Grod_The_Giant
2012-02-28, 03:05 PM
Philosophy
Everyone can agree that casters are significantly more powerful than other classes, for the simple reason that spellcasting is far more effective than anything that martial classes can do. These forums see a never-ending stream of ideas and nerfs to reduce the power of magic, of which this is only the latest example. There must be some reason I think my fix is more valid. My opinion, stated simply, is that it’s ok for spellcasters to have a strong offense.
Before exploding, allow me to explain what I mean by that. Obviously I don’t mean keeping magic as it is. Examination of the specific rules will note a number of rules which do reduce the power of offensive spells and debuffs. But my opinion, based on my experience with the game, is that D&D is a team effort. It can be fun to have a guy on your team who can lay waste to cities, so long as he is not self-sufficient.
And that is the key point of this “fix—” defensive magic. Full casters should, in my mind, be glass cannons, capable of wielding incredible mystic might, but requiring protection. The wizard should not, under any circumstances, be harder to injure than the fighter. If a player wants to toy with the fundamental forces of creation, he pays the price of being easily slaughtered in physical combat.
The caster, then, becomes both a powerful asset and a liability. He can rain death on your foes, but needs his allies for protection. The game becomes more of a team effort, at higher levels. I do not want to include any rule which reduces the fun of playing a caster— I would much rather trust my players not to break a potentially powerful class than reduce their enjoyment of the game in the name of balance. (For an example of this, I would offer the case of magic in Exalted- extremely powerful, but takes two rounds to cast. Speaking as someone currently playing a caster, this is not fun in combat, since it leaves me with literally half as many actions as everyone else).
Many of the specific spell nerfs are based around drawbacks rather than direct reductions in power. You can still polymorph into a choker… but you might wind up forgetting that you ever were a wizard. You can spam summon monster spells… but sooner or later, you’ll disturb something nasty. You can layer on defensive enchantments… but they might explode at a critical moment. And so on.
This fix will not make mundane characters significantly more powerful, and it will not fix every broken spell or combo out there. I highly recommend that this fix be used alongside class-specific fixes— both ones that boost martial characters, and ones that reduce the power of casters.
General Rules
All spells which directly target a creature or which deal energy damage have the property Spell Resistance: Yes.
Shield bonuses are added to touch AC.
The fatigued condition imposes a -2 penalty to caster level and a -1 penalty to spell save DCs. The exhausted condition imposes a -6 penalty to caster level, and a -3 penalty to spell save DCs. The caster level penalties cannot reduce a character's caster level below one-half its normal state.
Polymorph/Alter Self Nerfs
Characters cannot continue to cast spells in their new form unless it is capable of speech and fine gestures (for example, a giant would be able to cast spells, but a dire lion would not).
Even if the new form can cast spells, the caster suffers a -2 penalty to caster level, due to his unfamiliarity with his new body and the difficulty of controlling magical energies in an unfamiliar body. (Reduce the penalty to -1 if the form is of the same type, and increase it to -4 if the form is drastically different, such as an elf who transforms into a dragon).
Changing your body and brain is an inherently risky business. Every * a character spends in a form with a type other than his own, he must make a Will save, with a DC equal to normal DC of a spell of this level, +1 for each [interval] they’ve spent in the form, +1 for each of these saves they’ve failed. As they start failing these saves, they begin forgetting their own identity. Each failed save causes the caster to lose 1d4 random spell slots or prepared spells. If the caster fails 5 saves, he becomes permanently convinced that he is a creature of the type they've shapeshifted into. They discard all memories of their past life (including feats, prepared spell slots, spells known, and more) that don't "fit" with their new form, and begin acting in a manner appropriate to the new creature, even if the spell ends. This condition can be cured by any spell capable of curing insanity. A caster who’s failed at least one of these saves must make an additional save to dismiss the spell.
It's especially difficult to maintain your mental balance in the heat of battle. Even if a spell's duration is more than one minute/level, when in combat, the subject must make a save every two rounds.
