RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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aerial form - the damages listed are way out of proportion with weapons. A Medium bird’s talons dong 1d10? They’re no more than the size of daggers! With heightened versions, do you gain reach? How come at Large size your damage dice don’t increase?
air bubble - why does this get dismissed as soon as you’re able to breath? Limits the already low 1 min duration so you can’t pop into fresh air and return underwater or into poison gas for a second trip.
angelic halo - do you actually manifest a glowing halo? Seems like you should from the name of the spell, and if so, what amount of light does it shed?
antimagic field - should indicate that no ability with the magic, primal, arcane, divine or occult trait works in the field, to cover non-spell things like feats, etc.
arcane countermeasure - when it reduces a spell by a level does that only impact level based stuff like DC and countering it, or does it lower it’s effects from heightening also? So a 5th level magic missile effectively acts as a 3rd level magic missile, since there is no 4th level version?
athletic exploit - this seems to not really be worth it. Instead of using your action to cast this, you could use a full stride action, which even with the movement penalty of armor, would get you more distance moved than the savings from this combined with another stride action. I guess the check penalty is one thing, but the speed part is not doing anything. Maybe if this lasted until the end of your NEXT turn.
augury - how can this be for “anyone” casting the spell for the same action? Even if a completely different group came by 10 minutes later, the first augury from the completely different caster would force them to get an inaccurate “nothing” response? Should be limited to same caster only.
avatar - why would this prevent spellcasting or actions using hands? Looks like that was copy/pasted from animal form spells. Avatars are humanoid.
Abadar - with the crossbow needing reload 1, this form is vastly inferior to the others - should do more damage, or have a special effect, or something.
Desna - starknife deadly for how much? 1d6 like the normal weapon?
Overall, these don’t really seem that great - they give the equivalent of a +5 weapon, which by the time a cleric can cast a 10th level spell they can cast already. Being huge should add significantly to damage.
Bane - having to concentrate for this small an effect is really disappointing. Is it really so powerful it needs to eat an action per round?
Barkskin - another spell which seems really weak. Should have a bonus to AC at least. The resistance doesn’t even apply to most encounters, since having slashing isn’t hard for almost any creature to have - either swords or claws, etc.
black tentacles - why does this take 3 actions instead of 2? Seems oddly balanced to have battlefield control spells cost more. Also, why does this require a Fort save? If it’s a save it should be a Reflex to avoid being grabbed, but even more appropriate since it’s a grapple it should go against Athletics DC to resist. Finally, why does the spell do more damage when you cast it and it grab someone than if someone gets grabbed later in it’s duration? How’s that make sense? Also, why isn’t there a heightened version which does more damage and higher DCs?
blade barrier - again, why does this take 3 actions? The damage on this seems extremely low for a 6th level spell. Compare to cone of cold, which does 11d6 vs. 6d8 for blade barrier.
bless - like bane, this shouldn’t need concentration, a boring flat bonus spells and also restricts the caster from being as fun to play for the duration?
blindness - bolstered against all castings of the same spell is silly. It’s not that weird to be bolstered against the same caster of it, but why couldn’t you just invent alternate blinding spells? Seems like a weird restriction which doesn’t sound realistic.
blink - when you reappear 10 feet away in a random direction, can you appear in a solid object? What about somewhere there’s no line of effect like behind a closed door?
breath of life - does the trigger mean a living creature within range who dies? What does “who would die” mean? Next turn? When they turn 102 years old?
calm emotions - does this temporarily replace the hostile condition with unfriendly?
celestial brand - since this works on non-good creatures, that includes neutral creatures. Would they suffer 2d4 good damage? I thought good damage only affected evil creatures. Or at least did half damage to neutral.
chain lightning - so not only do you have to roll each save one at a time to see if there’s a critical success to end the spell, but why would one creature avoiding the spell stop the lightning from continuing? That doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Charm - shouldn’t there be a heightened version at say 5th for up to 10 humanoids?
