In a game I'm playing my character is a Dwarven Forgemaster heavily inspired by Rune Priests in Warhammer Fantasy. As such, I want to focus much of what he does on augmenting equipment and objects, and make a few custom spells modeled after the stories of my ancestors. I thought since I picked up Rime Spell a chilling chains spell would be neat. I'm using Chain of Perdition (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/chain-of-perdition) as a guideline and would be using the custom spell researching rules.
I feel like raising the spell level by one, adding some cold damage, and removing the force effect (a notable removal of utility) makes this more than balanced. I really want a flavorful and cool way of using my Rime Spell and make my Forgemaster really feel connected to his ancestors. Let me know what you think!
The Chains of Dorak Bergfist
School transmutation [cold]; sorcerer/wizard 4, cleric 4 (can only be cast by Dwarves)
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M/DF (chain link)
EFFECT
Target one non-magical chain within 25'+5'/2levels
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw yes (held)
DESCRIPTION
The targeted chain begins to float and chills to a frigid state, harassing enemies within range. This chain is a Medium object that has a 10-foot reach. Physical attacks can hit or harm the chain as usual, but it gains 1 hardness for every two caster levels of the caster. The chain’s AC against touch attacks is 10 + your Charisma modifier (sorcerer), Intelligence modifier (wizard), or Wisdom modifier (cleric).
The chain can perform the dirty trick (blind or entangle), drag, reposition, and trip combat maneuvers, using your caster level in place of your Combat Maneuver Bonus, and your Charisma modifier (sorcerer), Intelligence modifier (wizard), or Wisdom modifier (cleric) in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier. The chain does not provoke attacks of opportunity for making combat maneuvers. It suffers no penalty or miss chance due to darkness, invisibility, or other forms of concealment. Any creature successfully hit by one such combat maneuver suffers 2d6 points of cold damage, plus an additional 1d6 for every three caster levels beyond fifth (maximum 5d6 at 14th level).
As a move action, you can move the chain up to 30 feet. If the chain goes beyond the spell’s range or out of your sight, it returns to you.
Overall I like it. Require concentration to enable it to do the combat maneuvers, particularly when not continuing a bind or entangle i.e. it is not a fire and forgot sort of spell. Haven't got the time to look at it further at the moment so this is mostly a rapid first impression and I'll likely comment further later.
I strongly disagree. The base spell is fire and forget (after designating a target) much like all of the "hands" spells, which it was ultimately modeled after. Requiring concentration would make it pretty useless.
Admittedly it animating a chain is mostly to fit the character's flavor. A rune priest doesn't conjure force, but rather utilizes the worked goods at his disposal. The sidebar of Chain of Perdition specifies that it is an auto-attacker, but it takes a move action to designate a target and combat maneuver. Thanks for pointing out those small things I missed like HP, AC, and specifying the chain must be 10' or fewer.