Homebrew A Broken Spell or Feat

[Scorponok]

So I took a nap this afternoon and dreamt about D&D, namely this one player who played briefly in my campaign, who, when told to stick with the Completes, ToB, DMG, PHB and Miniatures Handbook, decided to bring in all sorts of broken crap from his Dragon Magazines and other books. (He's not really a good listener.)

I dreamt he found this book I've never heard of before, and wanted his wizard to take a feat that switched a Fireball from HP damage to ability score damage instead. So instead of doing like 6d6 Fire damage to HP, it would do 6d6 damage to strength or another ability score of the caster's choice.

I laughed so hard I woke myself up.

What are some of the most awful broken spells or feats you've encountered or your players homebrewed?

[The Viscount]

Gotta be first printing Irresistable spell in I think Kingdoms of Kalamar. A metamagic feat that removed a save completely, immediately rendering spell combat to just first SoD wins.

[Venger]

Gotta be first printing Irresistable spell in I think Kingdoms of Kalamar. A metamagic feat that removed a save completely, immediately rendering spell combat to just first SoD wins.

it was kingdoms of kalamar player's guide.

related, miser with magic. same place. make a low spellcraft check and keep a spell even after you cast it. really just everything from there

[Name1]

I third KoK

It's... pretty damn bad...

[icefractal]

There have been a couple "compilation of every third-party OGL spell we could find" books for 3E that had some rather questionable stuff in them. Things I remember off hand:
* Wall of Water - Not the version in the Spell Compendium, this was a high-pressure one that dealt 1d6/level, per round, untyped, no save, no SR, you moved at 1/4 speed while trying to escape it, and it covered quite a large area (a 10' cube per level, I think). So "no save, just die" in many cases.
* Summon [Foo] - Like Summon Monster, but only for a single creature (you had to learn each creature's version as a separate spell). But that creature could be anything up to CR (spell level x 2), and I believe it had a longer duration as well. Did someone say "free Wishes" and "free Astral Projection"? Or at the very minimum, making melee characters obsolete.
* I don't remember the name, but what it did was annoy a god so they sent a minion to kill you. The minion was nominally stronger than you, but for an optimized character it really wasn't, especially since you got to pick the time and place for the fight. And then you got a ton of xp for defeating said minion.

Of course that book was all over the place - in the other direction, you had things like "Make a (temporary) magic canoe which is slightly better than a normal canoe. 6th level spell."

[eggynack]

Summon fey is from there too. You cast it as a first level spell, and you can get any 1 HD fey. Including a pixie. Really crazy thing to be doing at first level, that, especially because you can also summon a grig or nixie. I might look into some other options for that, actually. Dryad summoning sounds pretty good as a 4th level spell.

[Venger]

* I don't remember the name, but what it did was annoy a god so they sent a minion to kill you. The minion was nominally stronger than you, but for an optimized character it really wasn't, especially since you got to pick the time and place for the fight. And then you got a ton of xp for defeating said minion.

was it an aleax? those are great. free goodies.

[icefractal]

was it an aleax? those are great. free goodies.Nah, I think it may have pre-dated those. It was just a creature with CR higher than you by some amount. I think if the GM really customized said creature for the purpose it could be a legitimate threat, but I can't recall whether that was even technically allowed.

[MisterKaws]

I find the lack of Sarruhks in this thread unnerving.

[Bucky]

Immunity(rules).

[Name1]

I find the lack of Sarruhks in this thread unnerving.

Oh yeah, those are a thing... I sorta supressed that memory...

And while we are at it: Divine Ranks. The concept I can get behind, but the execution sucks really bad (no DC death is always a red flag).

Mythic Ranks have problems too... but not as many as Divine Ranks. Overall they fit better into the game and only have a few questionable things. However, those things are VERY questionable (again, no DC death). The fact that they are easier to obtain than Divine Ranks does excuse it a bit... but only a bit.


Of course, those aren't really spells or feats.
Ice Assassin is sorta broken.

[Blackhawk748]

I just need to point this out, KoK fixed a bunch of stuff after they reprinted the Players Guide as the Players Guide to the Sovereign Lands. The Summon Fey thing is still a problem though.

