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Ok, so here's my gripe.
I'm making a sorcerer that deals primarily in fire spells. I thought maybe WoP would give me some more flexibility in my casting. Unfortunately it seems I'd be better off just going with standard spellcasting.
So here's the deal:
As an example at tenth level a standard wizard could cast a 10d6 fireball with a 20 ft. radius using one 3rd level spell slot. However for a word caster to accomplish the same thing he would need to use a fifth level spell slot in addition to using a meta word of which he only has 5 uses per day at this point.
Anyone else disappointed by this?
Is it just me, or do words of power seem really under powered?
My selected lengthy corrosive bolt with Intensified Spell metamagic feat doesn't seem to think so.
It is a 2nd-level spell that takes up a 3rd level slot. It has no save and no spell resistance, merely a ranged touch attack to hit.
It does 10d4 acid damage to the target each round for FOUR ROUNDS. Not too shabby for a 3rd-level spell slot. For a 6th-level slot it targets 1 creature/level within medium range. :D
If it seems weak, it's just because you haven't found the good combos yet. Also, the real strength in Words of Power is not in trying to duplicate old spells (especially weak ones like fireball), but in creating wholly new effects, such as summoned monsters that appear with only a standard action and who are invisible (as per greater invisibility) during the entirety of their summoned duration.
Ok, so here's my gripe.
I'm making a sorcerer that deals primarily in fire spells. I thought maybe WoP would give me some more flexibility in my casting. Unfortunately it seems I'd be better off just going with standard spellcasting.So here's the deal:
As an example at tenth level a standard wizard could cast a 10d6 fireball with a 20 ft. radius using one 3rd level spell slot. However for a word caster to accomplish the same thing he would need to use a fifth level spell slot in addition to using a meta word of which he only has 5 uses per day at this point.
Anyone else disappointed by this?
Because your example is misleading.
You might not have noticed it is cheaper to do targeted (1/level) than 30 ft area. You'll likely hit no more than 5 anyway (by level 5) with Fireball so targeted is better.
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Because your example is misleading.
You might not have noticed it is cheaper to do targeted (1/level) than 30 ft area. You'll likely hit no more than 5 anyway (by level 5) with Fireball so targeted is better.
Except to achieve that 1 target per level you increase the spells level by 3, so I'm not sure it's cheaper. Although I would say it is better.
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Actually to reproduce Fire Ball is only a 3rd lvl spell.
Boost Burst Fire Blast = 3rd lvl spell, 1d6 per lvl fire damage, 20 ft radius, 100 + 10ft/lvl distance.
Under Target words, pg 166 -
Level: This line lists the minimum level for a wordspell containing this target word.Burst is a lvl 1 word, Boosting the target word Burst will increase its lvl by 2 making it a lvl 3 target word meaning you can apply Boost Burst to any lvl 3 or higher effect word.
Selected is the special case in that turning the Selected target word into a Mass version increases the effect words cast by 3.
If you look on page 165 the above is detailed in their own examples...
Burst Fire Blast is lasted as a 3rd lvl spell and the description says you can boost the target word Burst to make more closely resemble Fire Ball. It does not mention that you need to increase the lvl of the spell.
Selected Ice Blast Life Leech is listed as a 6th lvl spell which the Selected target word can be boosted however it would increase the spell lvl to 9.
I'm not sure this is true, but if it is it would make things better. I think perhaps it would be a good topic for a faq
Tilquinith, read the descriptions more thoroughly. Metawords, unlike metamagic feats, do not just add to the spell level. Instead, they adjust the minimum spell level of the wordspell.
For example, both burst fire blast and boost burst fire blast are 3rd-level spells: the burst target word has a minimum spell level of 1, using boost to increase the radius and range increases the minimum spell level of burst to 3, and the fire blast effect word has a minimum spell level of 3. Of course, a wordcaster can only use (caster level / 2) metawords per day; they can still apply standard metamagic feats to wordspells, though (with some exceptions against stacking metawords and metamagic).
Wordcasters gain some flexibility in that they can more readily tailor their spells by combining target, effect, and metawords. However, they lose some power/versatility in that some spells are either more difficult or impossible to replicate with wordspells (i.e., mage hand, true strike, etc.).
Ok, so here's my gripe.
I'm making a sorcerer that deals primarily in fire spells. I thought maybe WoP would give me some more flexibility in my casting. Unfortunately it seems I'd be better off just going with standard spellcasting.So here's the deal:
As an example at tenth level a standard wizard could cast a 10d6 fireball with a 20 ft. radius using one 3rd level spell slot. However for a word caster to accomplish the same thing he would need to use a fifth level spell slot in addition to using a meta word of which he only has 5 uses per day at this point.
Anyone else disappointed by this?
You're not reading it enough. Some effects cannot be replaced by WoP, but some WoP cannot be replaced with standard casting. Look at the differences in Summon Servitor vs Summon Monster/Nature's Ally. Look at True Fire (No Save, No SR, Selected targeting only)
Ok, so here's my gripe.
I'm making a sorcerer that deals primarily in fire spells. I thought maybe WoP would give me some more flexibility in my casting. Unfortunately it seems I'd be better off just going with standard spellcasting.So here's the deal:
As an example at tenth level a standard wizard could cast a 10d6 fireball with a 20 ft. radius using one 3rd level spell slot. However for a word caster to accomplish the same thing he would need to use a fifth level spell slot in addition to using a meta word of which he only has 5 uses per day at this point.
Anyone else disappointed by this?
Why in the world would you try to re-create normal spells using the words of power system? The beauty is that it can do *new* stuff. It's power lies in superior action economy. Use that to your advantage.
Think about it this way: if the WoP could do normal spells equally good and gives you new options to imbalance the magical world, why would you bother with normal casting at all?
You might not be alone in being disappointed, but there are several munchkins out there whistling happy tunes. That should give you pause.
Anyone else disappointed by this?
I agree with the interpretation that a boosted burst fire blast would take a 3rd level spell slot.
But to answer the broader question, I have mixed feelings about the Words of Power implementation. Some wordspells are underpowered compared to their non-word equivalents (e.g. Force Shield vs. Mage Armor, Paralyze Humanoid vs. Hold Person), a few are better (e.g. Servitor I vs. Summon Monster I), and many seem different for the sake of being different (e.g. Friendship vs. Charm Person).
It's intriguing, but frustrating. For instance, sorcerers seem tailor-made to be wordcasters, but they have to spend precious "spells known" slots on metawords, whereas clerics and druids get all the metawords for free.
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After some thought and reading everyone's input, I'd have to agree that overall WoP are not in fact underpowered. However as in most things there are choices that are sub-optimal. For instance fire is not as good a choice. Acid is pretty nice though. And many of the other examples people have posted are pretty nice.
Thanks for everyone's input.