Chromatic Wall - For the colors which do damage, should specify it does damage to any creature or object (or are objects immune to this damage and only harmed by the descriptions of what is destroyed?) Should be 2 actions. And should heighten to prismatic wall - no need for 2 separate spells. In between could heighten to add multiple layers and build towards a full prismatic wall.
circle of protection - should be 2 actions
clairaudience and clairvoyance - pretty weird having it create an actual invisible eye and ear. Does that mean they’re living organs? Can they be attacked or destroyed?
cloudkill - shouldn’t be 3 actions, should mention it sinks like older version.
collective transposition - can you teleport creatures to thin air and have them fall, or over the edge of a cliff? How about into water, acid, lava, etc?
contingency - only 24 hours duration and it uses up your reaction rather than a free action? Super less useful - especially if you happened to ever use a reaction for anything else.
continual flame - what do you get for heightening? Just that it’s harder to dispel cause it’s a higher level? Seems overpriced for no additional benefit.
control water - what’s the duration? Is there no way to make it go more than 10 feet? Even with heightening?
counter performance - does this cost 2 reactions? How are you supposed to supply 2 at the same time?
create food - wait, size actually matters for something in the game? How come Small equipment has the same bulk but small characters eat less?
creation - what does something “obviously temporarily conjured” look like? Also, why can’t you heighten this further to make higher quality items out of more exotic materials?
Crusade - what are the levels? Your caster level? The target’s level? Doesn’t say. What about 16th or higher?
dancing lights - so you can move one per concentration action, and if you have 4 never actually move them with you? Also, pretty weak spell for a concentration affect - pretty much only usable as a distraction. Making each shed light as a torch makes this much brighter as it used to be, and better than light for lighting an area. Should be heighteneble - start at candle light, increase to torch light at higher level, and allow moving more than 1 with a concentrate action.
darkened eyes - so there’s no way to affect a creature without low light or darkvision unless the critical save? Should dazzle them on a failure or something. Compared to darkness same level spell this is way worse.
darkness - should be able to heighten to any level to counter lower level light spells. Could also heighten to affect greater darkvision, and increase area. Shouldn’t be 3 actions.
darkvision - should be able to heighten more to increase duration and or number of targets.
alignment aura - spells or effects 10th level should be overwhelming, right?
death knell - how can you target a living creature at 0 hp when NPCs die at 0 and don’t use dying rules? Do you specifically have to use non-lethal damage just to death knell them?
death ward - heighten for longer duration or more targets?
detect alignment - does it mean only divine spellcasters, undead, and outer plane creatures have an alignment if they are under 6th level? Or do no creatures have an alignment aura until 6th, and then only those creatures - other creatures never have an alignment aura? What’s the duration? Just instantaneous?
detect magic - the restrictions on this are silly. Even if you get to 10th level version you still can’t pinpoint the exact aura? For detecting magic on items, it’s trivial to move them one at a time in or out of range to detect which ones are actually magic. Therefore, the restrictions simply don’t make sense.
dimension door - so this can only take the caster, can’t be heightened for more people, and also can’t go somewhere you either can’t see or haven’t been with the 5th level version. Also, for a movement only spell, this seems like it could be 1 action only.
dinosaur form - same issues as other shapechange spells.
disappearance - first, why isn’t this a heightened form of invisibility? Second, why is this 8th level? There should be more concrete rules on what this does in terms of DCs for Seek actions.
discern lies - that seems pretty weak overall - should also do something like have successes count as critical successes, etc.
disjunction - wow this got strongly reduced - to only a single magic item? Seems hardly worth the 9th level spell. Miss the rule about losing spellcasting if you disjoin an artifact, maybe that could be a 10th level heightened form?
dispel magic - there’s no way to dispel an area or more than one effect at a time?
disrupt undead - does this in any way out perform other cantrips? 1d10 to 1 target is pretty inferior to 1d6 to 2 targets from electric arc
divine aura - so you have to concentrate on it or it goes away, but it grows each round you do, up to 110 feet aura at the end? Just make it 10 feet and not need concentration - so it’s not an albatross on the caster.
