So I created this divine spell at a request from one of my fellow players, who (obviously) is a huge fan of the DarkSouls franchise.
Now, while this spell is certainly strong, i think it is not TOO strong. Here is a small comparison of its main advantages and drawbacks:
Drawbacks:
- You cannot move while hurling spears
- you cannot empower or maximize it
- you cannot add smite evil damage and the like to the damage as you do not roll for damage
- you need to hit multiple ranged touch attacks
- the target gets lots of saves to remove the spear
Strengths:
- part of the damage is not subject to any dr or resistance
- you can spend some rounds doing something else in between your uses
- the debuff is decent against dex-based evil opponents
- the light effect is awesome
- you can attack the same round you cast the spell
As I am not entirely sure, I am humbly asking for your advice and look forward to receiving some cronstructive criticism :)
It's easier to judge if you describe what the spell does.
Like, what is the damage? What is the level of the spell, school of the spell(conjuration?), etc.
Ummm...I thought I linked a detailed spell description in the first sentence of my original post :S
For the effects, the spell level is way too low. Daylight by itself is a 3rd level spell, which means that in that sense, it's already way better than Daylight due to how easily spammable it can be, and can be placed where you need it to be placed. For that alone, it'd probably be a 5th level spell (or 4th level for Paladin), or even higher, and you wouldn't be able to nerf it any lower than by cutting out the Daylight portion, or severely nerfing it to affecting only the creatures you hit (which still makes sense thematically).
I'd consider making Druids able to cast this as well on an equal level to Clerics, since Sunlight is an essential part of nature, they have proficiency in spears, and it's something that they could reasonably utilize like a Cleric would.
Some of the wording is unclear and potentially abusive. A Brawler could use his Brawler's Flurry, whereas a Monk couldn't. Same goes for something like Spell Combat, and other identical TWF options. Clearing up that wording would help combat that abuse (as unlikely as it is). It also doesn't clarify Haste benefits, which could fall under these "extra attack" effects.
The Sun is considered more of an entity of fire, not electricity, so it'd make more sense for it to deal Fire damage instead. The "purity of soul" portion can be considered Holy damage, and it has precedence in spells like Flame Strike, which is a 5th level (4th for Druid) area spell that deals half Fire, half Holy damage.
I'd make the spell deal Spear weapon damage (1D6) plus 1 per 2 caster levels, maximum +10, and give it a duration of 1 round per caster level.
A lot of added functions, such as the dazzling/dexterity penalty effects, and ending the spell as a free action, shouldn't be implemented, because there are metamagic feats and such that already do this, and it doesn't make sense, thematically or mechanically, for the spell to have those mechanics without an increased spell level to compensate (putting as high as 6th level or more).
Holy Carp, the ability to remove one object/2 caster levels! really?! That is highly abusable. At the very least state a maximum size or you'll get players asking what happens if you attack the planet, or even a mountain. or maybe reword it to make it clear that you mean the spear ceases to exist - which is what I hope you mean.
At 10th level 5 spears that each deal 10 damage - at 20th level 10 spears that each deals 20 damage. That feels a little high - Damage needs to be capped - maybe at 10/spear or make it a ranged attack against normal AC. Biabri is right, the damage doesn't really 'fit'. Static damage is very unusual.
Change the duration to a flat 1 round per level, it's cleaner and more consistent.
Specify close range. It's a little lost in the body of the spell.
Holy Carp, the ability to remove one object/2 caster levels! really?! That is highly abusable. At the very least state a maximum size or you'll get players asking what happens if you attack the planet, or even a mountain. or maybe reword it to make it clear that you mean the spear ceases to exist - which is what I hope you mean.
At 10th level 5 spears that each deal 10 damage - at 20th level 10 spears that each deals 20 damage. That feels a little high - Damage needs to be capped - maybe at 10/spear or make it a ranged attack against normal AC. Biabri is right, the damage doesn't really 'fit'. Static damage is very unusual.
Change the duration to a flat 1 round per level, it's cleaner and more consistent.
Specify close range. It's a little lost in the body of the spell.
