Subdual Missile

[Christian Walker]

Magic Missile w/ Subdual Damage
A group of city watchmen had our group cornered. Victims of a charm person spell, the watchmen were not acting themselves. They had it out for us, but our group was loathe to hurt them. Sadly, I did not have a sleep spell handy. I had some Magic Missiles, but unleashing those would have meant some fatalities.

My question: Any potential troubles in developing a spell similar to Magic Missile that inflicts subdual damage? Range and casting time would be identical for the current MM, just damage type would be altered.

This type of spell would be handy because it could neutralize targets at a distance, effecting just a single foe if desired.

Stun Missile
Evocation [force]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: medium (100ft. +10ft./level)
Targets: Up to 5 creatures, no two of which may be more than 15ft. apart
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes

The missile strikes unerringly, doing 1d4+1 points of subdual damage per bolt.

I am aware that one of Wizzo's products mentions a feat that allows the caster to change the energy type of a certain spell. That might not be as helpful to me because the spell above will be used in a d20 product. For now, I'm just interested in a single spell.

Thanks!

 

[Crothian]

None that I see. Sounds and looks good.

 

[hong]

Assuming you're not too high-level (how often is _that_ a problem? heh), you could just magic missile them below 0 hp, and then stabilise them using the Heal skill or a cure minor wounds spell.

 

[Wolf72]

never anyone mind! I just read All of the post ... silly wolf!

 

[Christian Walker]

Assuming you're not too high-level (how often is _that_ a problem? heh), you could just magic missile them below 0 hp, and then stabilise them using the Heal skill or a cure minor wounds spell.

It's funny that you mention that...

We were playing the "Speaker in Dreams" when we faced the constables gone bad situation I mentioned in my post. Our party sorcerer decided to sling magic missiles since he lacked a sleep spell. The poor fellow our sorcerer nailed dropped like a sack of crap. We were angry at the sorcerer, but figured that we'd stabilize the watchman later.

Well, later came (after we were ambushed by a devil) but the GM ruled that the NPC had already taken the dirt nap. I considered going all Wu-tang Shaolin on the bonehead sorcerer, but decided to show him some tough love later on when there were fewer witnesses...

I figured that a stun missile spell might offer a good alternative for folks who want to neutralize humanoids without killing them. Of course, some PCs will just knife sleeping foes anyway...

Thanks for the feedback!
Scrollworks monkey out!

 

[Sir Hawkeye]

Such a spell is certainly possible.

For more general purposes, you could check out the Subdual Substitution feat from Tome and Blood. It basically does what you're looking for with any spell.

 

[Christian Walker]

Such a spell is certainly possible.

For more general purposes, you could check out the Subdual Substitution feat from Tome and Blood. It basically does what you're looking for with any spell.

This is something I'd thought about, but there would be an OGL violation if I referenced the feat in an issue of Scrollworks. Then again, I could always rewrite the feat in question (thereby creating new open game content), but that'd feel too much like plagarism.

What a pickle.

 

[kreynolds]

Such a spell is certainly possible.

For more general purposes, you could check out the Subdual Substitution feat from Tome and Blood. It basically does what you're looking for with any spell.

Actually, you can't use subdual substitution with force damage. It only works with energy damage, i.e. fire, cold, electricity, acid, sonic.