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Popertop
2010-08-08, 05:42 AM
I know there are rules for developing Epic spells, but what about Non-Epic spell research and development?

PId6
2010-08-08, 05:48 AM
There are some guidelines for this in Chapter 2 of the DMG, but basically just use existing spells as guidelines for how powerful a spell of a certain spell level should be. There are no hard and fast rules, which is why it's much much less horrible than the epic spell rules.

Popertop
2010-08-08, 07:02 AM
does it give tips for combining spell effects?
say I wanted to wrap Bull's Strength, Bear's Endurance, and Haste into one tasty buff spell, or how about combining a spell like Enervation with Explosive Runes?

PId6
2010-08-08, 07:25 AM
No, it does not. However, you can compare that to current spells and decide where it would fit. There's IIRC a spell that's +4 enhancement to all ability scores, in SpC, PHB2, or CM, and is ~5th level. Assuming you're making this a single target spell, it would lose out on +4 Dex/Int/Wis/Cha, but gain Haste, which is a considerable boost and is much more favorable for melee characters than the mental score boosts.

Assuming this is only single target, I'd say it's about even with the +4 to everything spell, maybe a bit better (since it's more specialized), so probably around 5th-6th level. If you make it target multiple creatures like Haste does, it becomes much more powerful, and probably deserves somewhere around 7th-8th level.

For the Enervation + Explosive Runes combo (assuming creatures exploded upon gain negative levels in place of damage), that's a bit more problematic. Explosive Runes itself is a bit broken, since its Permanent duration lets you get hundreds of them onto one batch of paper and then detonate them all through various tricks. Assuming you're not abusing it though, I'd say an Explosive Runes that grant 1d4 negative levels like Enervation would be around 5th-6th level as well, but that's purely a judgment call since there's not much like it that I know of already in existence.

mint
2010-08-08, 07:26 AM
Not explicitly. It suggests that if a spell you design for a given level is so good that nobody would not pick it, it should be higher level.
Further, you should use other spells as benchmarks.
So i guess, compare to other spells and possible metamagic combinations?
Two spells in one, depending on the combination, might be tuned around quicken.

Popertop
2010-08-08, 07:37 AM
Ah, alright, thanks a lot for your responses, that's a great help.
:thog: