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View Full Version : Catharsis (3.5 Spell) (P.E.A.C.H.)



onthetown
2009-10-04, 08:03 PM
I've had an idea for a spell running around in my head for about a week now, and I finally decided to put pen to paper... Unfortunately, I really don't know that much about creating spells, so I need some feedback on it. I'm mostly at a loss as to what level of spell it should be, but any feedback is appreciated.


Catharsis
Evocation (Sonic)
Level: Bard 3
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 30 ft
Target: All enemies within range
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Spell Resistance: Yes

As you build up damage during a battle, you pent up your anger until you can't take it anymore. When Catharsis is cast, you let loose a wave of sonic energy in all directions from your person, affecting all enemies within 30 ft of you.

The wave deals 1d4 damage per caster level (to a max of 10d4). Enemies that are hit have to make a Fortitude to avoid being Dazed for 1 round.

Catharsis can only be cast when the character has been brought down to half or less than half of their maximum HP. The character cannot cast Catharsis after he or she has been healed to above half of their maximum HP.

Zeta Kai
2009-10-04, 08:34 PM
1) Not bad; interesting concept.

2) Bloodied doesn't exist as an organized gaming concept in 3E.

3) The area line is unnecessary. You should replace it with Target: All creatures within range.

4) You should put a cap on the maximum damage. Some thing like 15d4 or 20d4. This allows the spell to still scale & be useful at later levels, but prevents potential cheese abuse from pumping one's CL into the stratosphere.

5) For the SL, I'd say that this is a level 2 Bard spell. For Sorcerers & Wizards, I think it would be a level 3 spell.

6) Again, not a bad spell. Good job.

Jallorn
2009-10-04, 09:05 PM
Pretty cool, although my first idea when I read the title was a spell that incapacitates the target for x time and heals them x amount at the end of that time on a success, and just deals damage (albeit very little) on a fail (Target succeeds on save).

ericgrau
2009-10-04, 09:10 PM
I could see either the damage or the daze being 3rd level, but together it's a bit much. And since it's sonic damage with a high cap that makes it stronger than a fireball already. That and the daze duration is pretty much the whole fight without any real way to undo it, making this a massively powerful area save-or-lose, rather than a mere save-or-suck. The only downsides are that it's not targetable and requires a special condition. But these two problems tend to solve eachother: If you've been heavily damaged then you probably have enemies round you. Really you can just run in the middle of some monsters with the expectation of getting attacked. One lesser nitpick: Bards don't tend to have damage spells. Ya, this is nicely thought up but it's really quite a high level spell.

onthetown
2009-10-05, 05:58 AM
Thanks for all the comments :smallsmile:

I'm going to put a damage cap on it as soon as I get out of class here, thanks for the idea ^^ And I'll put in that level and target, too.

I intended it to be a damage-dealing spell simply because Bards don't get many... I didn't really intend for it to be a Wizard/Sorcerer spell because a catharsis is an artistic release, and the most common example is through music.

Maybe avoid being Dazed for 1 round?

onthetown
2009-10-05, 07:36 AM
Okay, so I put the damage cap to 10d4 -- if you're a Bard and this is a level 2 or 3 spell, it won't take much more than 40hp (max) to get you below half of your max hp.

Which makes me wonder... is this really just a level 2 or 3 spell? "Shout" is a level 4 Bard spell, and it only does 5d6 max damage with a chance of being defeaned. I changed the Daze down to 1 round, but even so it's doing more max damage than Shout can.

To clarify, this is more of a last-ditch effort spell for a Bard than anything else. If they're caught in combat and have been doing a poor job avoiding taking damage, this gives them a chance to deal back what they took and (with the Daze) escape back to where they can be safer, and let the melee fighters do their work.

I'm also wondering if this should work if the Bard has already been healed to above their halfway hp point. What do you think?

Debihuman
2009-10-05, 08:12 AM
I think it is fine that catharsis does more damage than shout because of the special requirement that a bard needs to be at half hit points or lower to cast it. Shout doesn't have any such limit. That balances the power. Also, if the bard is healed before he casts the spell, then the spell shouldn't work.

If the bard can cast the spell after he's healed then what's the point?
If the bard ever took more than half his hit points in damage, then he'd be able to cast the spell under the new condition. That rather defeats the limitation don't you think?

Debby

onthetown
2009-10-05, 08:13 AM
Thanks! I'll add that up there now. So, level 3 is good... anybody see anything else that needs work?