Hi everybody,
just wanted to keep you informed that I've made a small open playtest pdf with a small selection of spells from Eldritch Secrets! Well, when I say a small selection, I basically mean 43 free spells... all ready for... playtesting, or perhaps your home campaign!
I've chosen both spells that needs extensive playtesting, but also some real gems!
So far the Open Playtest edition is only available from rpgnow, but I will upload it to paizo within the next few days. However, if you can't wait, please head on over to RPGNow.com and check it out!
Did I say that these were...free??
Headless Hydra Games at RPGNow.com
- Axel
Headless Hydra Games
Did I say that these were...free??
Thank you! How did you know free was my favorite price?
A lucky guess? :)
Oh, and you're welcome! I hope you like them and have the time to help us make them even better!
Which reminds me... if any of you guys have some feedback to offer, we can use this thread to discuss the spells!
Happy reading!
- Axel
A lucky guess? :)
Oh, and you're welcome! I hope you like them and have the time to help us make them even better!
Funny enough Chromatic Wheel fits PERFECTLY to something I wanted to do with a monster, so thanks!
Woo, shiny.
Better make ourselves useful then :P (although I can't select and copy fragments of spell descriptions so it makes it a bit tricky).
Arcing weapon:
Might be overpickiness on my part, might be a potential problem, you decide:
Is:
"The weapon now deals an additional 1d6 points of electricity damage +1 for every two caster levels."
Possible problem: unclarity as to type of bonus damage and it's amount. Is the whole 1d6+1 or only +1 multiplied; is the +x damage dealt by electricity or generic magic enhancement?
Easy fix:
"The weapon now deals an additional 1d6[,] +1 for every two caster levels (eg. 1d6 + 3 on 6th level) points of electricity damage"
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Assasin's Bane - dunno, seems a tad strong for paladin, but then again, there's bull strength, owls popsicle and shield other, so I guess it'll be rather a NPC's spell.
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Bestial healing - um, could be renamed to MindFrier, or directly to Kill The Damn caster. Seems to be Extremely powerful, even though it has to pass the SR.
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Breath of Caliostra - I don't get it.
So he is dazed only for the first round, and if the total duration of spell is longer, he is not affected by this state longer. But what about the -2 penalty - is it stacking in the meantime (-2 on first, -4 on second, -6 on third etc) or is it flat -2 for X rounds? I think it's flat -2, but only because of how powerful it'd be, not because the description suggested it.
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Burning Boneyard - me likey, but it's another strong caster-killer. Then again what good is the supplement if there are no strong spells, eh? ;-)
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Caress of Caliostra - the name. If I'm to die of ecstasy, I'd rather not have people mishear that as carcase of caliostra. "You've heard about Reth Gif? Died of ecstasy with carcase of some Cali lass" "That dirty %$#^*."
What's wrong with stroke? It sure resonates better with spell description. And while the character is affected by SoD - there's an upside, he can have impure thoughts!
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Carriage - I suggest changing it from 4 to 5 people if the intent is to allow PC's to travel around. Typical family has 2.5 kids, typical gaming group 4.3 players. Those partial people add up somewhere ;-)
K, enough for now, time to read something useful :P But to quote the governor of California: I'll be back.
Alex --
Regarding Chromatic Wheel...
My main concern is the numbers. I may be reading this wrong though. As a 12th Level wizard, this means you effectively gain the ability to cast 9 death spells for the cost of a 1st Level spell. It gives a player too many extra spells with no real down side. Unless you're only allowed a single orb per gem type set into the disk.
It's a great visual, the spell just needs to be toned down. Maybe make it so the orbs only do one of the basic damage types (acid, cold, fire, electric, etc.) Although I like the exhaustion, stun, & knockback effects.
Also, what's up with the Damage column in the Table? Does this do anything? How does this effect things?
How about... lesser chromatic wheel, chromatic wheel, and greater chromatic wheel?
Using this method would allow for more balance while keeping the power some of the effects have.
