Center of Gravity

[jlousivy]

Center of Gravity
?????
Level: Sor/Wiz6
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft + 40 ft/level)
Area: Creatures within a 40 ft radius burst
Duration: 1 round/level (concentration)
Saving Throw: Reflex(see text)
Spell Resistance: None

Upon casting of the spell all creatures within the area of effect are drawn toward the middle of the burst. If more than one creature is pulled in, each creature takes 4d6 collision damage. If the creature passes a reflex save, she is jaunted to the closest edge of the burst. If the caster channels the spell(concentration) all movement is reduced to 1/2 their base movement speed furthermore, all creatures are drawn inward 10 feet per round on the caster's turn.

What school of magic would this be?
And what do you think of it?

[Manga Shoggoth]

If it is a gravitational effect then it should pull in everything that is not firmly anchored to something that can resist the force (so trees might be OK but could be damaged, but tables will be pulled in and tents could be pulled in).

This gives scope for a lot of effects (according to the needs of the game) - entaglement (in tents, rope or suchlike), collisions with any item, instability (it would really mess up a weak bridge or unstable tunnel).

Also, if critically miscast, you could have the potential for an - admittedly short-lived - black hole.

[Duke of URL]

I'd say Evocation would probably be the most fitting school.

As for a level 6 spell... it doesn't do much damage, but it is a good crowd control spell that bypasses spell resistance (which makes sense, since the target is really a point to create the gravitational well, not a creature, and so they are simply suffering a physical side effect rather than a direct magical one).

[icke]

School: make it transmutation like Reverse Gravity, the only other gravitation-influential spell I know.

Concerning the collision: Actually, the damage the colliding creatures take is falling damage, so it should work alike: sum up the distnces of the two creatures that collide and treat it like falling height, dealing 1d6 damage for every 10feet of distance above the first 10 feet - to both creatures. Substract 1d6 for each difference in size category of the creatures, since momentum transfer is less effective for objects/creatures of different masses.
If more than two creatures collide, take the greatest distance and the smallest size difference. That's the physical point of view, anyway. Maybe sounds a bit complicated but should be easy to implement.

[Zonac]

Hmmm... you know, this spell seems overpowered, why? I'll tell you.

Use center of gravity to pull some bullets(land sharks) off a cliff!
Need to get a party member across a 40ft gap, but he only jumps 20ft? Have him jump into the center of gravity, and he'll be there in a snap!
Need an explosive set into a far away place, oh say, forty feet? Attach it to a creature and use center of gravity where you want it, no questions asked!

This offer can be yours for only ninety-nine ninety-nine ninety-niiiiiine! Call now!

[Yuki Akuma]

Hmmm... you know, this spell seems overpowered, why? I'll tell you.

Use center of gravity to pull some bullets(land sharks) off a cliff!
Need to get a party member across a 40ft gap, but he only jumps 20ft? Have him jump into the center of gravity, and he'll be there in a snap!
Need an explosive set into a far away place, oh say, forty feet? Attach it to a creature and use center of gravity where you want it, no questions asked!

This offer can be yours for only ninety-nine ninety-nine ninety-niiiiiine! Call now!

Hey, can you think of another spell that can do all of this?

I can! It's called Telekinesis!

And it's level 5.

[Fualkner Asiniti]

So it's basically an area telekinesis. Not broken. I like it. Tranmutation, probably.

[jlousivy]

Yeah, the only 'broken' or potentially abusable part would be the pulling them off of a cliff, but it's nowhere as bad as say... polymorph
as for movement.. i can't see any reason a wizard would use a 6th level spell to move someone 40 feet.. 3rd level spell-fly? 4th level spell dimension door? 5th level spell teleport? or like a couple people said.. telekinesis..
so in that.... should it be a 6th level spell or a 5th?

[Daracaex]

It seems more powerfull than telekinesis, doing damage, crowd control, and having a few inventive utility uses attatched, so I'd go with 6th. Then again, I suck at game balance (which is ironic, because my sign is Libra) and haven't played a caster class yet, so my opinion doesn't carry much weight.

[icke]

Level 6 is fine, I guess. If You're feeling particularly affronted by this spell, give it a material component of, lets say 250gp. Something like a black pearl in a lead mantle...

[jlousivy]

thank you ;-) lvl 6 it is, i'll see if my DM will allow my character to 'create' this spell

[Sahegian]

A really fun use for the spell would be to set the center of gravity in the air and cause falling damage coming up and then falling damage again when it expires. Not particularly damaging, but it'd be humorous to envision.

The only overpowering effect I could see is that as it is merely gravity it has no strength limit. You can essentially pick up any object and move it, whereas Telekenisis is limited by weight. I can't think of any good examples of ways to abuse this that another spell wouldn't do just as well, but more creative people than myself can come up with something.

[jlousivy]

as for the falling damage after it expires, they fall at like 120 feet per round, so the center of gravity would only slow the decent by 1/2, so 60 ft per round

[Yuki Akuma]

as for the falling damage after it expires, they fall at like 120 feet per round, so the center of gravity would only slow the decent by 1/2, so 60 ft per round

So it also doubles as Feather Fall?

(Note: Creatures fall much faster than that in D&D. It's about 380 ft./round.)

[jlousivy]

i wouldn't say it doubles as feather fall because it still takes a standard action to cast, but at the same time a person could cast fly and get the same (actually better) effect