I'm about to play a level 10 wizard(air) in a level 10 gestalt game, and I was curious about the spell research section of Magic, especially if anyone had some good/bad experience with it. Personally I'm after the cool factor of new spells, not exactly wanting a one shotting or high damage spells, though if they bring some benefits, that's great.
The character is a ranger/shadowdancer with a few houserules, so sword/shadow related spell effects are always welcome.
Top of the hat, the one I'm most eager in making work is inspired by an anime, Soul Eater, the character releases a bunch of swords which stab into the ground, looking like a sword graveyard, which he then uses to fight, effectively closing his enemies into a battle terrain he favours.
How could I translate it into a spell, and what level would it be?
X radius centered on the caster turns into difficult terrain as swords portrude from the ground. For the duration, the caster has access to masterwork longswords which he is proficient with?
Your spell would translate into creating an area of difficult terrain around yourself and making yourself inmmune to it.
Like Entangle + Freedom of Movement (personal).
Sounds interesting.
Your spell would translate into creating an area of difficult terrain around yourself and making yourself inmmune to it.
Like Entangle + Freedom of Movement (personal).
Sounds interesting.
Yeah, I suppose so, would be nice to get it somewhat balanced. It's basically a Selective Entangle + Minor Creation (temporary mw weapons).
It'd be perfect for a magus, heh.
Level: sorcerer/wizard 2, magus 2, summoner 2
Casting: standard action
Components: V, S, F (a piece of a weapon)
Range: 40-ft.-radius spread centered on the caster.
Duration 1 min./level (D)This spell causes dozens of weapons to fall from the sky around the caster, the these blades hinder enemy movement and the area becomes difficult terrain. The caster is unhindered.
At any time during this spell, the caster may grab any weapon he's proficient with and use it as a masterwork version of it's type, using normal rules for drawing weapons, these may be temporary enhanced with effects such as Magic Weapon, paladin's bond and other abilities of that type.
When the spell ends, all the weapons disappear.
I know it's poorly formated, hence why I need help!
I like this spell. I may steal it. :)
The key here is "the caster is unhindered". That means this spell is significantly better than other spells which make difficult terrain or otherwise impede movement generally.
I'd need some convincing that a spell which impeded everyone except the caster AND provided on demand masterwork weapons was a level 2 spell though. Seems a bit much for such a low level spell.
Well, it's just a rough idea, I need ideas to balance it.
What else could I do, instead of entangle, give the enemies a smaller penalty instead of entangle?
The idea is that they either backstep into the weapons, or stumble over them, like loose debris, while the caster magically knows where they are so he can move unhindered.
I mean, it can be something as minor as -2 to attack and ac. As long as it's still worth casting.
While the weapon at whim is nice, it's less useful at the level we're playing (10th) and 1st level Shadow Weapon grants a +2 weapon of your choice (albeit it can be misbelieved on first attack).
OK, I'll play.
First I'd probably drop this to one round per level.
Second I'd probably drop to a 20 foot radius, but make it a close-ranged spell.
Get rid of the free masterwork weapon drawing and this is feeling more like a level 2 spell.
However, again, free movement in an area all other creatures are impeded is huge. It can be exploited to give the caster opportunities for full attacks with impunity while other creatures can only do standard attacks. That's a huge, huge issue in terms of combat balance.
If it were "caster is unimpeded but cannot make 5' step" I'd be fine with it being a second level spell, but that's sort of arbitrary.
I'd love to hear other thoughts.
Maybe make it Illusion (Shadow) with a will save to disbelieve? Or maybe a partial negation.
I know many frown on anime references, but these are the best ones I found. Yeah, the dub is terrible. Maybe instead of entangle, go for a minor -2 to attacks and ac, keep it centered on caster as it's meant to be his 'zone'.
Ah, so you want it to MOVE with the caster?
I like Opus Magus recommendation.
Sorry, bit tired, so might be phrasing badly.
When cast, it creates a zone in X radius centered on the caster and stays there. Opus Magus suggestion is very nice indeed, and it fits with Shadow Blades, which is a spell my character will focus on. How bout something like:
Level 2
Type: Illusion(shadow)
Cast: Standard action
Area: Xft radius centered on the caster, stays in place once cast.
Duration: 1 round/levelUpon casting this spell, the caster is surrounded by quasi-real weapons, usually ones he is familiar with. These blades hinder foes as long as they stay inside the X radius, giving them a -2 penalty on attack rolls and ac.
Picking up a weapon functions as Shadow Weapon spell, but with a duration of one round and each weapon has to be disbelieved separately . When the spell ends, the weapons disappear.
The caster can pick a weapon up with a move action, a free action if the caster has Quick Draw feat.
Is this better, it emulates a first level spell with some more fluff to it , damage wise it's not that great, but it has some utility vs mixed Damage Reduction such as skeletons and zombies, and grants at most a +2 weapon for one round. Mind you, this is for a level 10th gestalt game, so balance at lvl 5 shouldn't matter much, this is a spell that takes the same slot as an Intensified Shocking Grasp which is 10d6 touch attack.
Yep, I think it's better. The illusionary blades might be an issue though. But having a will save makes this much more balanced I think.
Not that I'm a real expert on this. Someone like Ashiel, Raving Dork, TriOmega or some others would probably be better.
I have traited it so I can cast Shadow Blades with double duration, so the real use for this is to hinder my enemies in melee as I can't use armor, the ability to pick up, say, a warhammer against a skeleton on the go is just a minor bonus I can do all day long thanks to a bunch of pearls of power and a few implanted Ioun stones with Shadow Blade spells stored inside them.
I just dropped in to say: That's a pretty fantastic spell idea. I really like the feel of it, and the fact that it's a caster running around with weaponry gives a great mental image.
I just dropped in to say: That's a pretty fantastic spell idea. I really like the feel of it, and the fact that it's a caster running around with weaponry gives a great mental image.
Thanks for the compliment. This was originally meant for a magus character, but then I got cravings for the possibility of a demiplane and Fly at will, so I went with wizard.
It's not as cool as researching Mad Monkeys into Mad Elves though. The Santa kind, not elf elves.