What Blasty spells/abilities fit the Spell Point System best?

[aleucard]

Considering how little difference there really is between Psionics and Spell Point Arcane/Divine casting, I'm interested in how this one works. Anything available to an Arcane/Divine class is on the table, whether that is a given spell, a feat, a particular item, or a PrC. Presumably, the only thing needed for Reserve feats is either preparing a relevant spell augmented to the appropriate level or having a spell that can be in the case of Spontaneous Casters (this probably means that Heighten Spell is basically a feat tax for spontaneous casters wanting to make extensive use of Reserve feats, but since it basically already is, that doesn't really matter). Nothing Homebrew, though anything officially published by WotC is allowed (all 3.5 books, all Dragon Magazine if you can source it, etc.). I know that the Orb Of line would still be pretty damn good, especially if they combined count as a single spell (I've heard of some DM's doing things like this), but I'd like a little more creativity.

Have fun!

[Grod_The_Giant]

None of them. None of them are good. Blasty spells are already the most ineffective type of magic, and the official Spell Points variant makes them almost infinitely crappier, since they're now the only type of spell that needs to be augmented. Why would you cast orb of force when finger of death is cheaper?*


*Immunity to death effects, high Fort save, blah blah blah not the point.

[aleucard]

None of them. None of them are good. Blasty spells are already the most ineffective type of magic, and the official Spell Points variant makes them almost infinitely crappier, since they're now the only type of spell that needs to be augmented. Why would you cast orb of force when finger of death is cheaper?*


*Immunity to death effects, high Fort save, blah blah blah not the point.

I'm already fully aware that Blasting is quite possibly the weakest thing 3.5 Magic does. I'm wondering what the cream of that particular crop is when the Spell Point system is in play.

[Psyren]

I'm already fully aware that Blasting is quite possibly the weakest thing 3.5 Magic does. I'm wondering what the cream of that particular crop is when the Spell Point system is in play.

His point wasn't just that blasting is bad, it's that you're combining it with the one system that makes it even worse. It's like requesting the best shopping list for your Vow of Poverty build.

(Okay, maybe not that bad, but you know.)

[Grod_The_Giant]

His point wasn't just that blasting is bad, it's that you're combining it with the one system that makes it even worse. It's like requesting the best shopping list for your Vow of Poverty build.
This. I mean, I guess anything that does X damage/level (rather than xd6) would still work, but I can't think of anything useful of that nature beyond Harm.

[Cowardly Griffo]

Okay. Now that we've all got the "assume the OP doesn't know what they're talking about" out of our system, maybe answering the question would be a cool thing to do. :smallcool:

It's a valid question, guys. Even if it's just a thought experiment.

[Psyren]

I don't think changing to spell points will change much in this regard. Blasting as a whole will be worse off, but the good blasting spells will stay good. So all the usual suspects will still be on top - Orbs, Wings of Flurry, Streamers, Hail of Stone etc. The few decent blasts in core will also stay decent - Scorching Ray, Disintegrate,, Magic Missile, and Chain Lightning for crowds.

[aleucard]

Alright. What modifications to blasty spells do you think WOULD make them useful in this situation? De-nerfing the stupid way damage is calculated is one obvious choice, and I think that building in some augmentations would also be nice (for example, explosion-generating spells like Fireball can cause affected people to be Bull-Rushed away from the epicenter like a free version of the Complete Arcane Explosive Spell metamagic). I'm aware that truly balancing Blasting with the rest of magic would require a complete overhaul of the entire spell library at least, but something quick and dirty to at least make it a viable option outside of Mailman builds would be nice.

[Zanos]

Blasting isn't not viable, it's just sub-optimal. Depending on your group it can be perfectly fine strategy.

Adding some built in heightening like psionics would be nice.
Mixing around energy types at will would be nice.
Being able to shape your AoEs so you don't kill people in melee combat would be nice.

Stuff like "fireball bull rushes opponents" is pretty cool, but you can't really do that to every spell quickly.