divine decree - so you choose an alignment of your deity, and damage creatures which match that alignment? Seems backwards. Then it later says creatures which match it take no damage. Sounds like there’s a typo.
divine inspiration - wait, so you use an 8th level spell to give someone else a 6th level slot or lower back? Seems like extremely limited use case. I guess it ineffectually lets you convert your divine spells into spells from an ally with another list, but this overall seems like a spell which shouldn’t exist.
divine vessel - seems like this should be a metamagic feat, not a spell.
divine ward - language should be clarified to indicate you ward partial damage - and it’s not usable only on damage which is under your level times 2 threshold. Had to read three times before I realized it worked that way.
dragon form - same as other shapechange spells. Also, shouldn’t save on breath weapon do double damage on a critical failure?
dream message - should add that target knows it’s a magical message, not just part of their normal dream.
duplicate foe - why is this restricted to foes? Shouldn’t it work on an ally just as well? Also, while this states it doesn’t have magic items except for potency runes, it never says it has non-magical items. It’s strike should have the same special trait abilities its weapons provide. Heightening shouldn’t increase the damage it takes each round - jus increase the hp - otherwise what’s the point of increasing the hp?
earthquake - as written collapse doesn’t actually say what happens with the flat check for buildings - should be clear that if the check succeeds, the building collapses. Damage should also vary by type of structure - a castle collapsing should do 11d6, but a tent shouldn’t.
echoing nightmare - not sure who would cast this with such a high chance of it rebounding
elemental form - same as other shapechaning spells
elemental tempest - shouldn’t this be a metamagic feat
enthrall - does the creatures make a save when they enter the area of when you concentrate, this is conflicting.
fabricate - what does obviously magically conjured mean? Shouldn’t heightened versions exist for more bulk, better quality and materials?
aerie fire - no save at all?
false vision - think the wording on if the scrying spell is higher level is reversed - should be the caster of that spell that makes the Perception check, not you - the caster of false vision.
fire shield - doesn’t have a cold flames version anymore? Why not?
flame barrier - should say resistance applies only against damage you or your ally take from the triggering attack.
flame strike - why does this do less damage than a 5th level fireball which does 10d6?
floating disk - should have heightened effects to increase bulk it can carry, and extend duration. Also to allow it to levitate to follow you.
fly - this should either have 10 min duration or be level 3 or grant a faster speed. Compared to aerieal form it’s just inferior, since it doesn’t grant more than a fly speed.
forced quiet - is it intended that you could use this on an ally or yourself to mask your spellcasting and not be able to be heard doing it more than 10 feet away?
gaseous form - need rules for how wind impacts (or doesn’t) a creature in gaseous form. Should also indicate that target is immune to non-magical attacks (so the physical resistance 8 should only be relevant against spells or magic weapons.)
gate - no longer has any calling type effect? Seems pretty boring as a 10th level spell just as a better plane shift.
gentle repose - the heightened cost of 6gp is pretty trivial by 9th level. Should be either high enough to matter or not bother.
ghost sound - should heighten to allow louder number of creatures along with increased range.
ghostly weapon - should work on magic weapons too - by 5th level they’re pretty necessary, and if it only works on non-magical weapons, it will rarely be useful or used.
ghoulish cravings - seems like the ghoul fever described is actually ghast fever, since ghoul fever is less severe. Should have the same name therefore, ghast fever.
globe of invulnerability - need to alter the description that its edges don’t pass through any creatures of objects - since that means a flat floor would disrupt the spell, since it’s a sphere.
glyph of warding - if limited to number equal to spellcasting ability modifier, then what happens if you die - once dead you don’t have ability modifiers since you’re an object. Do all your glyphs end?
goblin pox - should indicate creatures with the goblin trait and goblin dogs are immune. This allows future types of goblins to also be immune, as well as hobgoblins, bugbears, etc. Why does stage 3 not have slowed 1, seems better than stage 2.