I may not have the time to answer all your questions, but rest assured, I will read EVERYTHING you write :)
Arcing Weapon: I see your problem, and it is only the +1 that that changes with every 2 caster levels. I added a (Maximum +5), should make it all clearer.
Assassin's Bane: I hear ye', this is my problem too...
Bestial Healing: Yeah, that's right, but then again, it would heal him too :) and it gives a Will save, most caster's best save...
Breath of Caliostra: This was actually Calistria (a much better name), but I wasn't sure that I was allowed to use that name since it is owned by Paizo. But yeah, there's a lot going on with this spell. I think the main idea is that the target is distracted in different ways by feeling pleasure. A nice idea, but it could be executed more eloquently.
Burning Boneyard: Yep, I like this too, just not sure if its at all balanced.
Caress of Caliostra: Yeah, and Pathfinder actually forbids us to do save or die spells... but...
Carriage: Changed!
Chromatic Wheel: Nope, the caster gains one orb of each color, so at 12th level, he only has one death orb, but he also has one of all the other colours. Yeah, this spell is a difficult one. Originally it didn't have an expensive focus, but perhaps the focus is not expensive enough. The idea is that it not only deals damage (hence the damage table) but also has an extremely useful effect. Perhaps I could remove either the damage or the effect? This would definitely balance it a little, if only a little..
- Axel
No worries, I consider this more of a Wall duty, ideas bouncing-wise :)
K, back to business.
Curse of The Body - why on earth is it 4th level for clerics? It's on 3rd level anyway, so it's in the tough company, and clerics, not mages are the stock undead-busters. Maybe it's just me, but I rarely see incorporeal creatures that are not some sort of undead.
If anything, the ratio would seem healthier as cleric 3, soercerer/wizard 4
Chromatic Wheel - Make it occupy spell slot of level appropriate to highest used colour, sort of like when maximizing/quickening a spell.
With level you gain ability to cast the spell with higher effect. You control this by adding appropriate gems to the wheel component. Every second orb means 1 higher spell slot, and it's calculated by the highest colour (so wheel using Black orb would occupy 6th level spell slot, regardless of how many other colours you're using).
I'm not great at balancing stuff, so I can't help with which colour should occupy which spell slot.
Dwarven Hatred (normal and mass) - simultaneously too strong and too weak :P It's too strong, because it's much stronger than actual dwarven hatred, if anything - it could copy the racial enemy effect (and the actual racial enemies listed are orcs and goblins...). And what about rangers favored enemy? The fluff/description really doesn't make much sense in context of what is presented in core books.
And it's too weak at the same time, because... you know. Bulls strenght, owl wisdom, bear endurance - that lot.
It's effectively any good only for casters/shooters - and does magically induced hateful rage help aim stuff?
Guardian Earth - it seems extremely... un-druidish. Then again maybe there are similar spells for druids, I never really play the buggers. As GM - I'd consider stripping a druid of his powers (similarily to cleric and paladin) if he ever used this spell.
OK, that's end of a page, so a good moment to pause :)
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My first thought on Acid Echo was that it was something you cast on the round after casting an Acid spell, and caused the damage to 'echo' for an extra 1d6 using a 'free' cantrip slot. But now that I've opened my good eye, I see it's like a miniature Reserve Feat.
Arcane Window should specify what sort of action is used to switch target windows, not just 'once / round.' The 1 minute casting time seems to detract from the apparent use of the spell, to check outside all of the windows in your manor / keep / tower / whatever, after some sort of alarm is triggered. 1 minute after you become aware of the need to look out various windows is 10 double-move or run actions past the time there might be anything still out there to see...
On the one hand, I like that Arcing Weapon comes up with a new mechanic for how it subtracts duration. On the other hand, I'm totally schizo, and don't like this particular new mechanic, and would probably prefer it just lasted at full value for 1 hit / CL or a number of hits equal to your Int or Cha modifier or something.
Armor of Flames has a beefy enough deflection bonus to still be relevant to a caster that most likely has a +3 or better ring by then. That's cool. The damage only applying to someone who makes a melee touch attack, and not to someone who makes a melee attack with unarmed strike or natural weapons seems a bit odd, though.