A druid's Wild Shape is subject to these limitations. A class without strong spellcasting, however, like the Wildshape Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#ranger) or Beastman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213031) treats the interval of his Wild Shape as one step higher-- without prior access to such strong magic, they have to train much more intensely to make use of the ability, training which includes expertise in maintaining their mental balance.
* is based on the normal duration of the spell, and shown on the table below.
{table=head]Spell Duration|[Interval]
1 round/level|1 round
1 minute/level|2 rounds
10 minutes/level|1 minute
1 hour/level|10 minutes
1 day/level|1 hour[/table]
Summoning Nerfs
The strain of binding and controlling a summoned creature imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to caster level for each creature currently summoned.
When casting a summoning spell, there is a 1% chance per spell level that the spell goes horribly awry and summons something else entirely. The exact nature of the mistake is left up to the DM, depending on the power of the spell and what the desired result was. Occasionally, this results in something insignificantly weak, such as a celestial chipmunk. Other times, your summon monster II delivers a hezrou. The new creature is not bound by any sort of magic, and may break the summon at any time it wishes and return to its home plane. It cannot be dismissed by dismissing the spell.
A creature summoned into a situation it doesn’t like may attempt to break the magical contract and escape the plane with a successful Will save (DC as normal for a spell of the summon’s level). Making this check is a swift action. A particularly upset summoned creature may remain on the plane for the remainder of the spell’s duration to attack the caster, who may not dismiss it.
The chance of a Conjuration [Calling] spell such as [I]planar ally going horribly wrong is 5% per spell level. If the new target has too many hit die to be affected by the spell normally, it may burst through summoning circles and constraints with ease, typically with horrible consequences for the summoner.
Conjuration [Calling] spells do not have experience costs to cast; however, the creatures almost always demand that the summoner sacrifice part of his own life force as part of their payment for the services, typically to the quantity of 1/10th the gold piece cost (see the spell lesser planar ally for details.
DMs are encouraged to role-play the summoning and negotiation process, rather than allow it to happen automatically. Even when all conditions are met, sometimes summoned creatures are just too stubborn to be compelled.
Outsiders summoning other outsiders from their own plane, such as a demon's summon ability, are not subject to the restrictions noted above.
Illusions
All creatures get a Will save upon first seeing an illusion spell, or upon seeing it cast, regardless of whether or not they "interact" with it. Targets get a +2 bonus on their saves if the illusion is extremely unbelievable (such as a famous warrior-king walking into a goblin den).
Divinations
Dungeon Masters should never give clear answers to spells like divination. To use a specifically targeted divination like scrying or locate creature, the caster must have either an extremely strong personal connection to the target, or else must have a physical connection to them, such as a piece of hair, a fingernail, or a piece of the target's clothing.
Teleport Nerf
Creatures adjacent to a caster activating a teleportation spell would would not normally be included in the spell's effect may make a Reflex save (DC as normal for a teleportation spell of the level) to “hitch a ride” and be carried along by the magic, ending up adjacent to the caster. For every 20 feet a creature's movement speed exceeds 20ft per round, he may be an additional 5 feet away and still "hitch a ride." (Thus, a wizard could grab his friend's hand and cast teleport to move them both away, but the adjacent orc could make a reflex save to follow him. Alternately, a wizard could cast dimension hop, and his adjacent rogue ally could make a reflex save to follow him, even though the spell normally only affects one creature.)
Metamagic
Feats and abilities which reduce the spell level adjustment of metamagic, such as Arcane Thesis, apply to the to [I]total adjustment, not individually.
Unless a metamagic feat already has a +0 spell level adjustment, the adjustment cannot be reduced blow 0.
No single spell can have more metamagic feats applied to it than one-half its spell level. For example, an orb of force (a 4th level spell) could be maximized and empowered (2 feats), but not twinned, maximized, and empowered (3 feats).
Spell Stacking
For the purposes of these rules, an “ongoing spell” is defined as any spell which targets a specific creature and has a duration.