goodberry - should remain a primal spell, it’s too classic to lock into a power. Also, limits its ability to feed creatures by affecting only 1 berry. Revert back to 1 hp and get 4 berries per spell level.
grim tendrils - another 1st level ability to do persistent bleed (autokill most creatures). This should really be more limited at low levels. Plus for necromancy, something like enfeebled makes more sense.
grease - vs. an object should indicate that if you pick up the unattended object, you suffer the consequences as if you failed the save for an attended object. If on something worn, should also grant the bonus to acrobatics checks to escape or squeeze.
guidance - bolstered for a full day is especially harsh. Should at a minimum heighten to shorten the bolstered period.
hallucination - example should be an object that actually exists in the game, since pocket watches don’t. For heightened 8th, should also be able to choose 1 day and 10 creatures. Add heightened 10th to allow unlimited duration AND any number of creatures.
hand of the apprentice - should be proficiency with weapon or spells, whichever is better. A wizard is pretty much always going to have trained or untrained with weapons (and very few trained).
haste - limiting to 1 creature at 3rd level and not even including accelerated seems overkill to reduce this spell in power.
heal animal - why can’t this have a 3 action area version which only affects animals? similar to the regular heal spell.
healer’s blessing - should be a metamagic feat
healing font - cumbersome to be a spell, should just be an ability which says you can use spell points to cast heal, instead of from channel energy.
heroism - should have heightened +1 options to affect more creatures.
hideous laughter - shouldn’t this have a max duration, like most spells which require concentration, like 1 minute?
illusory disguise - should heighten to affect others and more targets.
insect form - same as other shape change spells. Should be vermin form, since some choices aren’t insects.
inspire competence - don’t make it the GM might rule it can’t apply, make it that it DOESN’T apply to those situations, or others by the GM’s choice.
inspire heroics - just set the DC, don’t “GM can pick it”.
invisibility, invisibility sphere - these should be folded together into invisibility. Additional heighten effect should allow multiple targets without limiting to sphere and duration even for single target. Bit of a cop out for the sphere to not work in combat if targets stay together.
invisibility cloak - seems high to be a 4th level power for a 2nd level spell, especially when it’s limited by concentration also.
item facade - how does this affect selling items if the mark doesn’t disbelieve?
light - why limited to 1 bulk or less item? If it game breaking to use on full plate or a statue?
lingering performance - don’t have GM pick what it is, say what it is.
litany against slot and against wrath - looks like wrath is better than sloth, these should be reversed in level.
lock - heightened version cost is pretty trivial, should remove it or make it worth something. Also, should have ability to prevent unlocking without magic at some point like arcane lock.
lorekeepers fortune and loremasters recall - these should just be the same power.
mage hand - should have 3rd level version chose either 1 bulk or 60 foot range and 7th do both.
magic aura - how does this impact selling items to marks?
magic fang - doesn’t work with animal companions since they can’t receive item bonuses.
magic mouth - should have a heightened version to make work 1/day and never be dismissed.
magic weapon - should heighten to add more potency
mariner’s curse - what are the mechanics for curse duration and removal? Don’t see any that says it can’t be dispelled, rather than needing remove curse.
mask of terror - do allies see the illusion? If so then this is almost impossible to use unless you’re alone. In the heightened version to the targets see each under under the illusion?
maze - survival shouldn’t be the only option, Intelligence should be used, like previous versions - and analytic ability to solve a maze.
mending - can you use this on a destroyed item?
message - duration should just be 1 round, much clearer than see below
mindlink - with range of touch this seems limited - should be able to heighten to have range.
miracle - limited to cast any spell is pretty weak for a miracle. Should have effects beyond what spells can do - otherwise it’s just spontaneously casting a spell, which isn’t very miraculous. Should also be able to duplicate effects of rituals, heal any amount of damage to a single creature, heal 100 hp or more to multiple targets, etc.
mirror image - should heighten to add more images, and cool effects like shocking images so if someone hits one with a melee attack they take some electricity damage.