Bestial Healing seems to use exception-based design, and that often bugs me. In a magical universe where creature design had any relationship to PC design and I had the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the last sentence about this special attack replacing any and all normal natural attacks or special abilities of the target creature wouldn't be necessary. I think I'd prefer that the just skipped all of this stuff and gave the target creature the ability to heal damage equal to a percentage of damage it inflicts for a short duration, with a minimum of 1 hit point per successful attack (for those feeble little hawk and housecat familiars). This spell seems to be more complicated than it needs to be.
That second sentence in Blood Will Tell would bother me if I was awake yet. My inner grammar nazi is still sleepy. But that last word should be 'effect,' not 'affect.' I think.
Break Resistance looks useful. Being a touch spell, it's a risky one for someone who doesn't have a spectral hand handy.
Breath of Ecstasy would be a better name. Instead of the somewhat awkward verbiage 'In each subsequent round, blah, blah' perhaps the line could be 'For the remainder of the spell's duration, blah, blah.'
Burning Boneyard, IMO, should be a square area of ground, not a 'cube.' The image of burning skeletal arms erupting out of walls and the ceiling of a 10 x 10 passageway seems silly. And without any reference to ground, the writeup gives the impression that the arms would erupt out of nowhere to attack a flying creature in a random 10' cube in midair as well, which is even freakier for me, from a visual perspective. Spells like this, and black tentacles invariably end up needing to be adjudicated as to how many arms / tentacles can strike a single target in the area of effect. I'd be inclined to make it affect a single 5 ft. square per caster level, which must be connected, although they can snake around as he wishes, and each square produces a single arm which will attack one target in it's square (preferentially) or in any adjacent square, so that a 9th level caster could theoretically affect the 5 ft. square a person is standing in, and the eight 5 ft. squares around him, subjecting him to a maximum (for a medium sized creature) of 9 attacks for 1d6 each. This would allow a caster to snake the squares around his allies, making sure that the target squares are under the foes, so that the foes get struck first, instead of his allies.
Caress of Caliostra could be renamed 'the little death' or something, and instead of dazing the subject could leave them exhausted and suffering some nonlethal damage (it is an 8th level spell after all). The duration of 1 round / level, carrying over from the Breath spell feels out of place, given the textual effects. I get that it's supposed to be save or die, then be dazed 1d4 rounds, then be -2 to all rolls for the rest of the duration, but that feels like a lot of stuff to keep track of.
The Carriage should probably have a weight limit for cargo, etc. instead of just 'four persons' (which would limit it to four ogres, or four halflings, in theory). The wording of the last sentence should just drop the words 'defend themselves' completely for something like 'If attacked, the horses will attempt to flee their attackers, but otherwise serve willingly and well.'
Curse of the Body doesn't have a target descriptor, which could imply that it affects all incorporeal undead within Short range, which isn't made much clearer in the text. A Target line and / or an explicit mention in the text that 'Curse of the Body forces a single undead creature with the incorporeal...'
A line describing how this changes the undead, for instance temporarily causing it to gain a Strength score appropriate to it's size (Bestiary page 292) might be useful here as well. It's common sense, obviously, but probably better to just state it up front, since I don't believe that sort of thing is written down anywhere.
Were this not a necromancy spell, and refluffed as a transmutation spell, it could also be used to affect incorporeal creatures that are not undead. That would be moot, 'though, as I don't see any incorporeal undead... Shutting up now.
Draconic Whip is another of those exceptional duration mechanics. This one I like even less... The spell seems like a decent choice to be Conjuration instead of Evocation, as well, since it's not just throwing an instantaneous blob of lightning or fire at someone, so much as creating a tangible item of that energy/substance that will last and can be manipulated. But that's a pretty subjective call, and it's probably as easy to argue for it being Evocation.
