Spell questions

[herrhauptmann]

I'm coming upon some issues while writing some spells for ahomebrew class. Some of my spells are homebrew, others are taken from various books, and at some point I noticed a discrepancy between some of my phrasings, and some of the established spells.

Example 1st level spell:
Spell grants +1 natural armor at level 1, and then I want to increase that by 1 for every three caster levels. That means +2 at CL3, +3 at CL6, etc, right? For a max of +5 at level 15 I guess?

But what about if I wanted it to increase every 2 caster levels?
+2 at CL3, +3 at CL5, +4 at CL7? For a max of +5 at level 11, right?

Please help.

[Flickerdart]

No, 1 for every 3 caster levels is 0 for CL 1-2, 1 for CLs 3-5, 2 for CLs 6-8, and so on.

If you wanted the second progression you mention, you could word it as "This spell grants +1 natural armour, +1 for every odd caster level beyond first".

[herrhauptmann]

No, 1 for every 3 caster levels is 0 for CL 1-2, 1 for CLs 3-5, 2 for CLs 6-8, and so on.


Crap, this was meant to be a useful first level spell. One that would grow as the character leveled, rather than something like mage armor which is just a flat +4 Armor.
If I were to do that (with the increase at 1 per 3CL), would it be +1 at CL1-3, +2 at CL4-6. I know it's not a standard progression, but I'd like to follow the standard phrasings where possible, so people can understand better when I deviate from standard bonuses.


If it matters, the spell that made me realize I was doing it wrong was dehydrate. 1d6 con, +1 per 3CL, max +5 at CL15.

[rot42]

For +1 at 1-3, +2 at 4-6, +3 at 7-9, &c., use:
"This spell grants a +1 enhancement bonus to the creature's existing natural armor bonus. This enhancement bonus increases by 1 for every three caster levels beyond first."

For +1 at 1-2, +2 at 3-5, +3 at 6-8, &c., use:
"This spell grants a +1 enhancement bonus to the creature's existing natural armor bonus. This enhancement bonus increases by 1 for every three caster levels."

I might use the flat "for every three caster levels" so it works like Barkskin, but there is no real need to do so. If you want it to stack with Amulet of Natural Armor, use "+1 Natural Armor bonus to AC" (like Mage Armor). Add "or increases its existing natural armor bonus by +1" to be explicit that it is useful to a creature that has native scales or other natural armor.

In general, I have not noticed any particular consistency in the use of "for every X caster levels" vs. "for every X caster levels beyond Y" (for instance, Magic Missile increases on odd caster levels). Explicitly listing the first few elements in the series is a good design choice.