moment of renewal - how is this better than an 8th level heal spell? Seems way too high a level for what it does.
money talks - should be a metamagic feat not a spell
monstrosity form - same issues as other shape change spells - also needs far more choices than 3.
moon frenzy - why does the weakness increase with the heightening?
nature incarnate - same as other shape changing spells
nature’s enmity - there’s no save to either avoid the spell if you’re a target or for animals (especially for companions) to avoid becoming hostile? Seems that there should be some methods to avoid some of the effects.
overwhelming presence - what does this spell actually do? What is paying tribute mean? Wasting an action? Actually giving you their property and treasure? What if you take a form of an enemy god, like Asmodeus to worshipers of Iomedae? Can they flee instead?
paralyze - heightening should scale better - more creatures each level you heighten.
pest form - should remove references to battle form. Should include specific forms, to determine things like speed and movement types, bonuses to skills, or whatever.
phantasmal killer - should be able to heighten into weird rather than 2 separate spells.
phantom pain - what action can you take to assist in stopping persistent mental damage? Throw a blanket over their brain? Taking an action to retch even twice is doable in a single turn - not so much persistent damage really going to be done.
plane shift - should have focus component listed for the tuning fork.
plant form - same as other shape changing spells
polar ray - does it do double on a critical success, and none on a failure?
possession - what can you do while riding along if target succeeds? See and hear what they do? Take any actions at all? On a failure, what happens when you both use actions - is the body quickened 3 so it can take 6 actions in a round?
power word spells - should be based on current hp still, by level means you never can use it on foes of your level effectively.
primal herd - same as other shapechanging spells - also, shouldn’t there be a single person shape change to mammoth before having the 5 person version, and why force mammoth instead of other options?
primal phenomenon - like miracle, this is super limiting and boring. Should include other awesome effects, like a control weather that’s better than the spell can be, growing a forest, creating a permanent spring/river source, etc.
prismatic wall - shouldn’t be 3 actions just cause its battlefield control. Also, should be able to be made UP TO 60 feet, rather than only usable if it can use the full 60 feet.
protection - why is this an uncommon spell? It’s super basic.
protective ward - shouldn’t need concentration for a basic boring +1 to AC to a small aura.
prying eye - is it a real biological eye? If not, call it an invisible sensor or something. If it’s an actual eye, it should be able to be attacked and “killed”, eaten, blinded, etc. Does the eye have special forms of vision the caster has, such as low light vision, darkvision, see invisibility, detect magic, etc.
punishing winds - does it push flying creatures 40 feet down or 20 feet down? Is the 40 supposed to only be when the spell is cast? If so, be clear about that. Shouldn’t require 3 actions and also concentration. One or another is enough. How much falling damage does a flying creature take if it hits a surface? Since it’s 100 feet tall, but only pushes flying creatures 20 or 40 feet, do you add up all of the distance pushed down over multiple rounds, or only the last action worth? Seems likely it wouldn’t do more than 10 hp falling damage ever, or possibly 20. While the control aspect is good, I’d expect an 8th level spell to do some sort of buffetting damage every round to creatures in the area.
pushing gust - since its essential a bull rush, why not use an athletics check or an attack vs athletics DC like a standard bull rush?
raise dead - cost should be static, not level based. Aside from PCs, how do you know someone’s level anyway? Just have this cost what a raise dead should cost 5k or 6k or whatever. The increased price per level as the spell heightens is double bad - the price already rises per level as written, don’t need to increase that rate as the cap rises either. This is a spell which shouldn’t need heightening - unless as you heighten it it increases the hp the target comes back with, shouldn’t have a level cap at all. This makes having high level characters raised nearly impossible if they have to hunt down an 18th level cleric once they’re that level.
read aura - considering that detect magic can tell if an item is magical in 1 round, this should do more, like fully identify the item if you make a check, and essentially replace the identify spell from PF1.