[Bucky]

I once talked my GM into letting me pull some Paladin spells into my Cleric spell list. The problem was that a few of the 4th level Paladin spells were also on the Cleric list as level 7 or 8, and I was casting them at character level 8.

That lasted exactly one session.

[eggynack]

I once talked my GM into letting me pull some Paladin spells into my Cleric spell list. The problem was that a few of the 4th level Paladin spells were also on the Cleric list as level 7 or 8, and I was casting them at character level 8.

That lasted exactly one session.
That's not all that far out there as a houserule, really, given the paladin prestige class. What spells are you even casting as much earlier as you're saying?

[Bucky]

(Pf) Greater Angelic Aspect was the one that got the feat banned.

Archon's Trumpet was the other major early access spell.

[eggynack]

(Pf) Greater Angelic Aspect was the one that got the feat banned.

Archon's Trumpet was the other major early access spell.
Ah, yeah, could be different in a pathfinder context. I haven't heard about any serious craziness from prestige paladin, so I assume it's a less powerful thing in 3.5.

[Calthropstu]

This predates 3rd edition by a lot.

1995.

We got big into magic: the gathering. Our asshat teenage dm made "The minion of Leshrac" that his special character could summon.

Made the tarrasque look like a toddler. And he could summon 2 of them. Instantly.

Teenagers should never gm.

[digiman619]

This predates 3rd edition by a lot.

1995.

We got big into magic: the gathering. Our asshat teenage dm made "The minion of Leshrac" that his special character could summon.

Made the tarrasque look like a toddler. And he could summon 2 of them. Instantly.

Teenagers should never gm.

Seriously? Minion of Leshrac (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2474) isn't that good a card; sure, it can kill a creature or land every turn, but it's really pricey at 8 mana, its protection from black doesn't help it against kill spells because a) White had the best kill spell with Swords to Plowshares, and b) black kill spells at the time couldn't kill black creatures anyway. And that's before it mandatory sacrifice either kills all you defenses or kills you if you can't make the sac.

To make it worse, Lord of the Pit was cheaper, bigger, had better keywords and was just a more effective card than this one.

[BaronDoctor]

I actually got dragonfire inspiration banned at my table. My brother was playing a TWF Dervish and I had a Words of Creation Bard. We called out Orc Blackbeard and my brother challenged him to a duel, taking long enough with the taunting and whatnot to allow me to cast Haste and Inspirational Boost and start Inspire Courage. Haste + Inspirational Boost + Badge of Valor + Words of Creation + DFI. So that was four attacks at 8d6 (GM allowed application of Words of Creation last which in retrospect was probably the real breaking point). On top of his regular damage.

Something about throwing out 32d6 fire damage at level 8 in the first round of combat blew our DM's mind.

[Calthropstu]

Seriously? Minion of Leshrac (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2474) isn't that good a card; sure, it can kill a creature or land every turn, but it's really pricey at 8 mana, its protection from black doesn't help it against kill spells because a) White had the best kill spell with Swords to Plowshares, and b) black kill spells at the time couldn't kill black creatures anyway. And that's before it mandatory sacrifice either kills all you defenses or kills you if you can't make the sac.

To make it worse, Lord of the Pit was cheaper, bigger, had better keywords and was just a more effective card than this one.

LOL I know. It was dumb. We also had super peasants in every game: Farmer Bob, Fisherman Pete, Tanner Joe, Etc who would essentially be 40th level "retired adventurers" so he could kill the party on a whim. There was tons and tons of really really stupid stuff.

Like I said, teenagers shouldn't GM.

[Tiri]

Like I said, teenagers shouldn't GM.

Well, some teenagers aren't too bad at it. I started GMing in my teens, and while I may have been worse at it than I am now none of my players ever complained that much.

[Brutilious]

I had a player who chose to roll a Dragon Shaman, ok, I heard of them I think. (Years ago before I'd read any 3.5 literature, besides maybe PHB I and II and DMG) Turns out he had chosen a home brewed alternative to it. Able to cast breath weapon every turn at only a save as the consequence, auras that changed as a free action. It was a mess.