Why does the Player's Guide say Banishing creatures is good but Incapacitation effects are bad?

[DemonicDem]

I can imagine one or the other being true, but not both. If there are enough creatures to banish, then there would be enough to incapacitate. If there wasn't enough creatures to incapacitate, there wouldn't be enough to banish. This is because Banishment has the Incapacitation trait.

[James Jacobs]

There are plenty of encounters in Spore War where you are facing creatures of equal level to the party or slightly lower level, and begin able to smash some of those fiends with banishment stuff feels good and high level. Not every fight should be against higher level foes, and Spore War understands this.

[DemonicDem]

James Jacobs wrote:

There are plenty of encounters in Spore War where you are facing creatures of equal level to the party or slightly lower level, and begin able to smash some of those fiends with banishment stuff feels good and high level. Not every fight should be against higher level foes, and Spore War understands this.

Great, thanks for clearing it up. It's good to know Incapacitation spells will be useful.

[James Jacobs]

That said, your GM has final call on encounter balance in a game. If you're finding yourself frustrated with the incapacitation trait on spells, make sure to chat with your GM so they know. It's important to have PCs face creatures of equal or lower level, particularly as they get higher level, because that helps reward you and make you FEEL like your character is higher level!