read fate - should give an example at least to guide GMs on picking the word, similar to PF1 example of augury. Like if they’re about to find a troll, the word could be fire, etc.
regenerate - shouldn’t this have a lower level version which gives regeneration 5 or 10?
resilient sphere - this is way too fragile for a force effect - it’s barely harder than steel. Should model more on wall of force at least, and also be heightenable to add more hardness. Based on wall of force, the 4th level version should have hardness 18.
resist energy - should have heightened 10th for resistance 20 (or even immune)
retributive pain - should be clear on a critical failure - can the amount be anything, or is it actually limited to double your normal limit? As written it just says it could exceed 10, so you get hit for 100, it would do 50, rather than 20.
retrocognition - don’t be vague with DCs - say it’s 30, 35, whatever, but pick one. Or give guidance - a single death is 30, multiples add 1 per person, and if it’s extreme like torture add 5.
reverse gravity - should be able to dismiss as an action. Also, shouldn’t be 3 actions just cause it’s battlefield control. Should be able to heighten to increase area size and height.
revival - if it works like raise dead, revived dead creatures come back with no spells or points - which makes this a pretty crappy spell except when bringing back martial characters only. Should have them return with whatever spells or points they had upon death.
righteous might - same as other shapeshifting spells - it could actually make you worse! This should also not prevent you casting spells - you’re in your own form! What size form do you take? Assume Medium which is pretty weak for a 6th level spell, but it doesn’t actually say.
rope trick - why is this 4th level? It’s far from unbalancing, and not easy to hide the rope so it’s not that powerful. Also needs to indicate if the creatures inside can see out.
savor the sting - since it takes only 1 action to reduce sick, the persistent damage isn’t a real factor.
scintillating pattern - should have fascinated effect for 1 round on a success, like the lesser version hypnotic pattern does on a failed save.
scrying - shouldn’t use the term eye, since it’s not actually an eye. How less precise is the image? You can’t teleport there, but can you identify the area with recall knowledge checks or if you’ve been there before? Or do you only see the target and not details about the area at all?
secret page - does this only work on text? What about a map?
see invisibility - there’s no way to heighten to make invisible creatures seen instead of concealed? Seems like that’s not fair in the invisibility arms race.
shape wood - shouldn’t it have the same rules for targets standing on it as shape stone, with the acrobatics check to avoid falling?
shapechange - shouldn’t be limited to polymorph spells you know. Should be useful on its own.
shield - should heighten every level to smooth out increasing hardness. Needs more details on how to shield block magic missiles - does it block one missile? One casting of magic missile? Do they count as separate for damage dealt and blocked? Should be able to heighten to provide a +2 bonus to AC at some point, like a heavy shield (which a PC could use at 1st level, so it can’t be unbalancing).
shield other - should be able to be dismissed with an action as well.
shifting form - should add a climb speed option
shillelagh - should heighten to add more potency
shocking grasp - how can one remove the persistent damage? What actions help remove it?
shrink - does this increase AC, decrease damage, decrease speed? It should.
shrink item - how can it not cause damage if you drop it off a cliff and release the spell?
sigil - what’s the point if 5 minutes of work can remove it? It should not be able to be removed or this is useless. Duration should list 1 week, and the heighten entries should increase that, don’t list the 7th level version as the duration.
silence - why isn’t this usable offensively anymore? The 4th level version is still usable to cast on an ally who camps next to a caster, why not allow caster to be targeted directly?
sleep - how can it not have people drop what they’re holding and go prone? That’s what people do who fall asleep (unless they’re sitting in a chair or something).
solid fog - should have heightened version as greater difficult terrain. Shouldn’t have 3 actions to cast.
soothing ballad - does the same effect apply to all targets or can it differ between them?
spectral hand - it crawls 240 feet in a round (120 and then back)? It’s at least slightly more believable if it flies like it used to.
spell turning - should be a number of spell levels - it’s pretty lame to have your 7th level spell used up against a 1st level spell. Should be 7 spell levels and increase as it heightens.