Sorry i got the wording wrong there. It means that the SPEAR ceases to exist, not he object hit :O (especially, so that you cannot just throw the spears and leave them lying around to shed light)
I wanted to make it static damage to exclude paladings from adding their smite evil damge, because it technically only applies to damage ROLLS. But as Darksol mentioned, there are a lot of things I still need to rework on this one.
The lightning damage despite the spell being called Sunlight Spear ist actually due to the spell being a reference to the DarkSouls miracle of the same name. So you might interpret the daylight effect as the "Sunlight".
You may also take into consideration, that, as a Cleric, you will also be doing other things than dealing damage. So when you cast another spell while Sunlight Spear is active, you lose the charge you need to hold for making your ranged touch attacks.
I admit that in hindsight I probably should have looked that up to catch the reference, aha...
I know that this comes over as being a little childish. But since my fellow player I designed this spell for was so into it, I couldn't help making the reference.
I think it's just really complicated for what it's supposed to be. Dark souls just allowed you to throw it, not use it as a weapon.
IMO, Sun Spear should just be:
Casting Time: Full Round (it always took forever to get a spear to throw IMO)
Range (throwing range)
Target 1 Opponent, see text
Duration 1 round/caster level
Spell Resistance: Yes (unless Undead or Evil Outsider)
Sunlight spear does 1d6 (some reasonable maximum should be applied) Lightning Damage per caster level on a successful ranged touch attack. Additionally, the spear remains stuck in an opponent (who was hit) for a number of rounds equal to your caster level.
If an opponent is affected by Sunlight, Bright Light, or similar effects, the spear causes the opponent to suffer those effects for it's duration [whether that be damage, blindness, destruction, etc.]
The spear counts as both Good and Lawful for effects it could interact with and deals double damage to Undead and Evil Outsiders. Additionally, it ignores Lightning Resistance/Immunity on Undead and Evil Outsiders regardless of special rules they may have.
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Damage and wording can be adjusted; but I think this is much simpler and does everything you'd expect it to do, while also being more accurate to the game.
I think it's just really complicated for what it's supposed to be. Dark souls just allowed you to throw it, not use it as a weapon.
IMO, Sun Spear should just be:
Casting Time: Full Round (it always took forever to get a spear to throw IMO)
Range (throwing range)
Target 1 Opponent, see text
Duration 1 round/caster level
Spell Resistance: Yes (unless Undead or Evil Outsider)Sunlight spear does 1d6 (some reasonable maximum should be applied) Lightning Damage per caster level on a successful ranged touch attack. Additionally, the spear remains stuck in an opponent (who was hit) for a number of rounds equal to your caster level.
If an opponent is affected by Sunlight, Bright Light, or similar effects, the spear causes the opponent to suffer those effects for it's duration [whether that be damage, blindness, destruction, etc.]
The spear counts as both Good and Lawful for effects it could interact with and deals double damage to Undead and Evil Outsiders. Additionally, it ignores Lightning Resistance/Immunity on Undead and Evil Outsiders regardless of special rules they may have.
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Damage and wording can be adjusted; but I think this is much simpler and does everything you'd expect it to do, while also being more accurate to the game.
This is actually really awesome! One thing I was also thinking about: You could make the spell more powerful, but give it the special property to take up two spell slots instead of one, just like it did in DS. Someone on the Pathfinder_RPG reddit even made me a power graph to show how this spell ridiculously outperforms fireball at higher levels and under different circumstances. So while I think no other spell uses the option of occupying multiple spell slots, i think it might well be a balancing factor.
Since it's a save-vs spell as opposed to an attack spell, a paladin can't apply his smite bonus to it. If he were 20th level and lobbing one of these, the lighting half would almost certainly get soaked by DR, leaving only d6+10 getting through. In other words, weak.
Assuming the "cease to exist" stuff is removed, this is a 2nd-level cleric spell tops (and I'd give it to paladins as a 1st).
Other issue: it's easier on your GM if the spell just did -1 to AC rather than all the fiddly penalties to dexterity. (Many GMs have the monster abilities and defenses on cue-cards, and having to remember multiple penalties quickly becomes annoying.)