Wording quibbles. 'The spell creates a dragon-headed whip composed of the energy type of one of the chromatic dragons (acid, cold, electricity and fire).' could be 'This spell creates a dragon-headed whip composed of a single energy type determined when you cast the spell (acid, cold, electrity or fire).' There's no need to mention chromatic dragons, specifically, since metallic dragons use the same four energy types.
There totally needs to be a Dragon-Queen's Scourge that inclicts 5d4 damage on a hit, 1d4 of each acid, cold, electricity, fire and sonic... (Yeah, Tiamat doesn't breath sonic, but the traditional WotC Tiamat isn't available in OGL anyway!)
I agree with whoever upthread said that Dwarven Hatred should use the same mechanic as the actual Dwarven racial trait of Hatred (and, if cast on a Dwarf, be wicked awesome and give them a Favored Enemy +2 vs. their racial foes of humanoid (orc) and humanoid (goblinoid), which may stack with these same properties if the recipient of the spell happens to be a dwarf ranger with FE: orc or goblinoid). The name 'Dwarven Hatred' also could leave someone with the impression that it causes hatred *of* dwarves... Perhaps some euphemism for 'dwarf' might be handy here, for that reason, as 'Stoneminder's Antipathy' or 'Beardling's Spite' would be less likely to give that impression.
The Open Playtest of Eldritch Secrets are now available at Paizo as well! Just follow this link;
Eldritch Secrets - Open Playtest
- Axel
Headless Hydra Games
Bump.
A few notes on spell designs:
Chromatic wheel is a direct descendant of the old 2E spell chromatic orb, where as you went up in level you could choose which orb you created, with its damage and effect. It came from a player who created what would amount to now a wand of chromatic orb, where you could choose the one to fire every round..I just compressed the idea into a spell.
Set-I actually have notes for what amounts to your dragon queens scourge. I didn't add it in simply because Tiamat is such a back ground figure right now.
Bestial healing- Heh..we never used this to its full range,I guess. Typiclly our groups have used it on mid power minions in large scale battles (the ogre in the midst of the goblin horde), to basicly have him slaughter some of the little guys and get them out of the way. I can't recall anyone actually bothering to use it on a caster..
Guardian Earth lets the druids connection to the land bleed off damage, with the idea that the land will recover faster that a puny mortal body.
I think putting some of the "problem spells" out there was a brilliant move, allowing a deeper response and more ideas to kick around. All it takes is one person to say "try this" and something that gives me fits for weeks is solved
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About Burning Boneyard... this spell was one of mine, and I'll tell you right now, I wasn't thinking in three dimensions. (I rarely do, sadly.) It NEEDS a line adding that it needs at least a semisolid surface somewhere in the cube to work, although I personally quite LIKE the idea of the arms erupting from walls and ceilings... it suits the flavor. (i.e., this is terrifying, horror-film stuff.) The relative difficulty of getting those arms to hit makes them less deadly than most people think. It's quite possible that this spell will accomplish nothing at all when cast.
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A few notes on spell designs:
Chromatic wheel is a direct descendant of the old 2E spell chromatic orb, where as you went up in level you could choose which orb you created, with its damage and effect. It came from a player who created what would amount to now a wand of chromatic orb, where you could choose the one to fire every round..I just compressed the idea into a spell.
Oh yeah, I definitely recognized it, since that was a favorite of the 18th level Illusionist in our Bloodstone game way back in 2e (or was it 1e? The memory fails...). He even ganked the Tarrasque with a Chromatic Orb, IIRC (although it took a Wish to finish him off).
A spell that allows one of a variety of effects, with major and minor results depending on the saving throw (nauseated if failed, sickened if succeeded, for instance) would probably be neat, but the Wheel seems like it didn't just cast a Chromatic Orb, but one of them each level, round by round, which is a bit over the top for a 1st level spell, especially with the auto-fire option, allowing you to not even lose any actions releasing the orbs after casting.
