What spells need to be simplified?

[lukelightning]

I think there are a load of spells, particularly some old stand-bys, that need to be simplified or streamlined.

For example, web and entangle can bring the game to a screeching halt as people look up all the various effects (let's see...what's the DC to get out? How fast can I move? How much cover?). I think the DC to break out of it should be related to the DC of the spell itself, not some arbitrary number.

Similarly, grease can be troublesome. I think balance checks and the balance skill should be chucked out of the game entirely and replaced with reflex saves.

Reincarnate needs work as well. What should be done about racial HD if you come back as a bugbear? Is there a LA modification for the spell, and how should it be handled? What should be done about human bonus feat and skill points?

The various planar binding spells are also too complex. The binding circle and dimensional anchor stuff should be part of the spell. The control of the creature should be a regular Will save, not some charisma check.

What else needs work?

 

[two]

A lot of spells are a pain to use.

Just think about the ones that burn up the most game time attempting to figure out the rules (or rolling dice needlessly).

-- Mirror Image (not only does it require a bunch more rolls, but the spell is anything but clear)

-- Summon Monster (they should PRINT a limited list of monsters in the spell which can be summoned. That way, you can just open the book and find the attack routine of the XYZ)

-- Arcane Sight. You waste the GM's time getting color and intensity of every magical effect? Can you say, boring?

etc.

 

[Jack Simth]

Much of that is a matter of streamlining - if you're going to be doing a fair amount of summoning, print up your critters on index cards beforehand, ready to go, with all the modifiers you're putting in through feats and class abilities. At the table, you just summon and flip to the appropriet card.

Reincarnate just needs clarification - there's a lot of things that aren't listed, either way - such things as level adjustment, changing age categories, et cetera.

Mirror Image: At the casting, he could have cast Scorching Ray, instead, and had to roll an attack roll and 4d6 damage. Instead, the Sor/Wiz rolled up the number of images. Now everyone has a curious miss chance. Compare to Blur. It's a more interesting version. As long as the player doesn't try to get cute with Mirror Image (e.g., getting the images in a line, running in four different directions, et cetera) it's not really a problem - just one more die to roll for the attacker, same as for Blur or Displacement.

Web, Entangle, and Grease? Meh. They're hardly show-stoppers, but they are interesting spells.

The Planar Binding line? Treat much like Summon Monster. It's the caster pulling things off - done properly (take 10 on the Calling Diagram, Magic Circle Against [Alignment], Dimensional Anchor, Dismissal available, then the actual Planar Binding spell) it's a single Will save, followed by a Charisma check once per day. Compare to Fireball at comperable levels - reflex saves all around, SR penetration checks all around, and rolling of all the damage.

Arcane Sight? Well, yeah, but that's not much of an issue - assume he takes 10 on his Spellcraft in most situations - Okay, so that guy has X, Y, and Z schools at A, B, and C strengths. Oh, Transmutation on the door! And so on. A Rogue actively searching for traps is more of an issue.

Most of it's just a familiarity issue. Require the caster to know it cold, and have it on hand to look up if you get suspicious.

 

[lukelightning]

Mirror Image (not only does it require a bunch more rolls, but the spell is anything but clear)

Oh yeah, that one. They should make it like an ablative displacement effect, something like 80% miss chance that goes down by 10% for every time it saves you. Though if you understand the spell as written it's pretty sweet; people forget that the images take up the spaces around you if you want...you can fill up a large area with them. But yeah, it's a pain.

 

[Bad Paper]

What else needs work?

I don't think any of the spells you listed is problematic. Reincarnate is deliberately vague to allow DMs to fill in the blanks. The rest are just an issue of learning your mechanics.

 

[lukelightning]

I don't think any of the spells you listed is problematic. Reincarnate is deliberately vague to allow DMs to fill in the blanks. The rest are just an issue of learning your mechanics.

This issue isn't about learning mechanics but streamlining. I know how web works, but it's still a pain to use. And the escape/break DCs are arbitrary.

 

[Nail]

FWIW, I agree with lukelightning: it's not a memorization problem, it's an ease-of-use problem.

 

[Pierson_Lowgal]

As has been said: entangle, web and grease can be annoying. I imagine Evard's Black Tentacles is the same, though my experience is more limited.

I have faced entangle more than the others as a player, it slows combat to a crawl. The last time a DM used it against the party, 2 of the 4 7th level party members could not escape it and ended up doing nothing for the entire combat.

I think grease is worded confusingly, I don't like the mix of balance checks and reflex saves.

 

[Nail]

As for Grease and Entangle and Web:

If you play with unmodifed versions of these, it is well worth your time to read-up on these before the meeting. Trying to figure all of this out during a meeting is a collossal waste of time.

 

[lukelightning]

What would make web and similar spells is saying "the break DC is the DC of the spell +5" or something like that.