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View Full Version : (3.5) (Spell) Longer duration, slightly more versitile elemental immunities (PEACH)



DracoDei
2012-01-18, 03:48 PM
Presenting Endure Elements big brother. These were originally designed to make planar adventuring practical at slightly lower levels, but with significant resource drains for those levels, and with dispelling being as significant a threat as it is for deep-sea adventures (if not more-so). As it turns out they are a bit too narrow in the types of dangers the guard against (You want Avoid Planar Effects and Attune Form for that). Still, these have others uses


The first was intended to do the job, but after rereading the rules for planar traits, it seems that this is a bit anemic to prevent all damage on a negative energy or fire dominant plane before caster levels 24 and 30 respectively. As such, it seems a "grandaddy" version was required. I also tried to de-nerfed the rangers so they can lead planar expeditions, which I think we can all agree is as it should be, especially for GMs who wish to ban planar shepherds from their games. Of course, with these not being the spells for that, I am making that an optional rule

Endure Environment, Lesser
Abjuration
Level: Clr 4, Drd 4, Rgr 3*, Sor/Wiz 4
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 3 rounds
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 24 hours**
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
*Optional rule: Rangers use their full class level, not half of it when calculating the effects of this spell.
This abjuration grants you limited protection from damage of whichever one of five energy types you select: acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic. You gain energy resistance equal to your caster level against the energy type chosen, meaning that each time the creature is subjected to such damage (whether from a natural or magical source), that damage is reduced by your caster level for this spell points before being applied to your hit points.

Alternatively, if your caster level is at least 15, this spell may instead provide a separate resistance against each of the five energy types listed above equal to one quarter of your caster level, OR may provide one quarter of your caster level in resistance to hit-point damage(and healing...) from your choice of either positive or negative energy.

Endure environment absorbs only damage. The subject could still suffer unfortunate side effects.

Note: Endure environment, lesser overlaps (and does not stack with) protection from energy, endure environment, greater and Resist Energy. If a character is warded by protection from energy and either of the other three against the same type of energy, the protection spell absorbs damage until its power is exhausted. If a character is warded by endure environment(greater and/or lesser) and Resist Energy against the same type of energy then only the one that is providing the greatest level of protection applies.

Special: The caster of this spell receives a bonus equal to their caster level on all concentration checks to cast it despite ongoing damage of the type(s) that that particular casting will protect against. This does not effect any other sort of concentration check that may be required to cast it.

**Note to GMs: Remember that the duration of this spell is pretty much EXACTLY 24 hours(Ok, not atomic clock accuracy, but it is at least consistent to within the granularity of D&D's time-scales). This means that if there is only a single character in a party capable of casting it, and they cast it once on each member of the party, and only start re-casting it the next day when the damage to one character starts, then the each member of the party will take only a few rounds worth of damage, since the endings of the spell durations will be staggered. ((Not sure if the parts in Navy are necessary to specify. It depends on the exact interpretations of the rules for how spell-slots refresh.))



Endure Environment, Greater
Abjuration
Level: Clr 8, Drd 7, Rgr 4*, Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 3 rounds
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 24 hours**
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
*Optional rule: Rangers use their full class level, not half of it when calculating the effects of this spell.

As per Endure Environment, Lesser except that the amount of protection provided is doubled in all cases. This yields a protection against any single one of the following elements of twice caster level: acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic. If all five of these elements are to be protected against (or ONE of positive OR negative energy), the protection provided against each such element is half of the caster level.

**Note to GMs: Remember that the duration of this spell is pretty much EXACTLY 24 hours(Ok, not atomic clock accuracy, but it is at least consistent to within the granularity of D&D's time-scales). This means that if there is only a single character in a party capable of casting it, and they cast it once on each member of the party, and only start re-casting it the next day when the damage to one character starts, then the each member of the party will take only a few rounds worth of damage, since the endings of the spell durations will be staggered.

bloodtide
2012-01-18, 05:34 PM
Your spells look fine for a 'longer version of resist energy', but fall short for ''adventuring on hostile planes''.

DracoDei
2012-01-18, 06:45 PM
What is missing in terms of "this lets you survive in hostile planar environments"? This is important for the class I am trying to make.