spellwrack - does this affect spell effects on the target when you cast spellwrack?
spider climb - should include effects like if it needs hands free, and can climb surfaces normally not climbable that are slick or sheer, give bonuses to climb checks, and heighten to allow both more targets and have better “stickiness” needing less hands free or whatever.
spider sting - should tie to a real poison, this isn’t the spider poison from bestiary.
spirit blast - should either do another type of damage, or have the force trait.
spiritual guardian - does it take up space and flank when defending an ally? When defending an ally, does it automatically move with the ally, regardless of the ally’s speed and movement types?
stabilize - range is 30 feet, but spell says with a touch….which is right?
status - should it still tell you if the target become injured?
stinking cloud - should have duration for at least 1 round after leaving the cloud. It’s pretty much a 1 round effect otherwise. Include rules for wind and fire blowing or burning the mist away or not.
stone to flesh - should this work more like dispel magic, to counter petrification effects based on their level? Can it affect a portion of a large piece of stone, like a wall? If so, how much? As written it could affect an entire mountain.
stoneskin - resistance to physical and weakness to adamantine that cancels is a very awkward mechanic to say adamantine ignores the resistance.
storm of vengeance - why does damage only affect creatures and not objects? Can’t you smash castles with this, etc? Why is duration 10 rounds instead of 1 minute like other spells?
summon monster and summon nature’s ally - shouldn’t be 3 actions when you need 1 to concentrate each round. If you can communicate with it, why would the GM determine how much if follows your commands? It should just do it. Animated objects are weird thematically to summon - should be living creatures.
take its course - target is a diseased of poisoned creature - but description only mentions toxins - not diseases.
talking corpse - why renamed from speak with dead? Should be able to heighten to ask more questions.
tanglefoot - does the acrobatics or athletics check cost an action, or is that a saving throw using a skill essentially?
telekinetic projectile - how would a silver, adamantine, etc projectile not count as such just because magic threw it?
teleport - needs to have a way to increase # of targets - for parties of larger size and/or animal companions, familiars, henchmen, rescued prisoners, etc, there should be a way to all teleport together. Also, familiar rules should indicate they count as master for effects like teleport.
tidal surge - shouldn’t this move target more in water than on land?
undetectable alignment - does this include spells which damage based on alignment, or good or evil damage, or does your true alignment still determine that
unfathomable song - for result 5, how can the stupefied 1 be removed? Dispel magic? Does unlimited duration just mean permanent?
unfettered pack - shouldn’t the base version reduce greater difficult terrain to regular difficult terrain?
undead’s bane and 267 unlife’s blessing - shouldn’t these be mirror images of each other instead of one doing level more damage, but the other increasing 2 hp per die?
unseen servant - 1 minute duration and concentration is harsh for a spell which only provide utility. Should last longer, and heighten to a full day, and only require concentration to command, not to sustain the spell.
unusual anatomy - shouldn’t this be morph not polymorph? Your form doesn’t really change.
veil - should be a heightened version of illusory image.
waking nightmare - seems like this is too balanced - 50/50 chance for good or bad, so not really worth casting.
wall of fire - should be able to half the length to make a taller wall. Shouldn’t be 3 actions just because it’s battlefield control.
wall of force - should be able to be half the length to be up to double the height. Shouldn’t be 3 actions just because it’s battlefield control.
wall of ice - should be able to be half the length to be up to double the height. Shouldn’t be 3 actions just because it’s battlefield control.
wall of stone - should be able to be half the length to be up to double the height. Shouldn’t be 3 actions just because it’s battlefield control.
where is wall of iron?
all of thorns - should be able to be half the length to be up to double the height. Shouldn’t be 3 actions just because it’s battlefield control.
wall of wind - should specify massive ranged weapons such as catapults or balistae...Shouldn’t be 3 actions just because it’s battlefield control.
wanderer’s guide - what is the “divinely inspired route”? Should just work for the day, even if you change your destination part way through - since wouldn’t that also be divinely inspired?
