one elemental object or creature," and creatures are not objects, then it doesn't work on creatures other than elementals. More specifically, the target should be "one object composed mostly of a single element or one creature of the Elemental type," but that's way too long and completely unnecessary in my games (which this spell is for).

Incidentally, there are loads of spells that deal what is effectively negative energy damage which have no specific effect on undead.

3. Small is a defined size category (although it normally applies to creatures, I don't see why it couldn't apply to objects as well). Thus, a small boulder is a about the size of a halfling, gnome, or goblin.