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View Full Version : Breaking spells into words of power?



DarkSonic1337
2013-04-18, 12:44 AM
One of the biggest complaints I see with words of power (besides effect words being a little overpriced) is...the inability to duplicate many popular spells.

I'm making a custom class to replicate Negi Springfield (http://negima.wikia.com/wiki/Negi_Springfield) and he's going to be a wordcaster, since putting basic spells together to make powerful effects is a major part of his style. One of the things I wanted Negi to be able to do is to study traditional spells in order to break them down into their "component words," but for that...well I need more words.

So this thread is designed to be a fun little exercise where you take some of your favorite spells and try to break them down into target, effect, and meta words.You don't have to restrict yourself to getting exactly the same spell level/power, but try to emulate the more unique points of the spell (such as the miss chances of blur/displacement, or the entangling and movement restriction of web). Alternative boost options to already existing words are fine too. The format is:

Spell Name
Meta Word Level of meta word
Target Word Level of target word
Effect Word Level of effect word
total spell level
descriptions of new words or boosts
explanations in spoiler tags

So to get things started.

Scorching Ray
Boost (selected) 0
Selected 0
Burning Flash 1->2
2nd

Boost (selected):Instead of one target, the wordspell affects up to one target per four caster levels.You may only apply this boost to a word spell with an effect word that deals energy damage, the wordcaster must make multiple ray attacks for each target (they cannot be made as melee touch attacks). Each ray deals 1/2 of its normal damage. This boosted target word increases the level of all the effect words in the spell by 1.

I was always a little disappointed with how steep the price of boosting the selected word was. If we wanted a chain effect, we would've picked up chainspell (and the original boost is still a worse version of it). Originally I didn't have the "1/2 damage" clause in the boost, but upon examining its effects with higher level damage words it seemed like it was a bit too much damage. The "only usable with effects that deal energy damage" part is to at least mitigate some of the potential abuse with some of the nastier debuff effect words out there, as well as discourage high speed party buffing.


Glitterdust
Boost (Burst) 0
Burst 0->2
Sparkle 1, Glare 1
3rd

Sparkle (Light)
school Conjuration (creation) Level sorc/wiz 1
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

This effect word causes a cloud of golden particles to cover the target or area, visibly outlining invisible things. All within the area are covered by the dust, which cannot be removed and continues to sparkle until it fades.

Glare (Light)
school Evocation Level sorc/wiz 1
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will Negates:Spell Resistance no

This effect word creates a bright flash of light throughout the area. Creatures in the area must succeed on a will save or become blinded for the effect's duration. Each round creatures can make another will save to end the effect.

Boost:Creatures who fail their initial will save are blinded for the full duration of the spell. Boosting this effect word increases its level by 1.

Here I tried to break Glitterdust's effect into two effect words. I thought revealing invisible creatures would be too powerful for a level 0 word so I bumped it to level 1. With the same line of thinking for blinding a group of creatures, even if they get a save every round. Combining the two resembles glitterdust, but at a higher level. However each word is individually useful and will be nice to combine with other effects. The boost on Glare is just gravy

So what do you guys think? I'm interested in what words people will come up with.