When casting an spell on a target affected by ongoing spells, there is a chance that the effort will backfire, dispelling all ongoing spells and inflicting damage equal to the number of ongoing spells currently affecting him squared. The chance of failure is equal to twice the number of ongoing spells times ten. Any spell which targets a creature can set off a backfire cascade, even if its duration is instantaneous. Instantaneous spells inflict their effect before rolling for failure chance.
{table=head]Number of Ongoing Spells Currently in Effect|Chance of new spell triggering the backfire cascade|Damage inflicted on a failure
0|0%|—
1|20%|1d6
2|40%|4d6
3|60%|9d6
4|80%|16d6
5|100%|25d6[/table]
Save-or-Dies
Instant kill spells such as Slay Living are no longer auto-kills. Instead, the spell deals 1 damage per caster level, and roll 1d12 per caster level, with a Fortitude save for half "damage". If the "damage" rolled is more than the target's hit points, they die. If it is less, there is no effect from the spell. For example, a 10th level cleric casts slay living against a dragon with 74 hit points remaining. He rolls 10d12, and comes up with a result of 83. If the dragon succeeds on its Fortitude save, it takes 41 points of "damage" and is thus unaffected. If it fails its fortitude save, it dies. If, the next turn, it has 37 hit points remaining, and the cleric casts slay living again and rolls 79 "damage," the dragon is doomed-- a successful save reduces the "damage" to 39, which is still more than his current hit points.
In addition, if a creature fails its save but still resists the effect due to high hit points, it is exhausted.
(Credit to Seerow (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12671249&postcount=4)for the basic idea)
Wall Spells
Any creature who would be encircled by a wall-type spell at the time of its casting may make a special Reflex save to attempt to escape the area before the spell completely takes effect. The DC is as normal for a spell of the wall spell's level, +5 for every 5ft between its current square and the outside edge of the wall. It must have sufficient speed to escape the wall's area in a single move action. If it chooses to attempt this save, it may not take a move action on its next turn.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Everyone can agree that casters are significantly more powerful than other classes, for the simple reason that spellcasting is far more effective than anything that martial classes can do. These forums see a never-ending stream of ideas and nerfs to reduce the power of magic, of which this is only the latest example. There must be some reason I think my fix is more valid. My opinion, stated simply, is that it’s ok for spellcasters to have a strong offense.
Before exploding, allow me to explain what I mean by that. Obviously I don’t mean keeping magic as it is. Examination of the specific rules will note a number of rules which do reduce the power of offensive spells and debuffs. But my opinion, based on my experience with the game, is that D&D is a team effort. It can be fun to have a guy on your team who can lay waste to cities, so long as he is not self-sufficient.
And that is the key point of this “fix—” defensive magic. Full casters should, in my mind, be glass cannons, capable of wielding incredible mystic might, but requiring protection. The wizard should not, under any circumstances, be harder to injure than the fighter. If a player wants to toy with the fundamental forces of creation, he pays the price of being easily slaughtered in physical combat.
The caster, then, becomes both a powerful asset and a liability. He can rain death on your foes, but needs his allies for protection. The game becomes more of a team effort, at higher levels. I do not want to include any rule which reduces the fun of playing a caster— I would much rather trust my players not to break a potentially powerful class than reduce their enjoyment of the game in the name of balance. (For an example of this, I would offer the case of magic in Exalted- extremely powerful, but takes two rounds to cast. Speaking as someone currently playing a caster, this is not fun in combat, since it leaves me with literally half as many actions as everyone else).
Many of the specific spell nerfs are based around drawbacks rather than direct reductions in power. You can still polymorph into a choker… but you might wind up forgetting that you ever were a wizard. You can spam summon monster spells… but sooner or later, you’ll disturb something nasty. You can layer on defensive enchantments… but they might explode at a critical moment. And so on.
This fix will not make mundane characters significantly more powerful, and it will not fix every broken spell or combo out there. I highly recommend that this fix be used alongside class-specific fixes— both ones that boost martial characters, and ones that reduce the power of casters.
