So, let us assume I burn a 4th level spell and now have 13 words to apply to lower level spells, does this change the effective level of those spells?
For instance, to recreate Fireball requires:
Medium Burst (5)+Fire Blast (6) + meta-Distant (4)-- which is 15, and a 4th level spell. Does wordburning allow me to make the above spell still be a third level spell, even though it has 15 words? What if I burnt the 4th level spell and put all 13 words into the third level spell with up to 23 words in it?
-Ben.
I´m pretty sure it still stays a 3rd level spell.
So the DC will be lower than if you just used a spell slot appropriate for those combined effects...
E.g. instead of Word Burning the 4th level slot, you could have just used it for your uber Fireball,
but with 4th level DC and status regarding things like Globe of Invulnerability.
Word Burning seems best not for pouring all those points into one lower level slot, but in spreading them out to add ´just enough´ to give a bunch of lower level spells the little bit more they want to be awesome. (And presumably to match up with the ´good deals´ within normal spells, the spells that are especially awesome for their level)
So, let us assume I burn a 4th level spell and now have 13 words to apply to lower level spells, does this change the effective level of those spells?
For instance, to recreate Fireball requires:
Medium Burst (5)+Fire Blast (6) + meta-Distant (4)-- which is 15, and a 4th level spell. Does wordburning allow me to make the above spell still be a third level spell, even though it has 15 words? What if I burnt the 4th level spell and put all 13 words into the third level spell with up to 23 words in it?
-Ben.
From the spell making thread, it seems you're looking at this part of the feat:
This does not increase the maximum word level of these slots
Obviously I can't give you an official clarification, but it seems clear to me that this is talking about the level of the words involved and not the cost. There is nothing in the feat that I can see that would limit the total cost of the spell you're making. If it were meant to simply pad out the spell, I would expect it to say something like "Word Burning cannot increase the total word cost limit of a spell beyond the cost of a higher level spell slot."
To look at your example, I would say yes, it can be made a 3rd level spell, because all of the words involved are 3rd level or lower. If you made it a Large Burst instead, it would have to be at least 5th level.
Co-opting this thread since the subject is essentially the same. Thanks, terraleon! :D
If I am understanding Word Burning right, a wizard could burn, say, a 3rd level slot, put 7 points into a 0-level slot and 3 points into another 0-level spot, and (so long as he limited it to 0-level target/effect words) could prepare a spell that was effectively 1st level and one that was 3rd level, but castable at will all day? For that matter, could I put all 10 into a single 0-level slot and get a cantrip that is essentially 4th level, so long as no single part is more than 0th level?
Edit: Never mind, after review I realized that this wouldn't really be all that broken - I forgot the "no more than three effects" limit, so at best I'd get a cantrip that did 2d4+1d3 damage - not bad at all for a cantrip, but honestly not worth the sacrificed spell slot needed to get it.
Further Edit: Actually, you could get that much by giving up a 1st level spell slot, which would be worth it at low levels...
Don't forget that part of the feat : "none of the spell slots can have a level equal to or higher than the expended spell slot."
So you can't burn a level 1 spell slot to have extra level 1 effect added... You can only add level 0 effect with the level 1 slot... And this will not be a cantrip, this will be a specific level 0 spell prepared hehead for a wizard or on fly for the sorceror.
The only "cantrip" you can have are level 0 word-spell with nothing added from any other pool of point. This you can cast everytime you want, if you put point from the Word Burning pool in a spell you have to put these points each time you cast the spell... :)
And you need to be caster level 5 to have the feat. That's not a good level to have the feat, there's no feat gained at level 5 if I remember well, at least I'm pretty sure for there's no for sorcerer... ;)
For the OP : Well, I edit my post, now that I've read this :
"This does not increase the maximum word level of these slots, but it does allow more expensive words to be combined in lower-level spell slots."
I don't really know what to think... My first thought was that you were right, you can burn a 4 spell slot to have you're spell a level 3 spell... Now I'm not so sure... :/
How about burning multiple spells to create a single more powerful lower level spell?
example: burn 2 lvl 3 spells and use a lvl 2 spell slot at level 5 for:
mass - corrsive bolt - frost fingers - shock arc - Burning Flash
15d4 + 5d6 + 1 round stagger, medium range, lvl targets.
This seems a bit much for a lvl 5 character, even if he is blowing through lots of resources. It seems to me like there needs to be some kind of limmit put on word burning, like you cannot increase the points past that of a higher level spell, or the total points must be less than double the normal points for that level spell.
The only "cantrip" you can have are level 0 word-spell with nothing added from any other pool of point.
This might need to be clarified if its the case, I'm not sure that I'm following it.
If I prepare a 0 level spell then casting it doesn't empty that slot. So if I've prepared a 0 level spell via wordburning, how would that go away?
Is there something specific in the document on this?
-James
Personally, looking at the level 0 spell effects I'm not sure this is really a problem. You can burn 2 1st level spells for an at will 2d4 + 2d3 + 1/2 move speed spell at close range. At level 5, is this an issue?
How about burning multiple spells to create a single more powerful lower level spell?
example: burn 2 lvl 3 spells and use a lvl 2 spell slot at level 5 for:
mass - corrsive bolt - frost fingers - shock arc - Burning Flash
15d4 + 5d6 + 1 round stagger, medium range, lvl targets.This seems a bit much for a lvl 5 character, even if he is blowing through lots of resources. It seems to me like there needs to be some kind of limmit put on word burning, like you cannot increase the points past that of a higher level spell, or the total points must be less than double the normal points for that level spell.
Except that this breaks the rules. Twice.
You can consume one of your available spell slots each day to gain a limited pool of points that you can apply to other word of power spells.
Each words of power spell is made up of at least two but at most four component words.
So no burning more than one word, and no stacking 4 Effects.
But yeah, over all Word Casting seems a bit better at blasting that rote casting. Which is fine with me, since it is much much much weaker at utility casting (so far, anyway).
So, let us assume I burn a 4th level spell and now have 13 words to apply to lower level spells, does this change the effective level of those spells?
For instance, to recreate Fireball requires:
Medium Burst (5)+Fire Blast (6) + meta-Distant (4)-- which is 15, and a 4th level spell. Does wordburning allow me to make the above spell still be a third level spell, even though it has 15 words? What if I burnt the 4th level spell and put all 13 words into the third level spell with up to 23 words in it?
-Ben.
Mass is better than Meduim Burst in most cases. Cheaper and won't harm allies.
So I'd use:
Fire Blast (6)+ then Mass (2) + then Cramp (2/3)= 10 which a 3rd level (10 is max 3rd level).
You rarely fight more than 5 targets with fireball (and ignore allies). So use Mass when in doubt.
So I'd use:
Fire Blast (6)+ then Mass (2) + then Cramp (2/3)= 10 which a 3rd level (10 is max 3rd level).
6 + 2 + 3 = 11 points, or fourth level -- unless I've misunderstood how the "/" works.
Answer is here