Spellfire & Recharing

[Bouncer]

Hi!

One of my players with "Spellfire" feat from forgotten realms has come up with few "alternative" methods for reloading his spellfire charges:

1) As a wizard level 3, use the touch ability of the familiar to deliver touch attacks to himself while readying an action to absorb it (chill touch or shocking grasp).

2) As a cleric level 3, use the spell spritual hammer to hit himself while he readies an action to absorb it. A spritual hammer can be moved with a move equivalent action and he claims that he can use a standard action to move it and hit himself while he absorbs it.

Please advice if the 3.5 rules support these scenarios.

Thanks.

 

[Darklone]

I don't know about a 3.5 rules revision about this stuff yet...

But I would hope for a major Spellfire revision.

 

[NeuroZombie]

I personally would not allow either of those uses in my campaign. They seem to be meta-game thinking to me. No one in their right mind would attempt to hit themselves with a spell, even if they knew it would be absorbed.


Technically, however, since the rules do not specifically discourage that sort of thing, it would be allowed. I would not, however, allow it and if a player insisted, I would make sure he got hit with every spell my npcs cast just so that he would "overtax" his capacity to absorb spells and start getting blasted.

But I can be sadistic at times, so don't mind me :evil

 

[Norfleet]

I don't see this as terribly meta: If somebody has the ability to absorb power from having spells cast on him, it's not unreasonable to expect him to find ways to try and self-charge.

If you suddenly developed an ability to absorb large amounts of electrical damage and release it as an attack against others, you'd probably take to sticking forks into electrical sockets to charge up, rather than waiting on somebody to electrocute you.

 

[Darklone]

Actually, it's not a big difference to absorb spells from your buddies which they don't need anymore in the afternoon... Metagaming stuff too.

 

[Artoomis]

Personally, I have no problem with the Spellfire feat at all provided it is balanced by only allowing recharging in real combat.

I think that's what was intended (you can only Ready an action in combat situations), and is it's major balancing factor. I would allow no other method to work.

No cheesy tactics like my buddies "attack" me so I Ready to absorb their spells, etc.

 

[andargor]

If you suddenly developed an ability to absorb large amounts of electrical damage and release it as an attack against others, you'd probably take to sticking forks into electrical sockets to charge up, rather than waiting on somebody to electrocute you.

That wouldn't work, you'd just blow the fuse (well, maybe not if you are standing in water). Now, if you held a metal knife in each hand and plugged them in, then you would recharge...

Andargor

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

Hi!

One of my players with "Spellfire" feat from forgotten realms has come up with few "alternative" methods for reloading his spellfire charges:

1) As a wizard level 3, use the touch ability of the familiar to deliver touch attacks to himself while readying an action to absorb it (chill touch or shocking grasp).

2) As a cleric level 3, use the spell spritual hammer to hit himself while he readies an action to absorb it. A spritual hammer can be moved with a move equivalent action and he claims that he can use a standard action to move it and hit himself while he absorbs it.

Please advice if the 3.5 rules support these scenarios.

Thanks.

3.0 or 3.5 - neither really changes the effect of rules on what you've asked.

I'm a GM and a player who's been on both sides of this question before.

1) This is actually technically correct according to the rules AND the flavor text of spellfire. Any reasonably intelligent mage would figure out that he can absorb spells cast at him by preparing for it. Regardless of being in combat or not, the mage can choose to absorb the spell targeting himself. Using a familiar to deliver the touch spell is just merely clever and inventive - such things should be rewarded.

2) I'm not sure your wording is quite accurate. Is it like this

rnd1: cast spiritual hammer to attack self
rnd2: rdy spellfire absorb when hit
rnd3: when hit, absorb hammer.

?

If so, then yes, technically he can absorb the hammer as it 'strikes like a spell' and must overcome spell resistance.

You don't need combat to ready an action. You just need conflict of a nature that is best ajudicated by the initiative stack.


FYI: Some of the best methods by which you can counter a spellfire wielder:

A) overloading on spells (keep throwing little spells at him till he blows up )

B) antimagic fields

C) sneaking cursed magic items of SR onto him (SR is applied BEFORE the spell is absorbed)

D) mixing SR into most of his items... Particularly vicious with magic items they really want.

E) House rule that a spellfire wielder below max 'automatically' absorbs spells targeting them... including 'cure' 'heal', etc.

F) Spellfire wielders are creatures of intense mystical energies and nature. Many, many, many organizations would love to 'coerce' one into working for them, or capturing one to study the effect and potentially duplicate it. Can get as vicious as you want it to get.


And if all else fails - don't target the spellfire wielder directly. Disintegrate the ground below them, levitate rocks over thier heads, etc.

Spellfire is incredibly powerful and it takes agility of mind for a GM to keep it from unbalancing the game.

 

[AuraSeer]

No one in their right mind would attempt to hit themselves with a spell, even if they knew it would be absorbed.

That's clearly untrue, because not all spells are harmful.

A wizard could do the familiar touch trick with a harmless spell, like resistance or mage armor. If he has a level of cleric he could even use cure light wounds.

 

[Shallown]

I have a character in my group that has this feat and I let him charge up and carry charges a lot. So far it has caused little problem. It boils down to one hefty shot once an encounter and then he is done. He seldom unleashes less than a full blast (14d6 now with a con boost item) Seldom during a fight does he get recharged be friendly fire since most caster's have better use for their spells. In a dungeon envirnemnt (encounter after encounter) the same holds true. With a wand of lightning bolts he could do better. The power itself is hutned after by some groups and he more or less has to keep it a secret. Now they main bad guys know and he is scared witless (He's 11th level) so it has ingame and mechanic balances.

later