W3bDragon
2011-11-24, 10:34 AM
I'm playing a divine caster in a our group's first try with pathfinder. Looking at the spells available in the srd, I've found that several of the 3rd party spells are overpowered, nonsensical, or just flat out badly conceived.
Some examples:
Countervailing (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing---3rd-party-spells/c/countervailing): This spell turns any spell that penalizes your rolls or attributes into a boon of half the value. So if someone casts bestow curse on you, giving you a -6 penalty to strength, this spell removes the penalty and instead gives you a +3 bonus to strength. You could cast Ray of enfeeblement on yourself, voluntarily fail, then cast Countervailing to give yourself a bonus to strength equal to half the Ray of enfeeblement spell. What level is this spell you ask? 2nd perhaps? No. Its a zero level spell. In pathfinder, you can spam those all day.
Surge (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing---3rd-party-spells/s/surge): This spell, which is a swift action to cast, and as such must be used on your turn, grants the subject a +20 insight bonus on their initiative count. So let's say your initiative is 10, your fighter friend goes on 6, and the monster goes on 4. On your turn, you cast the spell on your fighter friend. His initiative is now 26. Meaning that he cannot act on his old initiative count of 6, and the monster on 4 actually gets to act before him.
You could take the spell to instead mean that you can have your fighter friend act before you, meaning that after you cast on initiative 10, the DM rolls back to initiative 26 and resolves the fighter's action. The fighter then moves, triggering a fireball trap that hurts him, but outright kills you, leaving you in the delightful scenario of: "If I died on initiative count 26, who cast the spell?"
Prophecy (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/super-genius-games---3rd-party-spells/prophecy): This spell is an oracle only spell. Oracles work with spells known like sorcerers. Yet someone decided that this oracle-only spell, has a duration of 1 day/level. So as an oracle, you waste one of your precious spells known on a spell you'll cast maybe once a week. This would be a perfect cleric, or even paladin spell. But Oracle only? Strange.
Valiant Resolve (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing---3rd-party-spells/v/valiant-resolve): This spell grants you damage reduction that can only be bypassed by non-lethal damage. That's weird enough as it is, because it isn't one of the types listed that magical weapons can eventually bypass with a high enough enhancement. Also, it grants a substantial DR of 10. Its a first level spell. DR 10 from a first level spell for 1 round per level.
I'm sure there are more, as these are just from zero to third level spells on the Cleric/Oracle list. Of course, you can always say that 3rd party stuff needs to be approved by the DM, and you'd be right. However, the very existence of these spells on the 3rd party list compromises the trustworthiness of all the other spells on that list. I enjoy broadening my horizons when it comes to spell choice, especially since I'm playing a gish, so low level spells is all I got, but I'm just wary of picking from a list that seems, to be fair, not properly reviewed.
Has anyone had a similar experience with these spells? Or has run into more of these gems on the arcane list?
Some examples:
Countervailing (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing---3rd-party-spells/c/countervailing): This spell turns any spell that penalizes your rolls or attributes into a boon of half the value. So if someone casts bestow curse on you, giving you a -6 penalty to strength, this spell removes the penalty and instead gives you a +3 bonus to strength. You could cast Ray of enfeeblement on yourself, voluntarily fail, then cast Countervailing to give yourself a bonus to strength equal to half the Ray of enfeeblement spell. What level is this spell you ask? 2nd perhaps? No. Its a zero level spell. In pathfinder, you can spam those all day.
Surge (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing---3rd-party-spells/s/surge): This spell, which is a swift action to cast, and as such must be used on your turn, grants the subject a +20 insight bonus on their initiative count. So let's say your initiative is 10, your fighter friend goes on 6, and the monster goes on 4. On your turn, you cast the spell on your fighter friend. His initiative is now 26. Meaning that he cannot act on his old initiative count of 6, and the monster on 4 actually gets to act before him.
You could take the spell to instead mean that you can have your fighter friend act before you, meaning that after you cast on initiative 10, the DM rolls back to initiative 26 and resolves the fighter's action. The fighter then moves, triggering a fireball trap that hurts him, but outright kills you, leaving you in the delightful scenario of: "If I died on initiative count 26, who cast the spell?"
Prophecy (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/super-genius-games---3rd-party-spells/prophecy): This spell is an oracle only spell. Oracles work with spells known like sorcerers. Yet someone decided that this oracle-only spell, has a duration of 1 day/level. So as an oracle, you waste one of your precious spells known on a spell you'll cast maybe once a week. This would be a perfect cleric, or even paladin spell. But Oracle only? Strange.
Valiant Resolve (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing---3rd-party-spells/v/valiant-resolve): This spell grants you damage reduction that can only be bypassed by non-lethal damage. That's weird enough as it is, because it isn't one of the types listed that magical weapons can eventually bypass with a high enough enhancement. Also, it grants a substantial DR of 10. Its a first level spell. DR 10 from a first level spell for 1 round per level.
I'm sure there are more, as these are just from zero to third level spells on the Cleric/Oracle list. Of course, you can always say that 3rd party stuff needs to be approved by the DM, and you'd be right. However, the very existence of these spells on the 3rd party list compromises the trustworthiness of all the other spells on that list. I enjoy broadening my horizons when it comes to spell choice, especially since I'm playing a gish, so low level spells is all I got, but I'm just wary of picking from a list that seems, to be fair, not properly reviewed.
Has anyone had a similar experience with these spells? Or has run into more of these gems on the arcane list?