Have the damage scale, and be the same for each level of Orb, and place the cooler secondary effects near the top of the chart, and it should be a neat thing. So the 1st level one could do 1d6 nonlethal damage / level to a single target who has to save or be fatigued until the damage taken is healed (and if he saves, he also only takes half damage). The 2nd level one could be 1d6 force damage / level to a single target, who must save or be stunned for one round. 3rd - 1d6 fire damage / level + Ref save or catch on fire. Etc. All of the blasts cap at 5d6, or perhaps it's 1d6 / odd level, and capping at 10d6 at 19th level.
A higher level variant (3rd?) could do the Chromatic Wheel thing and create the orbiting orbs (one of each color you can generate, orbiting for 1 minute / level, or until used up) that can be fired off once / round as a move-equivalent action (still allowing the option of releasing an orb while doing something else, similar to how one can manipulate a flaming sphere while casting something else).
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More thoughts, which have been delayed by my Faction NPC nonsense.
Guardian Earth The idea is neat, but the area effected is wonky. Instead of 10 ft. squares more-or-less ‘centered on the caster,’ perhaps a 5 ft. radius per 2 or 3 levels would be less awkward.
Gruesome Appearance This spell is either meant to be a curse, in which case it doesn’t last nearly long enough to matter, or an Intimidation buff, in which case the penalty to all other Charisma-based checks it totally over the top for a 3rd level spell. From an effects-based / utility standpoint, I think it suffers from doing two things poorly, rather than one thing well.
Hornetbreath Having the swarms not be under your control makes this of dubious utility, unless you are soloing, which really isn’t the D&D default assumption (and, even then, for a Druid, it’s pretty much the ‘kill my animal companion spell,’ in that case, since the wasps will eat it for lunch). The Range entry seems out of place. Wouldn’t the range be Personal, and the ability to belch the wasps out anywhere within 10 ft. of your space be something to be mentioned in the text? I could be wrong on that point, the Range entries of some core spells are pretty wonky that way as well… (But making it Personal means that one could Share it with one’s Companion, and make the inevitable dog that barks bees.)
Imbue Energy I’d be inclined to just bump the damage to 1d6 and rule that it not stack with the appropriate magic item enhancements (flaming, frost, shock). Does a projectile weapon (bow, crossbow, sling, etc.) pass the effect down to ammunition? I like that the choice must be made when the spell is prepared, as that gives a Sorcerer who takes the spell a bit of versatility over a Wizard, which is one of those funky little things that puts a smile on a Sorcerer’s face.
Improve Poison If Assassins still cast spells, this would totally belong on their list. :)
Ladder of Tresses One would think that having 55+ ft. of hair growing from one’s head (and possibly face) would be encumbering or inconvenient in battle or something, but apparently not. And if it were disadvantageous to be trailing a couple hundred pounds of hair, there would probably need to be a saving throw to avoid such a fate… But these are idle thoughts. For what it does, create 50 ft. of temporary rope using someone’s hair as a material component, it should probably be bumped down to level 1 (and have text stating that the hair affected grows in a single round, weaves itself into a rope, and falls off of the subjects head, for convenience. If you’re that hard up for a rope, you might not have a dagger to cut it off of the subject with, after all, and this negates any questions about inconvenience or encumbrance of the subject.).
Lucky Dice In the vein of the old 1e spell Fool’s Gold, there should be some mundane manner to detect someone benefitting from this spell, to prevent 1st level Bards and Wizards from getting away with winning the keys to the kingdom in a pick-up game with this trick. Perhaps a Knowledge (arcana) or Spellcraft check can recognize the subtle signs of this spell (spinning dice reflected in the users eyes or something), and while the sailors at the Rusty Anchor won’t necessarily have a clue, any attempt to use this in an actual casino is asking for a defenestration.
Mark of Notice The Mark spells are neat. This particular one might warrant being bumped up to 1 minute / level, similar to faerie fire. Like faerie fire, and many other spells 'these days,' it should probably just impose a flat penalty to Stealth rolls (or a bonus to the Perception checks of others) and not be 'all or nothing' and always make the subject noticed.
If the Mark spells explicitly require the big statement of condemnation, some text stating that they can’t be made Silent via metamagic might be in order.
Mental Agility is nice. Always happy to see a Divination spell that someone might actually cast during combat.
