The feat increases the number of dice the spell does in damage. Not the number of missiles or rays that then do damage. It does not work with Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, or things like Acid Arrow that give a set amount of damage over time.
The feat is poorly worded. The only way I can make sense of it is that it increases the level cap for spells that do damage in dice/level.
Fireball does 1d6/level max 10d6 @ 10th. (Raises to max 15 @ 15)
Searing Light does 1d8/2 levels max 5d8 @ 10 (Raises to max 7 @ 15)
The level cap is raised by 5 levels, not dice cap.
Scorching ray normally caps out at 11th level which gives you 3 rays. At 15th level with Intensify Spell feat you could squeeze out a 4th.
That is not true. The feat only affect damage dice not rays.
Scorching ray does 4d6 dice per ray. Those dice are not level dependent. The rays are, but since the feat only affects dice, and not the delivery system for the dice this spell is not is not affected.Spells that say XdY/level are the only ones that are affected since the dice is dependent upon the caster level such as fireball.
edit:edited for clarity.
I agree with Wraithstrike in this regard.
Scorching ray normally caps out at 11th level which gives you 3 rays. At 15th level with Intensify Spell feat you could squeeze out a 4th.That is not true. The feat only affect damage dice not rays.
Scorching ray does 4d6 dice per ray. Those dice are not level dependent. The rays are, but since the feat only affects dice, and not the delivery system for the dice this spell is not is not affected.Spells that say XdY/level are the only ones that are affected since the dice is dependent upon the caster level such as fireball.
edit:edited for clarity.
While RAW is only dice/level, you might want to ask your GM about letting it affecting # of missile/ray spells. Personally I don't see an issue getting one more scorching ray or two more magic missiles for a higher spell level. There might be spells where this would be broken, but none leap to mind.
I vaguely recall seing a Dev post that this was RAI, but don't have a link.
There was a huge discussion of this a while ago. The majority opinion was that it only works on dice/level spells, not ray/level or missile/level spells. I think James Jacobs said he'd allow the latter two, even if it wasn't what the actual text said, and I'm willing to be convinced by a player to allow it, but RAW - no.
Meh. RAW is hard to determine when it's so poorly written q:
What happens to vampiric touch? Does that count as damage dice per level?
I think it's kind of silly that it might not apply to vampiric touch, yet it would apply to shocking grasp.
Meh. RAW is hard to determine when it's so poorly written q:
What happens to vampiric touch? Does that count as damage dice per level?
I think it's kind of silly that it might not apply to vampiric touch, yet it would apply to shocking grasp.
It would work on vampiric touch, because it does dice/level damage. In this case, it's 1 die / 2 levels, but it would apply to 2 dice/1 level, or even 10 dice / 3 levels if there was such a spell. Keep in mind that it adds levels, not dice, though, so vampiric touch would max out at 12d6 at caster level 24, not 15d6 at caster level 30.
It would work on vampiric touch, because it does dice/level damage. In this case, it's 1 die / 2 levels, but it would apply to 2 dice/1 level, or even 10 dice / 3 levels if there was such a spell. Keep in mind that it adds levels, not dice, though, so vampiric touch would max out at 12d6 at caster level 24, not 15d6 at caster level 30.
I figured it would, but that makes the argument for disallowing rays/level or missiles/level weaker.
So, if I can up the damage by 4 dice/4 levels, that's fine. But I can't add another ray to scorching ray -- even though in reality that's exactly what's happening with the spell.
Adding damage dice based on level should work just one way -- regardless of *how* the damage is added.
Oh well, it's "JJ Official" anyway. . .
It would work on vampiric touch, because it does dice/level damage. In this case, it's 1 die / 2 levels, but it would apply to 2 dice/1 level, or even 10 dice / 3 levels if there was such a spell. Keep in mind that it adds levels, not dice, though, so vampiric touch would max out at 12d6 at caster level 24, not 15d6 at caster level 30.I figured it would, but that makes the argument for disallowing rays/level or missiles/level weaker.
So, if I can up the damage by 4 dice/4 levels, that's fine. But I can't add another ray to scorching ray -- even though in reality that's exactly what's happening with the spell.
Adding damage dice based on level should work just one way -- regardless of *how* the damage is added.
Oh well, it's "JJ Official" anyway. . .
I don't know why it works the way it does, but I don't have 8 hours a day to think of every possible abuse of a rule either. Maybe they see something we dont.
I figured it would, but that makes the argument for disallowing rays/level or missiles/level weaker.
I don't see how it does. Mind elaborating?
I figured it would, but that makes the argument for disallowing rays/level or missiles/level weaker.I don't see how it does. Mind elaborating?
The reasoning(his reasoning) I think is that it should work for all spells that do damage, not necessarily by RAW but that the feat should have been written to work for all spells that do level based damage, even magic missile as an example.
I'm not arguing that the feat should be interpreted to be written a different way than you guys are interpreting it. In fact, I really don't care if it works one way or another. As far as I'm concerned its broken (broken as not written as intended, not broken powerful).
I don't know why it works the way it does, but I don't have 8 hours a day to think of every possible abuse of a rule either. Maybe they see something we dont.
I would be interested in a scenario where the feat *is* broken-powerful if it allows more rays/missiles/rounds of damage/etc.
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I would be interested in a scenario where the feat *is* broken-powerful if it allows more rays/missiles/rounds of damage/etc.
Well, not sure if it's broken, but a greater invisible Arcane Trickster type could get a full sneak attack off on each additional ray(and each magic missile if they have the level 10 AT ability and target different creatures. 1d4+7d6+1 to 7 different critters is not bad for a level 2 slot)
I would be interested in a scenario where the feat *is* broken-powerful if it allows more rays/missiles/rounds of damage/etc.Well, not sure if it's broken, but a greater invisible Arcane Trickster type could get a full sneak attack off on each additional ray(and each magic missile if they have the level 10 AT ability and target different creatures. 1d4+7d6+1 to 7 different critters is not bad for a level 2 slot)
I think that has less to do with the Intensified Spell feat and more to do with the fact that in 3.5 you'd only get one sneak attack per "volley" (per the FAQ) -- "volley" includes spells that fire multiple independent attacks. So regardless of the number of rays coming from a scorching ray spell, you could only get one sneak attack per spell.
I'm not sure if PF just excluded that language, didn't care about the 3.5 FAQ, or what. . .
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I think that has less to do with the Intensified Spell feat and more to do with the fact that in 3.5 you'd only get one sneak attack per "volley" (per the FAQ) -- "volley" includes spells that fire multiple independent attacks. So regardless of the number of rays coming from a scorching ray spell, you could only get one sneak attack per spell.
I'm not sure if PF just excluded that language, didn't care about the 3.5 FAQ, or what. . .
I agree that there is some abiguity there, but on the other hand, ATs need all the help they can get in combat.
I'm also going to chime in with extra rays/missiles: Not according to RAW, but also not really broken if you allow it.