I think the second one is up to snuff just based on the amount of damage it absorbs (which was really all I was going for)
For fire aligned: 3d10 damage per round... caster level 15 is the minimum to cast it for most classes, so it makes you immune to even the 1 out of a 1000 rounds where you take 30 points of damage. 13th level druid casters get 26 fire resistance on each person they cast it on, which means... *does math*
1 way of making 30 on 3d10 for a 0.1% chance each round of taking 4 points of damage.
3 ways of making 29 on 3d10 for a 0.3% chance of taking 3 points of damage
6 ways of making 28 on 3d10 for a 0.6% chance of taking 2 points of damage
10 ways of making 27 on 3d10 for a 1% chance each round of taking 1 point of damage.

Since these are mutually exclusive options, we just multiply the damage for each possibility by the number or ways of making that possibility and divide by 1,000 for the average damage per round

((4*1)+(3*3)+(2*6)+(1*10))/1,000
(4+9+12+10)/1,000
35/1,000
0.035 damage per round on average.

Now for the number of rounds in a day:
10 rounds per minute
60 minutes per hour
24 hours per day
10*60*24= 14,400 rounds in a day


Putting these together (and noting that the large number of rounds gives a strong tendency towards the average).
0.035*14,400=3.5*144= 504 damage per day on each character protected by this spell.

504 damage per day... ouch... that actually DOES hurt.

Still, even one more caster level (Ioun stone or something... I hear caster level boosters are easy to come by... falling all else another level of druid) reduces the average damage per round to ((2*1)+(1*3))/1,000 = 0.005, give us an average damage per day of 72... Which will eat up about 3 Cure Serious Wounds, Masses per day for a party to keep them topped off, but is do-able if you can find a way for the wizard to get 8 hours of sleep undisturbed by damage.

I know that handles the 1d6 per round of the Negative Energy Plane and the 2 or 5 (the 5 part being the important part) per round of the positive energy plane.

I would HOPE that resistance to the 5 basic elements would be enough to seriously take the edge off the passing dangers of Limbo-type planes.

I think the biggest argument against its feasibility is that it is single-target, and the fact that it doesn't help against high winds etc...

Is there some sort of spell out there for this kind of thing? I don't have the Spell Compendium or Manual of the Planes.

Yitzi
2012-01-18, 09:11 PM
What is missing in terms of "this lets you survive in hostile planar environments"?

Protection from anything that isn't energy damage.

More importantly, this has a lot of uses that aren't "survive in hostile planar environments".

Here's how I would make a spell (and a superior version) to do what you're apparently looking for:

Endure Environment
Abjuration
Level: Clr 3, Drd 3, Rgr 1*, Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 3 rounds
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 24 hours*
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
*Rangers use their full class level, not half of it when calculating the effects of this spell.

The subject gains a wide range of protection from environmental effects. Any fire, cold, acid, or negative energy damage from a nonmagical source (including planar traits) is reduced by 5 points per caster level (to a maximum of 50 points at level 10). In addition, the subject automatically succeeds on all Fortitude saves to resist the effects of heat, cold, and smoke as well as saves to avoid being blinded by a major positive-dominant plane, and gains a +10 bonus on Fortitude saves to avoid death or level loss due to major positive-dominant and major negative-dominant planes and constitution checks to avoid suffocation or drowning.

This spell protects the subject's equipment just as it protects the subject.

Endure Environment, Greater
Abjuration
Level: Clr 5, Drd 5, Rgr 2*, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 10 rounds
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 24 hours*
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
*Rangers use their full class level, not half of it when calculating the effects of this spell.

As Endure Environment, except the maximum reduction to damage is 125 (at level 25), and the subject automatically succeeds on all saves and checks that would gain a bonus from Endure Environment.

bloodtide
2012-01-18, 10:11 PM
What is missing in terms of "this lets you survive in hostile planar environments"? This is important for the class I am trying to make.


To put it simply, it does not help you survive in a hostile planar environment. Sure it will absorb some damage from the basic types, but what about everything else?



Is there some sort of spell out there for this kind of thing? I don't have the Spell Compendium or Manual of the Planes.

Yes. Avoid Planar Effects protects you from 'almost everything' natural on a plane. An Attune Form is one level higher and lasts 2 hours a level.

DracoDei
2012-01-18, 11:17 PM
Yes. Avoid Planar Effects protects you from 'almost everything' natural on a plane. An Attune Form is one level higher and lasts 2 hours a level.
Ah! Those would be the ones... I can dig up the spell levels, which is basically all I need to know...