watching the watchers - what does this even mean? “Openly visible city guard activity, outside the regular patrols and activities.” I don’t know what it means in general, but for openly visible, does that mean not-stealthy, undercover, or invisible activity, or does it mean in the open and not in a building, or underground?
water walk - add back in the part where it causes targets to rise to the surface - it’s a great escape the underwater fast spell (or it used to be at least)
weapon of judgement - this is over complicated and most enemies will wind up suffering the attacks every round. Why not just let it attack every round on the target and forget the war or peace part?
weapon surge - this also adds another +1 to attack, right? When you re-state what the +1 does for damage, but don’t mention what it does for attack it’s not clear. Either don’t mention the extra die or mention both effects, not only one.
web - clearing the squares on a regular success is harsh - it’s not a large area to begin with, this pretty much kills the spell. Should heighten to increase the damage needed to clear, and to make thicker webs which act as greater difficult terrain as well.
wind walk - up to 5 creatures shouldn’t be the limit, restrictive for some parties. Shold be able to heighten for more at least.
wish - boring and restrictive to limit to spell effects, should have examples of what else it can do.
word of truth - so even creatures who’ve never heard of your deity believe you? What if they’re immune to mental effects or something? Should be better describe to make sense. How does a creature tell the difference between this spell and an illusion of the symbol? Shouldn’t this have mental, enchantment and linguistic traits as well? Not really sure how it’s divination in the first place. If they don’t understand what you say, how does it work?
Rituals
atone - cost should be static, not tied to target’s level - how do you even know the level in-game, or if you cast on an NPC? Why does the spell level need to scale with the target level? Atonement should be binary - you’re not overcoming the power of the creature. At most you should need a higher level version based on the severity of their transgression. Critical failure is extremely harsh - not something I’d expect a good aligned deity to have, based on how unskilled or unlucky a caster gets with their role.
planar ally - needing secondary casters at all for this is limiting, but requiring them to be in the same religion pretty much says over 90% of PCs can’t use this, since it’s rare to have same religion parties. Need to provide examples of what a short and simple task is, especially if the higher cost is for fighting with you. Something like consumable item is worth casting a spell, making skill checks, and transporting you for up to 1 hour, a permanent item the creature will fight for you in up to 3 combats over the course of an hour. 2 permanent items will get their full service for a day, etc.
resurrect - critical failure - give an example of what kind of possession happens, what creature is involved, does it have the stats of a particular monster, etc? Is it effectively the PC but with a CE alignment and under GM control as an NPC? What if the target already is an evil horrible creature or person? Does a celestial possess it and attack the evil casters trying to resurrect it? Make it a flat cost to resurrect, with a higher one for 7th and at 9th.
commune - master requirement limits to bards and clerics, instead of anyone being able to. (another good reason to get rid of signature skills) Should heighten to allow for more questions. Should give information on what a bard or someone using occultism contacts.
commune with nature - same issues as commune, but limited to druids and rangers.
planar binding - limited to bards and wizards or sorcerers due to signature skill. Secondary shouldn’t be limited to the other skill not used by the primary - why can’t a wizard be assisted by other wizards using arcana? Price examples should be more clear, like with planar ally. Is being bound in wards for a day on a CS really that big a deal to an immortal outsider? For a CF, give guidance on what is called - either a specific creature that subverts rituals, or “an outsider opposed in alignment to the primary caster of your level +1”.
primal call - if it’s calling something from up to 100 miles away, and it’s not magical, can it travel 100 miles? Is it actually teleported into the faerie ring, or called from the first world?
legend lore - signature skill is limiting to who can cast. Should heighten to 8th to be able to complete in and hour and 9th in 10 minutes (like vision)
control weather - signature skills limit who can cast. Should alter season’s choices with climate zones - at the very least arctic should allow blizzards more of the year, and tropical should prevent them but allow hurricanes more of the year, etc. On a critical failure, bad weather should center on casters, so they’re hit by lightning, tornadoes, etc.