Spellfire

[Neil Holroyd]

I have a player who has the spellfire feat from the Forgotten Realms handbook and is a mage/rogue.

Now as we may all know, spellfire lets him soak spells and transform them into spellfire storage. He can then let lose 1d6 per level of spellfire stored plus sneak attack damage from being half rogue. He can bounce out of the way of area spells not targeted at him, and soaks the ones that are targeted.

I'm I being to lenient with this feat allowing the above?
How can I hit him?

Can anyone shed any light on this matter.

 

[kreynolds]

I'm I being to lenient with this feat allowing the above?

No. Just beef up the challenges a bit. After all, being an exceptional character, he's gonna draw the attention of exceptional bad guys.

How can I hit him?

Bigger and better spells, ranged weapons, and the ever popular melee butt-whoopin'.

 

[Gaiden]

You gave him probably the single most powerful feat in the entire game - a.k.a., powers of a rod of absorption and then some (the power is stored!!!).

I agree with Reynolds. You simply have to design the game based on the fact that spellfire is so rare and powerful. He will probably draw the attention of the most powerful characters/creatures on Faerun and perhaps even beyond Toril. Many things evil would probably like to CAPTURE him and study his power to try and develop it for themselves. In fact there was a book about just that - on one of the seven sisters (The bard - forget her name).

You might have certain organizations thinking someone so powerful is automatically a threat and thus attempt to eliminate him.

 

[Neil Holroyd]

Thanks,

What spells would be the best for combating this?

 

[AuraSeer]

Spellfire is a tremendously powerful feat. I believe that as written, it can't be taken without DM approval. (Maybe that's not actually in the feat text, though. I haven't got my FRCS to check.) It does make a character hard to kill with magic. Not impossible-- there's a limit on his spellfire storage, so you could overload him if you try hard enough-- but difficult.

The downside to the feat is mostly RP: every wizard on the planet wants to either get the secret of Spellfire, or keep it out of the hands of his enemies. Your rogue should have to constantly put up with the attacks by people who want him captured or dead. Smart enemies will claim he's a criminal, offer a reward, and post his picture in every town, so that even local law enforcement is after him.

Stopping the rogue from throwing bolts is easy: don't hit him with magic! If the enemies aren't kind enough to recharge him all the time, he'll quickly run dry. That leaves him with just his rogue abilities.

If you're having real trouble, note that his magic immunity doesn't extend to his friends. Take out the rest of the party with a Chained Hold Person (and maybe a Polymorph Other for anyone with a high Will save). Then let the rogue deal with a dozen melee combatants, all by himself.

As for allowing sneak attack damage on spellfire bolts, that's controversial. Right now there's a thread discussing sneak attacks with rays, and it was up to 7 pages last time I checked. So let's say that it's a DM call, and leave it at that. (Please?)

 

[Mr.Binx]

As for allowing sneak attack damage on spellfire bolts, that's controversial. Right now there's a thread discussing sneak attacks with rays, and it was up to 7 pages last time I checked. So let's say that it's a DM call, and leave it at that. (Please?)

Hehe... that thread actually digressed into a heated debate over readied and delayed actions a couple pages in. Sneak attacks with ray spells and energy projectiles are fully published in Tome & Blood for those who wish to know how they work.

Back to the topic tho'. I agree with the majority stance on this one. This is the kind of stuff I like to have players throw at me as a DM. If I were running the game, I would use some rather sneaky tactics to make some evil NPCs have the spellfire wielder do their dirty work. Get him in trouble with the law and everything takes a change. The law normally has access to powerful NPCs that could be used to capture the individual while the evil characters send out assassins to squelch the player if he becomes a threat to them. Let someone wield that much power and then you get to find out if he would actually wield it with responsibility or if it ends up digging his grave. Remember that all your threats need not be magical. The more magic you toss at the character, the more power you give him. The individuals who hunt him will be well aware of this.

 

[kreynolds]

As for allowing sneak attack damage on spellfire bolts, that's controversial. Right now there's a thread discussing sneak attacks with rays, and it was up to 7 pages last time I checked. So let's say that it's a DM call, and leave it at that. (Please?)

...emphasis mine....then why in the 9 Hells did you bring it up!?

 

[Artoomis]

Spellfire requires a readied action to absorb spell energy, right?

It has built-in limits, right?

Everyone and his brother comes after any spellfire user in FR, right?

It's a cool ability with a rather severe built-in role-playing limitation. Everytime he uses it, he risks it becoming known that he's a spellfire user.

Keep that in mind, keep its limitations in mind, and you'll be fine.

Really, how often does he want to take no action in the hopes that the next spell will target him?

 

[kreynolds]

Really, how often does he want to take no action in the hopes that the next spell will target him?

Hehe. Well now, that's the real question, isn't it?

 

[dead_radish]

Twinned spells. Or multiple casters. He readies an action to absorb. So Bob the mage casts a ray of frost. Ooooooh no! He absorbed 0 levels! Then Sam, Bob's partner, lets loose with the maximed twinned enervates.

He can only absorb one spell at a time. So anything that lets you dual spell him is good. And he can't absorb area effects, or spells that target multiple targets. An area effect will save will hurt him, a lot.

And remember that if his con drops, the spellfire max drops, and the spellfire targets random people w/i range. Including his friends. Con-draining becomes very productive!

I'm actually dealing with this IMC right now. I nerfed spellfire somewhat, but created Spell fire feats he can take later, as well as a new prestige class. And yes, he is already a target, and many people are interested in him, either to control, neutralize, or study him. I've also created a few spell fire specific spells and items that he'll encounter later - items that, say, neutralize the power (created by his opponents who wish to capture him), or that react volitilely in the presence of spell fire (which you can spell many many ways).

And yes, Spell Fire does require DM approval. It's probably even justified to make it ECL +1 or +2.