Spells of Mass Destruction

[orangefruitbat]

A single fireball is enought to kill you and everyone else who lives in your house. That's plenty destructive. Through enough fireballs and things will start buring on their own, without magic. And even a mid level sorcerer could have 5 or 6 of them. And a wizard with a wand could have 50.

But for true SMD (Spells of Mass Destruction), look to Eberron and the unfortante fate of Cyre.

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I'm gonna ask for a little help, here. I'm looking for the most devastating area effect direct damage-causing spells known to 3.x Dungeons & Dragons. I want the magical equivalent of nuclear bombs, nerve gas, and germ warfare. What spells would you fine folks suggest for this kind of mayhem?

What do I need them for? I'm going to blow up the game world prior to my players entering it.

 

[Ryltar]

There's some nice spells in the Dark Legacies Player's Guide .

 

[JimAde]

This isn't quite up to the level of devestation that you want, but Dragon #309 had an article (3.5E) introducing war magic. What is was was that casters needed a special feat, and they could cast the new spells there. The new spells were basically existing spells, one level higher, with their effects exponentially greater (e.g. force missile storm is like magic missle, but it's 2nd-level, and targets 25 creatures per caster level...with a maximum of one missile per creature, in a 60 ft. radius).

Cry Havoc has something very similar. Spell level doesn't go up but casting time does by a factor of 10. The spell affects 10x creatures, or 10x area or whatever. It's for unit combat, but doesn't seem too broken for regular use.

But I think the OP wants something much bigger.

 

[Voadam]

I have that. It's a fun supplement.

Me too. That and the demon ones were a lot of fun. I still remember lesser apocalypse fondly, but being a little disturbed when my good mage found it in the spellbook of a defeated wizard in an old campaign.

 

[F5]

What do I need them for? I'm going to blow up the game world prior to my players entering it.

Just how blown up do you want this campaign world? Are we talking some cites torched, scorched and barren earth from horizon to horizon, or "What's going on? There's not supposed to be an asteroid belt here..."?

 

[Solauren]

Why not take Tolodine's Killing Wind from Players Guide to Faerun (and I believe Lost Empires), make it a wider area, and add in more casters to keep the Spellcraft DC down?

Or make a bunch of stasis clones of the Tarrasque....

 

[Ace]

My favorite destructive spell-- Rain of Fire from the SRD -- insert usual OGL

Rain of Fire
Evocation [Fire]
Spellcraft DC: 50
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 0 ft.
Area: 2-mile-radius emanation
Duration: 20 hours
Saving Throw: Reflex negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes
To Develop: 450,000 gp; 9 days; 18,000 XP. Seeds: energy (fire) (DC 19), energy (weather) (DC 19). Factor: change rain to wisps of flame (ad hoc +12 DC).
This spell summons a swirling thunderstorm that rains fire rather than raindrops down on the character and everything within a two-mile radius of him or her. Everything caught unprotected or unsheltered in the flaming deluge takes 1 point of fire damage each round. A successful Reflex save results in no damage, but the save must be repeated each round. Unless the ground is exceedingly damp, all vegetation is eventually blackened and destroyed, leaving behind a barren wasteland similar to the aftermath of a grass or forest fire. The fiery storm is stationary and persists even if the caster leaves.

 

[Red Spire Press]

There's some nice spells in the Dark Legacies Player's Guide .

I'm guessing you're referring to the Armageddon Device... Yes, I was quite happy with that one. It's about as devastating as it gets, with equally devastating spell component requirements. Gotta have balance...

 

[Vhane]

While it's not D&D 3.x, I remember an old Mayfair box set for 1st ed. called Archmagic and in it there were some of the most uber spells you can imagine - some of them were pretty creative too as I recall. Wouldn't take much to translate them to 3rd ed if you could get your hands on it.

Cheers!

Now we are talking! Didn't they have one about apocalypses? Or is it apocalypsi?

 

[philreed]

So where is the Ronin Arts book to pay homage to it? That mechanical dragon rocked in that book!

Haven't even considered it. I've got way too many projects in the works right now and want to get some of these bigger PDFs finished and released before I think of new things to work on.