What level is this spell? (My players keep out!)

[DM_Matt]

The following is a spell that I came up with for use by vampire clerics of Shar IMC.

The vamps are immune to the poison, dangerous or annoying light is neutralized, they have smoke to hide in (in gaseous form or not, esp since IMC i interpret darkvision as infravision, meaning that undead CAN hide in fog), and the poison itself can deny priests their more effective anti-undead spells and make victims more susceptable to the vampire's domination gaze 9although IMC most vampires are fleashbound vampires, so they do not have that ability).


What level should this be? I dont want it to be TOO high. Is 6ths still OK? Is the poison too powerful? Should it be weakened or at least its save set at a reletively low number as opposed to the normal spell DC?

Breath of the Dark Mistress
Conjuration [Evil]
Clr X (Shar)
Casting Time: 1 full round
Range: Short
Area of effect: 1 20foot cube/2 levels
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Fort (See description)
SR: Yes (No?)

Channeling an aspect of the evil goddess Shar, goddess of darkness, night, loss, and forgetfulness, the caster exhales a dark, smokey vapor that grows to fill a large area and linger for a time. The initial breath extinguishes all light sources (including daylight spells and contunual flames) in the area immediately, and any being within the area of effect must save or be affected by a powerful narcotic poison (Initial 2d6 Wis/ Secondary 2d6 Wis). A target that is still in the area afterrolling the save against secondary damage is affected again on the following round just as he had in the first round. Additionally, the smoke duplicates the effects of the spell Obscuring Mist.

 

[Kyramus]

to set it to 6th. I'd suggest to bring the poison down to 2d4, with secondary damage extending to a third save.

Basically if they are within that area for more than 2 rounds, they suffer an extra round of poison damage.

Remember int, wis or cha ability damage that drops them to 0 means unconscious.

 

[mmu1]

No way is this the right power level for a 6th level spell.

The ability damage is off the wall, the fact that you have to continue to make saves for every round spent in the cloud makes it even more so, it has a huge area of effect (a minimum of 5 20 foot cubes, allowing you to get the whole party with it), it automatically dispels several other spells, and duplicates the effects of another, albeit lower-level one...

I'm not sure a spell that let you do 2d6/2d6 ability damage to dozens of creatures would be appropriate as a 6th level spell with an instantenous duration and no additional properties. Lasting 11 rounds minimum and possible to use in such a way in the typical dungeon corridor that many characters won't be able to get out of it for at least a couple of rounds it's completely overpowered.

 

[Kyramus]

though disintegrate which is a level 6 spell is pretty much a save or die.

 

[AuraSeer]

Definitely overpowered for a 6th-level spell. With that much Wis damage, it's effectively save-or-die for most characters. On top of that, since it extinguishes light sources and obscures vision, it's effectively a higher-level Deeper Darkness. (And you want to make it ignore SR as well? Dude, put down the crack pipe. )

To make it appropriate for 6th, I'd first change the duration to Instantaneous. Lower the poison damage (Primary 1d4 Wis/Secondary 2d4 Wis). Change the area to a 20' radius spread which does not increase per caster level. Remove the Obscuring Mist effect. Allow a caster level check (at max effective level 10) to dispel each light source in the area.

IMO those changes would still leave you with a strong 6th-level spell.

 

[AuraSeer]

though disintegrate which is a level 6 spell is pretty much a save or die.

...which requires an attack roll, and affects only one creature, and doesn't have incidental effects like snuffing light sources.

 

[Pielorinho]

though disintegrate which is a level 6 spell is pretty much a save or die.

Sure -- versus one opponent, with a to-hit roll, and with a saving throw that the frontline guys are going to have an easy time making.

This spell affects a room full of people, duplicates two other spells (essentially acting as a quickened obscuring mist and a quickened darkness), and causes more nasty damage than something like cloudkill.

Although it looks as if it'd be nastiest against clerics, really it's nastiest against wizards and sorcerers and rogues, I think: these folks are likely to have such low wisdom scores that the spell has a good chance of knocking them out.

I'd try to leave it at sixth level, but make the following changes:

1) It performs a dispel attempt against any spell with the [light] descriptor.
2) It's a cone effect, range close.
3) The WIS damage is 1d4/round, with a new save each round. This will still lower people's saves and deny clerics their high-level spells, but it won't stand a good chance of knocking out all the wizards and rogues and other low-fort, low-wis people within two rounds.

Daniel

 

[kreynolds]

though disintegrate which is a level 6 spell is pretty much a save or die.

Right, but it only kills you or hurts you. This other spell here is like a monstrous Deeper Darkness spell (to cancel out the multiple light sources), a really big ol' fat Obscuring Mist (much larger than even the original), and a gigantic Wisdom damaging poisonous cloud.

Also, in regards to extinguishing other light sources, that's a hell of a lot more useful than just a deeper darkness spell, which temporarily negates equal level or lower light spells. This one is a whole lot bigger (I can't stress that enough), but it even "extinguishes" a daylight spell and a continual flame spell.

For spell level, 7th is the lowest I would go, but I would suggest 8th.

 

[AuraSeer]

Just thought of another weird aspect of the dispelling.

An area dispel affects a maximum of one spell per creature in the area. This cloud thing, as written, goes after all light sources regardless of their number. So even a party with multiple Daylight spells running, carrying two Everburning Torches each, could still have all their light removed in an instant.

To keep the spell at 6th level, you'd need to nerf that effect. Maybe have magical light sources suppressed for one round (as if in an Antimagic Field) instead of being dispelled outright.

 

[Nail]

The "light supression" idea is a good one. Have the spell remove the light, but not the magic, for a few rounds.

And hey, it better be a Cone AoE! Think about it: it's his breath! Either "cubes" or a "spread" is right out -- doesn't fit th' flavor of the thing.

If it's a save vs. Wisdom loss, shouldn't it be a Will save? After all, it's mind-affecting. (Be sure to change that in the spell descriptors.)

Isn't there a "Fog of Maddness" spell somewhere? Even a core rules spell? .....(flips thru SRD).....