Greater Haste

[Chooky]

GREATER HASTE

SCHOOL: Transmutation
LEVEL: Alchemist 5, Bard 5, Magus 5, Sorcerer/Wizard 6, Summoner 5

CASTING TIME: 1 Standard Action
COMPONENTS: V,S,M (a shaving of licorice root & thyme)

RANGE: Close
TARGETS: One creature/LV, no two more than 30ft apart
DURATION 1 round/LV
SAVING THROWS: Fort/Negate(harmless)
SPELL RESISTANCE: yes(harmless)

As per Haste, but increase the enhancement to movement speed from 30ft to 40ft, to a maximum of thrice the subjects normal speed. So a Small creature with base 20ft movement can now move at 60ft.

Once per casting of this spell, each target can take one extra swift action or 5ft step. Doing so uses up some power from the spell and the bonuses become that of normal Haste for the remaining duration.

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The idea behind this spell is to give more battlefield control to Melee fighters when they're up against creatures with reach, and to give Small sized PCs less distance to catch up with. 60ft(Small) vs 70ft(Medium) against regular Haste's 40ft(Small) vs 60ft(Medium).

Is this too powerful for any Spell LV, or not powerful enough? Should I also increase the bonuses to +2 hit/AC/Reflex, or increase the Spell LV to Wizard 7?

[MTCityHunter]

The only part I have a problem with is granting an extra swift action once during the duration. You're normally only allowed one swift action per round and there's no way around that for good reason.

Effectively, with this option, you make it possible for a spellcaster to cast an extra quickened spell in a round; they'd then be capable of dropping 3 spells in one round. That's pretty over the top IMO...almost like a poor man's time stop.

I'd recommend changing that to an extra move action (or 5 ft. step) once per cast. That allows all manner of tactical advantages/options without opening the door to outright broken in the hands of a caster.

[Chooky]

Thanks for the feedback, completely forgot about quicken spells. That is definitely something not intended. However, just playing the Devil's Advocate here, what would be that major problem for giving spellcasters the potential for an extra quicken spell? Haste by itself has always been a 'useless' buff for spellcasters, but now there's even more reason for the party to bunch up and wait for the Greater Haste.

If we added the caveat of no 2nd quicken spell, but kept the extra action as a swift, is that still too powerful compared to an extra move action?

PS: Any opinions on upping the bonus to +2 until they use the extra action?

[Atarlost]

As expensive as quickening is I'm not sure it'll break things.

There's a level 4 bard spell that gives a single target an extra standard action so an extra swift action from a level 5 spell isn't completely out of line. It's otherwise not a lot better than haste. A 4th level spell effect plus a third level spell effect as a fifth level spell effect seems about right.

[Vestrial]

It's not good enough as is for a 6th level spell. I'd honestly make it give a free move action per turn or something. That way melee could move around and get in position for a full-attack. Then it might be worth casting over the other 6th level options...

[kyrt-ryder]

Instead of an extra swift action, my suggestion would be giving recipients the option to either take an extra attack as part of a full attack action (as per base haste) OR take a free move action.

EDIT: or just hand out the free move action like the guy above me advised.

[Atarlost]

The Words of Power equivalent to haste just gives a move action. That's without the boost metaword. An extra move action per round to a single target for a round/level is therefore a second level effect. Mass versions of single target spells are usually two levels higher.

[kyrt-ryder]

I wonder if words of power can be turned into potions.....

EDIT: it seems you can. Looks like something new just got added to my character's shopping list (or inventory, if DM allows)