General Rules
All spells which directly target a creature or which deal energy damage have the property Spell Resistance: Yes.
Shield bonuses are added to touch AC.
The fatigued condition imposes a -2 penalty to caster level and a -1 penalty to spell save DCs. The exhausted condition imposes a -6 penalty to caster level, and a -3 penalty to spell save DCs. The caster level penalties cannot reduce a character's caster level below one-half its normal state.
Polymorph/Alter Self Nerfs
Characters cannot continue to cast spells in their new form unless it is capable of speech and fine gestures (for example, a giant would be able to cast spells, but a dire lion would not).
Even if the new form can cast spells, the caster suffers a -2 penalty to caster level, due to his unfamiliarity with his new body and the difficulty of controlling magical energies in an unfamiliar body. (Reduce the penalty to -1 if the form is of the same type, and increase it to -4 if the form is drastically different, such as an elf who transforms into a dragon).
Changing your body and brain is an inherently risky business. Every * a character spends in a form with a type other than his own, he must make a Will save, with a DC equal to normal DC of a spell of this level, +1 for each [interval] they’ve spent in the form, +1 for each of these saves they’ve failed. As they start failing these saves, they begin forgetting their own identity. Each failed save causes the caster to lose 1d4 random spell slots or prepared spells. If the caster fails 5 saves, he becomes permanently convinced that he is a creature of the type they've shapeshifted into. They discard all memories of their past life (including feats, prepared spell slots, spells known, and more) that don't "fit" with their new form, and begin acting in a manner appropriate to the new creature, even if the spell ends. This condition can be cured by any spell capable of curing insanity. A caster who’s failed at least one of these saves must make an additional save to dismiss the spell.
It's especially difficult to maintain your mental balance in the heat of battle. Even if a spell's duration is more than one minute/level, when in combat, the subject must make a save every two rounds.
A druid's Wild Shape is subject to these limitations. A class without strong spellcasting, however, like the Wildshape Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#ranger) or Beastman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213031) treats the interval of his Wild Shape as one step higher-- without prior access to such strong magic, they have to train much more intensely to make use of the ability, training which includes expertise in maintaining their mental balance.
* is based on the normal duration of the spell, and shown on the table below.
{table=head]Spell Duration|[Interval]
1 round/level|1 round
1 minute/level|2 rounds
10 minutes/level|1 minute
1 hour/level|10 minutes
1 day/level|1 hour[/table]
Summoning Nerfs
The strain of binding and controlling a summoned creature imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to caster level for each creature currently summoned.
When casting a summoning spell, there is a 1% chance per spell level that the spell goes horribly awry and summons something else entirely. The exact nature of the mistake is left up to the DM, depending on the power of the spell and what the desired result was. Occasionally, this results in something insignificantly weak, such as a celestial chipmunk. Other times, your summon monster II delivers a hezrou. The new creature is not bound by any sort of magic, and may break the summon at any time it wishes and return to its home plane. It cannot be dismissed by dismissing the spell.
A creature summoned into a situation it doesn’t like may attempt to break the magical contract and escape the plane with a successful Will save (DC as normal for a spell of the summon’s level). Making this check is a swift action. A particularly upset summoned creature may remain on the plane for the remainder of the spell’s duration to attack the caster, who may not dismiss it.
The chance of a Conjuration [Calling] spell such as [I]planar ally going horribly wrong is 5% per spell level. If the new target has too many hit die to be affected by the spell normally, it may burst through summoning circles and constraints with ease, typically with horrible consequences for the summoner.
Conjuration [Calling] spells do not have experience costs to cast; however, the creatures almost always demand that the summoner sacrifice part of his own life force as part of their payment for the services, typically to the quantity of 1/10th the gold piece cost (see the spell lesser planar ally for details.
DMs are encouraged to role-play the summoning and negotiation process, rather than allow it to happen automatically. Even when all conditions are met, sometimes summoned creatures are just too stubborn to be compelled.
