| 2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
My buddy is playing an Admixture school Wizard. I was scrolling through their stuff for a Leadership feat idea, and I glanced at the standard Evocation School. I noticed this extra ability he gets (Intense Spells), and I realized that he didn't know that he adds half his level to all Evocation Spell damage rolls (the benefit of the Intense Spells Evocation School feature) for almost 7 levels now (first time playing anything besides a Paladin, also first time for us using archetypes). I just sent my GM a message so he may incorporate it into his damage spells, and so he isn't in the dark when I bring it up next session. I re-read the description of Intense Spells, and I have a few questions about how it would function.
1. In the example of a Fireball (or similar Evocation Spell with an area of effect), would this bonus damage apply to all creatures in the area affected, or just one creature that he designates?
2. In the example of a Flaming Sphere (or similar Evocation Spell with a duration), does this bonus damage apply whenever the object deals damage to an enemy, or only the first time it deals damage?
Any clarification would be appreciated!
Edit - Added Extra Information.
In the case of the fireball it would be all creatures. I believe in the flaming sphere case it would be the 1st round it hit and not after that.
That's what I thought for the former.
The latter can be a reasonable interpretation, but I don't know if the Intense Spells phrase intention means it only applies once for spells that create multiple arcane objects. In the case of Scorching Ray or Magic Missile, the bonus damage only applies once, as the duration is instantaneous.
Another example to expand on the Flaming Sphere issue would be Wall of Fire. Would we take this "1st hit only" to apply to when it's cast? And would this bonus apply to creatures not initially affected by the Wall of Fire?
I'd read it as adding to every attack a flaming sphere makes. For Ball Lightning it would only affect one sphere. Seems like it is supposed to work on one created effect per spell. That's so you can't stack it up a bunch of times in one round all at one target. I see nothing wrong with allowing it to work multiple times on multiple targets over multiple rounds.
Sadly, like a lot of the school bonuses, the wording isn't very clear.
That's the issue I have with it. I tried breaking it down, and the wording says whenever an Evocation spell is cast. I suppose the RAW was clearer than I thought, but it still doesn't make sense for Evocation spells with a duration, like Wall of Fire and Flaming Sphere, or even Evocation spells with holding the charge. Why would the sphere or wall start off extremely powerful and then in an instant flare down and be less effective?
In the case of a Shocking Grasp, how come the 5D6+3 I do when I initially cast it short itself the 3 extra damage just because I missed with the free touch attack?
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Using a lvl 6 wizard as an example with your thinking, the sphere goes from doing a total of 18d6+3 to 18d6 +18 over 6 rounds. That's a huge increase in damage for a low level class ability, which I do not think was the RAI.
The shocking grasp spell goes off whether you hit or miss. If you miss you don't keep to keep trying until you hit.
The shocking grasp spell goes off whether you hit or miss. If you miss you don't keep to keep trying until you hit.
Actually, no. You can hold the charge.
Holding the Charge: If you don't discharge the spell in the round when you cast the spell, you can hold the charge indefinitely. You can continue to make touch attacks round after round. If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates. You can touch one friend as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. Alternatively, you may make a normal unarmed attack (or an attack with a natural weapon) while holding a charge. In this case, you aren't considered armed and you provoke attacks of opportunity as normal for the attack. If your unarmed attack or natural weapon attack normally doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, neither does this attack. If the attack hits, you deal normal damage for your unarmed attack or natural weapon and the spell discharges. If the attack misses, you are still holding the charge.
Using a lvl 6 wizard as an example with your thinking, the sphere goes from doing a total of 18d6+3 to 18d6 +18 over 6 rounds. That's a huge increase in damage for a low level class ability
18d6+3 ~22 fire damage/round - save - resistance
18d6+18 ~27 fire damage/round - save - resistancePotential 5 more damage a round?
But, when compared to a dip in Wildblooded for multi-fire damage bloodline drifting (ie. two easily accessed non-scaling level one abilities):
15d6+2+30 ~28 fire damage/round -save - resistance
15d6+6+30 ~30 fire damage/round -save -resistance
Honestly, it's pretty weak either way. Definitely not what I'd call 'a huge increase in damage'.
Using a lvl 6 wizard as an example with your thinking, the sphere goes from doing a total of 18d6+3 to 18d6 +18 over 6 rounds. That's a huge increase in damage for a low level class ability, which I do not think was the RAI.
The shocking grasp spell goes off whether you hit or miss. If you miss you don't keep to keep trying until you hit.
Adding an extra 15 damage over the course of 6 rounds isn't that big of a jump. We're also assuming the creature automatically fails its save, which can subtract 3D6+3 from the total amount of rounds. So power creep wise, it's not an issue, especially if you play Max HD like we do. I'm not saying everyone does or should, but it's not gamebreaking to include pluses on such a scale, and plus I only brought this up because I'm making sure my Wizard comrade gets the most out of his spells.
The expert explained his holding the charge if you miss. I don't see why even if you miss the spell would lose that +3 damage. Like the Sphere concept, the spell should still have that same level of zazz, because there is nothing, both in rule and concept that subtracted from it.
EDIT - I just noticed that the Intense Spells ability also applies to 0th's. Now instead of a mere 1D3, it's 1D3+3 for the example 6th Wizard! :-)