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Scorpions__
2010-12-27, 02:23 AM
My player wants to run a cleric, and use the Frostbite spell from page 95 of Frostburn.

How powerful will this be in a low optimization game?







DM[F]R

AslanCross
2010-12-27, 03:23 AM
Well, characters will take an average of 7 Dex damage from that (3 on a successful save). I figure it will be just fine.

It's also a 5th-level spell. At least it's not Shivering Touch.

icefractal
2010-12-27, 03:24 AM
Doesn't seem crazy powerful. It's a very weak (but selective) AoE, with a ok debuff that could (on very low-Dex creatures) be a SoD. But really, unless he's got some trick to metamagic the crap out of it, it's not going to be a huge threat.

Gnaritas
2010-12-27, 03:25 AM
Depends on how you look at it.

5th level spells can break a game, but Frostbite is not even close to being the best 5th level spell around.

But if the rest of the party is Monk and Fighter, then yes, this spell will be very powerfull compared to that. But so would almost any other 5th level spell.

Coidzor
2010-12-27, 03:29 AM
Well, characters will take an average of 7 Dex damage from that (3 on a successful save). I figure it will be just fine.

It's also a 5th-level spell. At least it's not Shivering Touch.

Isn't Shivering Touch more Dex damage from a 3rd level spell without save?

Sounds like Frostbite is the more balanced cousin.

SilverLeaf167
2010-12-27, 03:40 AM
I guess it's higher level because it's an AoE... When fighting against groups, that's definitely more practical than casting Shivering Touch on each enemy separately.

DarkEternal
2010-12-27, 11:04 AM
It's good, Shivering Touch on the other hand, from the same book, ban that. Ban that a lot.

It will kill all huge, awesome monstrosities that are not immune to energy drains. Goodbye dragons, you were just one shotted because a third level spell put you in a coma.

Greenish
2010-12-27, 11:29 AM
It's good, Shivering Touch on the other hand, from the same book, ban that. Ban that a lot.

It will kill all huge, awesome monstrosities that are not immune to energy drains. Goodbye dragons, you were just one shotted because a third level spell put you in a coma.Well, Shivering Touch can be fun, if your player has just read from the internet how it can one-shot a dragon, and decides to try despite otherwise having a lesser grasp of optimization.

Prismatic Scales on a big, mean dragon and then see who manages to touch whom first. :smallamused:

Blackfang108
2010-12-27, 11:34 AM
It will kill all huge, awesome monstrosities that are not immune to energy drains. Goodbye dragons, you were just one shotted because a third level spell put you in a coma.

Nitpick here: it paralyzed him, not put him in a coma. He was still conscious when the party turned him into the special of the month at the local Tavern.

:smallbiggrin:

awa
2010-12-27, 12:46 PM
technically it did not paralyze him it made him unable to move something very similar but not quite the same

Coidzor
2010-12-27, 12:54 PM
technically it did not paralyze him it made him unable to move something very similar but not quite the same


Ability Score Loss (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#abilityScoreLoss)

* Strength 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He lies helpless on the ground.
* Dexterity 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He stands motionless, rigid, and helpless.

vs.


Paralyzed (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#paralyzed)

A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can’t swim and may drown. A creature can move through a space occupied by a paralyzed creature—ally or not. Each square occupied by a paralyzed creature, however, counts as 2 squares.

See Also:
Ability Damaged (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#abilityDamaged)

The character has temporarily lost 1 or more ability score points. Lost points return at a rate of 1 per day unless noted otherwise by the condition dealing the damage. A character with Strength 0 falls to the ground and is helpless. A character with Dexterity 0 is paralyzed. A character with Constitution 0 is dead. A character with Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma 0 is unconscious. Ability damage is different from penalties to ability scores, which go away when the conditions causing them go away.

So it depends upon the interpretation of the DM, really, whether Dex 0 is paralyzed = paralyzed status condition. Though the only functional difference, in the SRD, is that he'd count as 2 squares if paralyzed.