Outsiders summoning other outsiders from their own plane, such as a demon's summon ability, are not subject to the restrictions noted above.
Illusions
All creatures get a Will save upon first seeing an illusion spell, or upon seeing it cast, regardless of whether or not they "interact" with it. Targets get a +2 bonus on their saves if the illusion is extremely unbelievable (such as a famous warrior-king walking into a goblin den).
Divinations
Dungeon Masters should never give clear answers to spells like divination. To use a specifically targeted divination like scrying or locate creature, the caster must have either an extremely strong personal connection to the target, or else must have a physical connection to them, such as a piece of hair, a fingernail, or a piece of the target's clothing.
Teleport Nerf
Creatures adjacent to a caster activating a teleportation spell would would not normally be included in the spell's effect may make a Reflex save (DC as normal for a teleportation spell of the level) to “hitch a ride” and be carried along by the magic, ending up adjacent to the caster. For every 20 feet a creature's movement speed exceeds 20ft per round, he may be an additional 5 feet away and still "hitch a ride." (Thus, a wizard could grab his friend's hand and cast teleport to move them both away, but the adjacent orc could make a reflex save to follow him. Alternately, a wizard could cast dimension hop, and his adjacent rogue ally could make a reflex save to follow him, even though the spell normally only affects one creature.)
Metamagic
Feats and abilities which reduce the spell level adjustment of metamagic, such as Arcane Thesis, apply to the to [I]total adjustment, not individually.
Unless a metamagic feat already has a +0 spell level adjustment, the adjustment cannot be reduced blow 0.
No single spell can have more metamagic feats applied to it than one-half its spell level. For example, an orb of force (a 4th level spell) could be maximized and empowered (2 feats), but not twinned, maximized, and empowered (3 feats).
Spell Stacking
For the purposes of these rules, an “ongoing spell” is defined as any spell which targets a specific creature and has a duration.
When casting an spell on a target affected by ongoing spells, there is a chance that the effort will backfire, dispelling all ongoing spells and inflicting damage equal to the number of ongoing spells currently affecting him squared. The chance of failure is equal to twice the number of ongoing spells times ten. Any spell which targets a creature can set off a backfire cascade, even if its duration is instantaneous. Instantaneous spells inflict their effect before rolling for failure chance.
{table=head]Number of Ongoing Spells Currently in Effect|Chance of new spell triggering the backfire cascade|Damage inflicted on a failure
0|0%|—
1|20%|1d6
2|40%|4d6
3|60%|9d6
4|80%|16d6
5|100%|25d6[/table]
Save-or-Dies
Instant kill spells such as Slay Living are no longer auto-kills. Instead, the spell deals 1 damage per caster level, and roll 1d12 per caster level, with a Fortitude save for half "damage". If the "damage" rolled is more than the target's hit points, they die. If it is less, there is no effect from the spell. For example, a 10th level cleric casts slay living against a dragon with 74 hit points remaining. He rolls 10d12, and comes up with a result of 83. If the dragon succeeds on its Fortitude save, it takes 41 points of "damage" and is thus unaffected. If it fails its fortitude save, it dies. If, the next turn, it has 37 hit points remaining, and the cleric casts slay living again and rolls 79 "damage," the dragon is doomed-- a successful save reduces the "damage" to 39, which is still more than his current hit points.
In addition, if a creature fails its save but still resists the effect due to high hit points, it is exhausted.
(Credit to Seerow (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12671249&postcount=4)for the basic idea)
Wall Spells
Any creature who would be encircled by a wall-type spell at the time of its casting may make a special Reflex save to attempt to escape the area before the spell completely takes effect. The DC is as normal for a spell of the wall spell's level, +5 for every 5ft between its current square and the outside edge of the wall. It must have sufficient speed to escape the wall's area in a single move action. If it chooses to attempt this save, it may not take a move action on its next turn.
Thoughts? Suggestions?