Ray of Chaos Is there some significance to green freezing air? Seems like an unnecessary flavor restriction, given the nature of the spell.
Read Text If the spell also animated the book so that it propped itself up and flipped it’s pages while reading, that would be cool. I like it. I’d be inclined to just give it a flat 1 hour duration, ‘though. Cantrips with effects modified by caster level appear to be a thing of the past.
Wall of Holy Light Permanent unlimited healing? Yeah. Well, like yeah, but no. Perhaps if the wild coruscating power of a single Wall of Holy Light spell could only heal a single person once (sort of like a Celestial Sorcerer’s ‘healing fire’), that would be a bit better balanced. Even then, it’s just crazy better than Mass Cure Light Wounds and would belong at a higher level. My first thought was ‘no Permanency,’ but with the once ever limitation on healing, it’s actually not bad and could make an interesting defense for a shrine against the undead, wreathed in positive energy that smites the undead and, one time only, heals living visitors.
[Edit] Oh hey, there was another page! [/edit]
Wall of Unholy Shade Same dealio. I wouldn't allow infinite free healing for undead either.
Wither Is there some reason that Huge+ plant creatures wouldn't be subject to the 1d6 damage (save for half)? Perhaps to stop someone from felling mighty trees with repeated castings (not that they couldn't, very, very slowly, attempt the same thing with ray of X)?
Wizard's Rest The floating invisible bed is already not unlike a one-man Rope Trick for utility (and while my knee-jerk thought is that it's too good for 1st level, I'm then reminded that the vastly superior Rope Trick is only 2nd level...). In any event, I'm not sure that the +1 competence bonus to skill checks is warranted in this case. It's good for what it does. It doesn't need a mint on the pillow, so to speak.
Ok, let's see;
Yeah, all the echo spells are indeed build on the Reserve feats from some 3,5e product (dont remember the name) A series of feats that I really enjoyed. I do like the mechanics behind these spells and I also think that they are rather balanced. However, I'm still not sure if they will make the final cut.
Arcane window has now been changed so that it requires a standard action to switch between the windows, and the casting time has been lowered to 2 rounds. I really like the use of this spell that you described, Set, not what I had originally imagined.
The mechanics behind Arcing Weapon has really bothered me as well, but honestly, there is nothing wrong with it, it's just... different.
Armor of flames: You're right, I forgot about unarmed attacks and natural weapons... they have now been added. Good call!
Bestial Healing bothered me in the beginning, but it is beginning to grow on me, I actually think it could provoke some interesting situations. The spell has been slightly revised and is much clearer now, I think.
Break Resistance: Yeah, this could prove extremely useful, a very cool idea. It has been slightly revised though.
Breath of Calist.. something: Text has been changed slightly, and I'm still looking for a name to replace Calistria (the original name) Ecstacy might be a way to go, I'm not sure yet.
Burning Boneyard: I like the idea of these arms erupting from the wall and ceiling as well, but not out of nothing. I'll change the description a bit. I've also revised this spell a little, especially concerning the level... it is now a 1st level spell, and if you are wondering why, just compare it to Shocking Grasp. This spell actually requires 5 attacks to deal some kind of damage, whereas shocking grasp just needs one, of course, that also means that there is only one chance of success.
This is as far as I've come in my final round of changes... but I will return with spells starting with C! :)
- Axel
More thoughts, which have been delayed by my Faction NPC nonsense.
Hornetbreath Having the swarms not be under your control makes this of dubious utility, unless you are soloing, which really isn’t the D&D default assumption (and, even then, for a Druid, it’s pretty much the ‘kill my animal companion spell,’ in that case, since the wasps will eat it for lunch). The Range entry seems out of place. Wouldn’t the range be Personal, and the ability to belch the wasps out anywhere within 10 ft. of your space be something to be mentioned in the text? I could be wrong on that point, the Range entries of some core spells are pretty wonky that way as well… (But making it Personal means that one could Share it with one’s Companion, and make the inevitable dog that barks bees.)
The wasps do ignore the caster and any allies. Other than that restriction, they would then attack anyone else near..like bystanders for an evil druid, attempting a get away, or enemies when in combat. The caster just can't direct WHO they attack. The only change I wonder about, is maybe making the number of allies level based...
A few notes on spell designs:
Chromatic wheel is a direct descendant of the old 2E spell chromatic orb, where as you went up in level you could choose which orb you created, with its damage and effect. It came from a player who created what would amount to now a wand of chromatic orb, where you could choose the one to fire every round..I just compressed the idea into a spell.Oh yeah, I definitely recognized it, since that was a favorite of the 18th level Illusionist in our Bloodstone game way back in 2e (or was it 1e? The memory fails...). He even ganked the Tarrasque with a Chromatic Orb, IIRC (although it took a Wish to finish him off).
A spell that allows one of a variety of effects, with major and minor results depending on the saving throw (nauseated if failed, sickened if succeeded, for instance) would probably be neat, but the Wheel seems like it didn't just cast a Chromatic Orb, but one of them each level, round by round, which is a bit over the top for a 1st level spell, especially with the auto-fire option, allowing you to not even lose any actions releasing the orbs after casting.
Have the damage scale, and be the same for each level of Orb, and place the cooler secondary effects near the top of the chart, and it should be a neat thing. So the 1st level one could do 1d6 nonlethal damage / level to a single target who has to save or be fatigued until the damage taken is healed (and if he saves, he also only takes half damage). The 2nd level one could be 1d6 force damage / level to a single target, who must save or be stunned for one round. 3rd - 1d6 fire damage / level + Ref save or catch on fire. Etc. All of the blasts cap at 5d6, or perhaps it's 1d6 / odd level, and capping at 10d6 at 19th level.
A higher level variant (3rd?) could do the Chromatic Wheel thing and create the orbiting orbs (one of each color you can generate, orbiting for 1 minute / level, or until used up) that can be fired off once / round as a move-equivalent action (still...
I do like the move-equivalent action. Personally not a fan of the scaling damage though...I tend to view the damage the orbs do as minor, vs the orbs effect. <shrugs>
Mark of Notice The Mark spells are neat.
Hey! Thanks, Set!! :)
This particular one might warrant being bumped up to 1 minute / level, similar to faerie fire.
I was trying to make it "in tune" with the other two mark spells by having a duration measured in rounds, but I certainly have no objection to this! It's up to Axel now, of course... (they're his spells now... he is paying me for them) but I love that suggestion.
Like faerie fire, and many other spells 'these days,' it should probably just impose a flat penalty to Stealth rolls (or a bonus to the Perception checks of others) and not be 'all or nothing' and always make the subject noticed.
There's still a handful of all or nothing affects out there... such as the 'power word' spells (which these are supposed to be cousins of). Also, it only works on people who can potentially see the subject. If the subject is invisible or hidden then the spell automatically fails for said subjects.
Axel, I would recommend adding two sentences to the second paragraph after the first two sentences: 'If the subject is hidden then all affected are entitled to immediate perception checks (with a +4 circumstance bonus) to detect him. This spell in no way provides a means to pierce invisibility effects and the like, however.'
If the Mark spells explicitly require the big statement of condemnation, some text stating that they can’t be made Silent via metamagic might be in order.
Oh absolutely! I almost included such a statement. When reviewing the 'power word' spells though, I noticed that they did not include such, as it was implied in the text. I probably should have included it anyway, though. Again, it's up to Axel now.
Axel, if you desire such a statement, then I recommend adding this sentence to the end of the first paragraph in each of the 'mark' spells: 'However, an actual verbal decree is required, so this spell may not be used in conjunction with silent spell metamagic feat or within the radius of a silence spell.'
(P.S. TWIMC, the only other spell of mine in the open playtest is Relocate.)
Edit: Spelling Error
Improve Poison If Assassins still cast spells, this would totally belong on their list. :)
+1!
Mental Agility is nice. Always happy to see a Divination spell that someone might actually cast during combat.
Here, here!