Touch of Terror: Help me with a new spell!

[Pielorinho]

To quote Firefly, because that show was great: Pain is scary.

In D&D, Con drain is scary. You might go with that. That's just a tossup, though.

Great quote! You wouldn't think that a spell enabling multiple Con-damage attacks is too powerful for second level, though? I'd worry that it was, especially considering the secondary effect of the fear.

And remember, the goal isn't to make people scared; it's to infuse them with magical fear. I want the fear to be what the spell does, not be an indirect consequence of the spell, if that makes sense. It should be scary like a bad trip, not scary like a Mack truck bearing down on you. I think the Con damage would cause the second kind of scary, whereas Wis damage (or maybe Cha damage) would represent the first kind of scary.

My actual point here is that I don't think you can sneak attack with a spell that just does ability score damage. If you want this to be sneakattackable, it needs to do some hp damage too, I think. Although I guess it's a touch spell, so you could always just punch someone while unarmed to deliver the charge, dealing 1d3 + str + your sneak attack dice (subdual, though).

Unless this has changed in 3.5, you can sneak-attack with any spell that has an attack roll and does hit-point damage, ability damage, or level drain. (I've been reading up on these rules in preparation for the character ). This wisdom drain is there partly for flavor, and partly so I can use this in sneak-attacking.

An [evil] descriptor? Hmm... I dunno. Cause Fear, Scare, Fear, and Chill Touch don't have the evil descriptor; why would this spell?

Thanks again for all the responses; they're definitely helping me think about the spell!

Daniel

 

[DanMcS]

Great quote! You wouldn't think that a spell enabling multiple Con-damage attacks is too powerful for second level, though? I'd worry that it was, especially considering the secondary effect of the fear.

It's a point of Con at a time, so I wouldn't say it was too bad for a 2nd level spell. To stay in long enough to deal multiple points of Con damage, the wizard would have to take full attacks from whatever he was attacking.

But you're right, wisdom probably fits better with the mental screwing-with aspect of the spell.

 

[Nareau]

I like it, except for the name. It somehow makes me think of a spooky recipe.

I agree that it should be mind-affecting.

I'd also be interested in more exploration of the flavor text. Perhaps it strikes the victim with visions of her own impending death? Or a glimpse into the Horrors of the End Times, when The Dead Shall Rise.

As for the touch attack...can't familiars deliver touch spells? Could a caster deliver 2 of these attacks/round with their trusty cat by their side? Or would the familiar be the only "toucher"?

I'm not sure how to handle the duration. My gut feeling is that it won't come up in combat very often at all.

I guess my main worry is how quickly this could take out a big, dumb fighter type. If you manage to hit him twice with the fear effect, he's essentially dead: First hit and he's shaken; second hit, and he's frightened--meaning he's running away, meaning you likely get an AoO, and he's lost his Dex bonus to AC (giving more sneak attack, easier touch attack, lower Will save, etc.) Once he's frightened, he can't fight unless cornered. I may be wrong here, but it looks like this could entirely disable a wide variety of toughs in 2 rounds.
Are there other 3.5 mechanics that "stack" fear effects? I think they might be good to compare to. Of course, this tactic would be totally nerfed if you could only perform one Touch of Fear attack per round. But that might make it too weak.

Spider

 

[Piratecat]

I think con drain is too powerful for a 2nd lvl spell. And Spider, that's also my concern with the spell's balance.

I'll note that I dislike targeting the highest stat, because it wouldn't bother me in the least if that happened to my PC. Targeting the lowest stat would scare me a LOT more, but possibly makes the spell more powerful.

 

[Pielorinho]

I like it, except for the name. It somehow makes me think of a spooky recipe.

What about "Smidgen of Unease" then?

I agree that it should be mind-affecting.

Probably so. I was thinking about that: ideally, I'd like it to affect vermin, since bugs can get freaked out, too, and even shambling mounds oughtta be afraid of something. But it probably makes most sense for it to be mind-affecting. I'll change that in the draft.

I'd also be interested in more exploration of the flavor text. Perhaps it strikes the victim with visions of her own impending death? Or a glimpse into the Horrors of the End Times, when The Dead Shall Rise.

Given the character, I think it's providing the victim with visions of the time she spent in the nightmares of demons. All kinds of pain.

As for the touch attack...can't familiars deliver touch spells? Could a caster deliver 2 of these attacks/round with their trusty cat by their side? Or would the familiar be the only "toucher"?

The rules from the SRD for touch spells are as follows:

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.

So either the caster or the familiar could be the toucher, but there's no way to have two of the spells active simultaneously.

I'm not sure how to handle the duration. My gut feeling is that it won't come up in combat very often at all.

I think the way I described should work without being overly powerful. The only way to really extend the duration is for the caster to spend rounds neither casting spells nor touching anything; that's very rarely going to be an optimal tactic.

I guess my main worry is how quickly this could take out a big, dumb fighter type. If you manage to hit him twice with the fear effect, he's essentially dead: First hit and he's shaken; second hit, and he's frightened--meaning he's running away, meaning you likely get an AoO, and he's lost his Dex bonus to AC (giving more sneak attack, easier touch attack, lower Will save, etc.) Once he's frightened, he can't fight unless cornered. I may be wrong here, but it looks like this could entirely disable a wide variety of toughs in 2 rounds.

Compare to Ghoul Touch, a second-level fortitude-negating spell that paralyzes a humanoid for 3-8 rounds. This spell affects a wider array of creatures, but has a much less good effect: you'd have to get the tough to fail four saves and become cowering before they'd be as bad off as a rogue or wizard who failed one save vs. Ghoul Touch. Also, a frightened creature, per my reading of the rules, may choose to withdraw from combat--I figure withdrawing is less complicated than using spells to get away, and being frightened allows you to use spells. It's only once the victim becomes panicked that they lose the option of a safe withdrawal and must incur AoOs.

But yeah, that's where the spell would hit its stride, is when it forces a combatant out of a fight for 1 round/level.

Are there other 3.5 mechanics that "stack" fear effects? I think they might be good to compare to. Of course, this tactic would be totally nerfed if you could only perform one Touch of Fear attack per round. But that might make it too weak.

I think this spell is unique in stacking fear effects; however, look at Ray of Exhaustion for a similar spell that stacks gettin' tired effects (sort of). I do think that changing the attack to a standard action would have a major bad effect: the caster would then be prevented from making AoOs with it, which would probably mean choosing either to forfeit all AoOs or to forfeit the spell (since touching anything else while holding a charged spell discharges the spell harmlessly). I think the fact that the spell doesn't induce AoOs until the target is hit thrice and fails three saves will probably keep that in check.

Thanks for the feedback!
Daniel

 

[Vlos]

On the multiple attack front, which seems to be where the spell gets very powerful, Tenser's Transformation. It's 6th level, but add that to this spell and all of a sudden a mage can be getting great BAB with a high number of attacks. Attacking a Fighter type (which usually has a poor will save to start with) will quickly turn a big nasty monster into a crying baby.

Yes it is at higher levels, but most low level spells become less useful at higher levels, where as this seems to become more powerful.

 

[Pielorinho]

Tenser's Transformation doesn't allow any spellcasting during its duration; casting another spell while Touch of Terror is in effect cancels all remaining charges. Neat combo, but it won't work .

Daniel