Searing Spell Variants

[Bobby Baratheon]

Would it be unreasonable to have Searing Spell variants of all the elements (acid, cold, electricity)? For the uninitiated, Searing Spell is a +1 metamagic that allows a fire spell to damage enemies immune to fire damage (though IIRC it's only 50%). I ask because I have a sorcerer focused on electric damage, and it would definitely be useful to be able to overcome electricity immunities.

[Troacctid]

There's already one for cold, so it can't be that unreasonable.

[Bobby Baratheon]

There's already one for cold, so it can't be that unreasonable.

That's what I figured, though IIRC the cold one is inferior (though I can't remember why). I think having a feat (call it Intense Spell or something) that overcomes immunities as searing spell does would be pretty reasonable, though I would think it would have diminishing returns for acid. It would certainly level the elemental playing field somewhat.

[Anthrowhale]

Piercing Cold does not work on opponents with the [cold] subtype. (There are, however, a few ways to remove the cold subtype or otherwise remove their immunity to cold.)

[StreamOfTheSky]

IMO, it's more than fine. Electric and Acid are the least commonly resisted elements, so if anything, a feat to ignore resistance and immunity to one of them is less valuable than Searing Spell is anyway (and fire spells tend to have some of the best damage or status effects...in the case of orb of fire...to make up for it being commonly resisted).
My friend and I made versions for electricity and acid years ago:


Alternating Current [Metamagic]
Your Electric spells run wild, damaging even the most insulated creature.
Benefit: You can only apply this metamagic feat to spells with the electricity descriptor. Alternating current spells are capable of damaging creatures normally unharmed by or resistant to electricity. Alternating current spells completely ignore any resistance to electricity a creature possesses, bypassing this resistance and dealing damage to the target as if it did not possess any resistance to electricity at all. They are still entitled to whatever other defenses the attack allows (such as saving throws and spell resistance).
Creatures normally immune to electricity can be damaged by alternating current spells as well. Alternating current spells deal half damage to these creatures(or one-quarter on a successful saving throw.)
Creatures with the air subtype can tell that an alternating current spell is abnormal, but their natural resistances or immunities are not bypassed. (Magical resistances, such a protection from energy spell, are ignored or halved by this affect normally).
An alternating current spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell's actual level.


Corrosive Spell [Metamagic]
Your Acid spells are caustic enough to melt even those normally resistant.
Benefit: You can only apply this metamagic feat to spells with the acid descriptor. Corrosive spells are capable of damaging creatures normally unharmed by or resistant to acid. Corrosive spells completely ignore any resistance to acid a creature possesses, bypassing this resistance and dealing damage to the target as if it did not possess any resistance to acid at all. They are still entitled to whatever other defenses the attack allows (such as saving throws and spell resistance).
Creatures normally immune to acid can be damaged by corrosive spells as well. Corrosive spells deal half damage to these creatures (or one-quarter on a successful saving throw.)
Creatures with the earth subtype can tell that a corrosive spell is more acidic than normal, but their natural resistances or immunities are not bypassed. (Magical resistances, such a protection from energy spell, are ignored or halved by this affect normally).
A corrosive spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell's actual level.

Honored Tesla w/ the electric feat's name; couldn't think of a particularly cool name for the acid feat.


Piercing Cold does not work on opponents with the [cold] subtype. (There are, however, a few ways to remove the cold subtype or otherwise remove their immunity to cold.)

Pretty sure Searing spell doesn't work on foes with fire subtype, either (but does work on ones who are simply immune to fire).

EDIT: Nope! Searing Spell really is just plain better than Piercing Cold. Guess I can recreate a "Dark Schneider moment" in D&D after all.

[Inevitability]

Sure. From a fluff perspective, casting an acid spell so acidic it can corrode an ooze isn't much weirder than casting a fire spell so hot it can burn a fire elemental. From a crunch perspective, I don't see anything wrong with it either.

[Fizban]

There are other ways to get past immunity (Planar Sorcerer's Force Charged Energy is my preferred, or just Consecrate Spell), but they do nothing against the more common resistance so I too would desire such feats. Biggest problem is the names.

Alternating Current is okay, though I'd say it's a little too advanced for the brute force magical/alchemical manifestations of electricity as it relies on mechanical power generation to understand. There are examples in DnD that mention conductivity though, how about Hyperconductive Spell? Never mind that conductivity is a property of the medium, magic!

For acid damage you can take a cue from Pathfinder's Alkali Flask: it generally counts as acid damage but deals more against acid based creatures. So call it Alkaline Spell, since strong bases can be just as corrosive. This does of course assume dnd acid is always acid, but while I could see a few offensive alkaline moves using acid damage, I doubt there are any official monsters with acid resistance/immunity specifically meant to come from being inherently base.