3.x: spear of slumber

[Loren]

So I've been toying with a character concept where the character would use an enchanter weapon (spear) to put his enemies to sleep and then... out comes the battle axe for the coup de grace.

To do this I tought I'd put sleep on the spear and then upgrade the spell as the character develops, but this has a hitch in it. the next spell to have a similar effect is spell level 3. There's a huge gap between when I'd be able to affort a first level spell and a third level one. Consequently, for a long time the DC of the spell would be pretty pathetic. One way I thought to over come this is to increase the caster level of the spell as the game progresses, but I was wondering if there is any other ways to raise the DC.
would the fact that I'm using an area effect on a singel target raise the DC?

[dsmiles]

As far as the RAW goes, no.

But as a DM, I see where you are going with this, and would probably allow a DC increase, but not by much. Just 1 or 2 for going from an area spell to a target spell. Raising the caster level would get you a better DC increase in my eyes.

[Thurbane]

To increase the DC, all you need is the Heighten Spell feat, but that doesn't get around the HD limit...

Maybe just make the effect have a DC of 10 + 1/2 wielder's level + his CHA (or other ability), and remove the HD cap of the spell.

See the Stunning Surge weapon ability in the MIC (p 44) which works similarly to this.

[Darkfire]

Or you could base it on the Sleep Arrows on the SRD (here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#sleepArrow)). No HD limit and you can boost the DC by requiring Heighten Spell and raising the CL & cost accordingly. Your DM will probably want to slap on an x times per day limit if you're using it on a melee weapon though.

[Person_Man]

I don't think sleep would work well. But if you're interested in the end result, and not the particular method, you might want to consider using Dexterity damage/penalties (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6342523&postcount=23) to make your enemy helpless. A Spell Storing (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Spell_storing) net (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Net) with Shivering Touch stored in it and a respectable contact Poison (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4854.0) that you milk from a companion/familiar/whatever should be enough to take down almost anyone. Once they are helpless, you can Coup de Grace them, which you could pull off as a Standard Action with the Death Blow feat from Comp Adv. It's among many well known combos (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7044115).

[Starbuck_II]

So I've been toying with a character concept where the character would use an enchanter weapon (spear) to put his enemies to sleep and then... out comes the battle axe for the coup de grace.

To do this I tought I'd put sleep on the spear and then upgrade the spell as the character develops, but this has a hitch in it. the next spell to have a similar effect is spell level 3. There's a huge gap between when I'd be able to affort a first level spell and a third level one. Consequently, for a long time the DC of the spell would be pretty pathetic. One way I thought to over come this is to increase the caster level of the spell as the game progresses, but I was wondering if there is any other ways to raise the DC.
would the fact that I'm using an area effect on a singel target raise the DC?

Base it on Psionic sleep? It raises HD cap by extra power points put in it (effectively raises cost as manifester level is max on pp used).