Whirling Blade questions (C Arcane)

[SteelDraco]

I had a few questions regarding the Whirling Blade spell, from Complete Arcane. I'm planning on using it in place of Lightning Bolt for a Spellsword I'm putting together, and wanted to check on a few things before I finished the character up. It seems to me that the spell is pretty clearly written, but that just gets excessively powerful, considering how much stuff you can do to boost melee attacks. Am I missing something here, or is the spell just that good?

1. Do other effects you have active modify the melee attacks you use for this spell? For example, if I use the Arcane Strike feat from CW to add +4 to attack and +4d4 damage to all my melee attacks for the round, and then toss my axe with Whirling Blade, does the Arcane Strike stuff apply to each attack? How about spell effects, such as Wraithstrike (all melee attacks this round are resolved as melee touch attacks, fromk Complete Arcane)? This seems like it could get pretty sick, pretty fast.

2. Can you Power Attack with Whirling Blade? It seems like you would be able to, since it mentions that it's a normal melee attack. "You make a normal melee attack, just as if you attacked with the weapon in melee, ... The weapon deals damage just as if you had swung it in melee, including any bonuses you might have from ability scores or feats."

If I'm reading this spell right, my 13th level Fighter2/Sorcerer4/Spellsword4/Eldritch Knight3 can do the following in one round.
1. Activate the Arcane Strike feat as a free action and sacrifice a 4th level spell slot for +4 attack and +4d4 damage for each melee attack in the round.
2. Cast the Wraithstrike spell as a swift action to make all melee attacks this round resolve as melee touch attacks.
3. Declare a Power Attack for eleven points.
4. Cast a Sculpted Whirling Blade to perform an attack on every creature within an area, that area being one of four choices, so I'll be able to get quite a number of enemeies. Each attack is a melee touch attack at a +11 bonus (+11 BAB, +6 Str, +1 weapon, +4 Arcane Strike, -11 Power Attack) with my +1 Shocking Keen Dwarven Waraxe that deals 1d10 (base weapon damage) + 1 (weapon's enhancement bonus) + 11 (Power Attack) + 6 (Strength bonus) + 1d6 electricity (Shocking Weapon property) + 4d4 (Arcane Strike damage) to each creature in the area. A +11 melee touch attack that deals 1d10+18+1d6+4d4 (avg 45 damage).

Huh. You know, I got to the end of that, and it was only doing an average of 45 damage per target. That's not really a lot better than a Sculpted Lightning Bolt at the same level. Just has a melee touch attack instead of a Reflex save to avoid the damage, which is considerably more certain, but not infallible. That's all for the cost of a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level spell slot.

Thoughts? Did I mess anything up there, or is that how the whole thing works?

 

[DanMcS]

2. Can you Power Attack with Whirling Blade? It seems like you would be able to, since it mentions that it's a normal melee attack. "You make a normal melee attack, just as if you attacked with the weapon in melee, ... The weapon deals damage just as if you had swung it in melee, including any bonuses you might have from ability scores or feats."

Yes.

If I'm reading this spell right, my 13th level Fighter2/Sorcerer4/Spellsword4/Eldritch Knight3 can do the following in one round.
1. Activate the Arcane Strike feat as a free action and sacrifice a 4th level spell slot for +4 attack and +4d4 damage for each melee attack in the round.
2. Cast the Wraithstrike spell as a swift action to make all melee attacks this round resolve as melee touch attacks.
3. Declare a Power Attack for eleven points.
4. Cast a Sculpted Whirling Blade to perform an attack on every creature within an area, that area being one of four choices, so I'll be able to get quite a number of enemeies. Each attack is a melee touch attack at a +11 bonus (+11 BAB, +6 Str, +1 weapon, +4 Arcane Strike, -11 Power Attack) with my +1 Shocking Keen Dwarven Waraxe that deals 1d10 (base weapon damage) + 1 (weapon's enhancement bonus) + 11 (Power Attack) + 6 (Strength bonus) + 1d6 electricity (Shocking Weapon property) + 4d4 (Arcane Strike damage) to each creature in the area. A +11 melee touch attack that deals 1d10+18+1d6+4d4 (avg 45 damage).

Yep. You get to make a couple of cast defensively checks if you're threatened, and you've blown a good chunk of your spells, but it's a good combo. If you're not using a shield, throw it with both hands for an extra 14 points of damage.

Huh. You know, I got to the end of that, and it was only doing an average of 45 damage per target. That's not really a lot better than a Sculpted Lightning Bolt at the same level. Just has a melee touch attack instead of a Reflex save to avoid the damage, which is considerably more certain, but not infallible. That's all for the cost of a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level spell slot.

And if you miss, you do 0 damage, instead of half if they make their save vs lightning bolt. It's a good second level spell, but not overly powerful.

 

[SteelDraco]

Yep. You get to make a couple of cast defensively checks if you're threatened, and you've blown a good chunk of your spells, but it's a good combo. If you're not using a shield, throw it with both hands for an extra 14 points of damage.

I thought about that, but was thinking it wouldn't work unless you Stilled the Whirling Blade spell. It has a Somatic component, and so you need a free hand to cast the spell. Even if it's a free action to switch your grip on a weapon, I don't think it could be done essentially in the middle of casting a spell, between casting it and releasing it.

And if you miss, you do 0 damage, instead of half if they make their save vs lightning bolt. It's a good second level spell, but not overly powerful.

It does work pretty well against rogues, though, who are otherwise nearly immune to lots of blasting spells. And doesn't have a save, which is important, because my Charisma isn't all that good.

So yeah, probably just a neat little combo. Very stylistic, which is always nice, and not so powerful as to be broken.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Interesting, but as you say, it's not a heck of a lot worse than throwing a Lightning Bolt around. And it does have the advantage of bypassing ER. There might be more interesting weapon enhancements to stack it with, though, if one gave it some thought.

Of course, the damage of this game's going to be incredibly nasty too - Brandy, for example, has found a feat in Sandstorm that lets her fire spells ignore ER, and even damage fire creatures - between that and Mel's force magic, not a lot of things are going to be standing up to a full magical assault here.

Not that you won't need it

 

[hong]

Whirling blade is fine. It's wraithstrike that I've banned.