KalridianReincarnated's page

TxSam88 wrote:

KalridianReincarnated wrote:

Thanks for the answers :)

Remember that "concentrating on a spell" is a standard action, so any actions requiring a standard (which I interpret as "abova a certain complexity") are out, while you concentrate. Including casting any other spells, so that automatically rules out the whole "multiple buffs"-scenatrio. The caster basically gives up their ability to cast any other spells AND half their action for the whole time.

And no, you can not resume concentration, as with the normal concentration rules. Once the timer runs, it runs.

Yeah, IMO, this pretty much makes this a useless ability. I'd never bother to use it in my games. Except maybe for long distance travel Haste of fly being able to last all day long would greatly impact travel times, etc)

I think thats kinda the OPs point in this houserule… they want players to be more willing to use spell resources to solve problems outside of combat without feeling stifled by short spell durations while simultaneously not adding a lot of extra power in combat.

Exactly, thank you. Things like holding a wall of force to stop a river, keeping up summoning spells as in my example to use the summoned creatures out of combat, maybe a heroic cleric keeping the daylight spell through the whole night to give the rest of the party a chance to rest while oursued by vampires... Kind of the pathfinder version of the trope of the caster who holds some kind of barrier or other effect with gritted teeth, just to collapse when the danger is over, that shows up in so many anime and other series.

What I am looking for is any spells on which it would be completely overpowered or where it leads to problems I might not be foreseeing. My players have been delighted with the summoning-rule in the past, so I don't worry about whether they will find this useful.

personally I don't think it's a good idea.

All non-instantaneous spells can now basically be 'held', like Summon Monster or Positive Pulse and those are just First level spells. Wait until Aqueous Orb, Swarm of Fangs, Heroism, Call the Void show up at Third level... gonna get crazy.
How will this affect the Initiative game of Who Goes First?

Do you really consider this as so much of a problem, seeing as the caster will not be able to use ANY other spells (except quickened, but that has it's own cost) or any attacks while they are concentrating?

Thanks for the answers :)

Remember that "concentrating on a spell" is a standard action, so any actions requiring a standard (which I interpret as "abova a certain complexity") are out, while you concentrate. Including casting any other spells, so that automatically rules out the whole "multiple buffs"-scenatrio. The caster basically gives up their ability to cast any other spells AND half their action for the whole time.

And no, you can not resume concentration, as with the normal concentration rules. Once the timer runs, it runs.

Hey everyone,

sadly the email bound to my old account has been lost, so I've had to make a new one. It's good to finally have the time and space of mind to GM again, and I've overhauled my house rule document for my new campaign.

To my actual question:
To encourage creative out-of-combat use of spells, I am thinking about changing the duration of all non-instantaneous/permanent spells to "concentration + [whatever the normal duration is]".

I would institute the rule that, if the conditions that are neccesary for casting the spell (like range, line of sight, etc) are not given for a full round, the timer starts ticking anyway.

This is to avoid stuff like "we'll hire a bunch of low level minions, have them cast buffs and concentrate on them, the´n park them in a rope trick/outside the dungeon where they are not in danger".

The full round stuff is to enable the concept to work even in round based combat, where people might exceed the range when one person moves and the other one hasn't yet. In narrative time, this is of course not a problem.

I have had this same rule in effect for all summoning spells for a long time and it has led to great creative uses like using a summoned dog for tracking and using the SLA/skills of summoned creatures for out of combat applications.

I know this ends up being another buff for casters, but I remedy this imbalance in my home games in other ways, so please don't discuss balancing of classes regarding this.

What I want to know: Are there any loopholes I've overlooked? What do you think you would do, where you a player in a game with this rule?

Do you have any ideas for broken concepts based on this?

Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone,

sadly the email bound to my old account has been lost, so I've had to make a new one. It's good to finally have the time and space of mind to GM again, and I've overhauled my house rule document for my new campaign.

To my actual question:
To encourage creative out-of-combat use of spells, I am thinking about changing the duration of all non-instantaneous/permanent spells to "concentration + [whatever the normal duration is]".

I would institute the rule that, if the conditions that are neccesary for casting the spell (like range, line of sight, etc) are not given for a full round, the timer starts ticking anyway.

This is to avoid stuff like "we'll hire a bunch of low level minions, have them cast buffs and concentrate on them, the´n park them in a rope trick/outside the dungeon where they are not in danger".

The full round stuff is to enable the concept to work even in round based combat, where people might exceed the range when one person moves and the other one hasn't yet. In narrative time, this is of course not a problem.

I have had this same rule in effect for all summoning spells for a long time and it has led to great creative uses like using a summoned dog for tracking and using the SLA/skills of summoned creatures for out of combat applications.

I know this ends up being another buff for casters, but I remedy this imbalance in my home games in other ways, so please don't discuss balancing of classes regarding this.

What I want to know: Are there any loopholes I've overlooked? What do you think you would do, where you a player in a game with this rule?

Do you have any ideas for broken concepts based on this?

Thanks in advance.