Illiterate Scribe
2007-07-29, 09:26 AM
One of the most awesome things, I think that many would agree, in the FR
setting, is Spellfire. Who wouldn't want to harmlessly turn spells cast
against you into bolts of pure magical energy that you can lob? The
problem is, at the moment, it's not very balanced - it's quite easy to
keep a warlock or at-will spell-like ability with you at all times, so you
can charge yourself up with it between encounters.
I'd say that it's ready for a redesign, but several things need to be
settled first - ergo, we need a brainstorming thread. By the way,
here's
the feat (http://nwnprc.netgamers.co.uk/manual/english/content/feats/4368.html); the NWN version is basically the same as the original.
Stuff to work out
1. How do we stop spellfire wielders from charging themselves up on
warlocks, without making the accumulation of spellfire ranks too
difficult?
This is one of the most important questions for spellfire wielders. A
wizard or sorceror friend is unlikely to give them ranks, because they are
unlikely to swap Magic Missiles' 5d4+5 definite damage for 1d6 of
spellfire damage that might not hit. Clerics, bards, and druids, along
with their half-caster cousins, the paladin and the ranger (whose
spellcasting, to be honest, is not that useful) might be more willing, but
the question still stands.
As it is, the source of magic that most spellfire wielders should be
focusing on is enemy mages. However, it's unlikely that they will meet
enough of them to be of much use to the party, and even more unlikely that
they will be able to absorb enough power from spells targeted directly
at them (here is another often ignored weakness of spellfire - although you can keep ready actions to absorb spells, it's only 1/round, and area effects ignore this). AD&D gave spellfire wielders the ability to
recharge ranks from ambient solar energy, via some sort of photosynthetic
stuff. Perhaps the ability to do this, on a more general scale, might
help.
2. Should spellfire be setting-specific? Currently, its flavour is based
very much on the Weave, but this raises some problems - can spellfire be
garnered when on other planes? What about Sigil?
There's a whole lot of stuff that ties spellfire to Mystra - the whole
idea of the Weave is quite setting specific, but still very awesome.
Still, a pared-down form could still exist, in, say, Eberron - you would
be pulling raw energy and magic out of the universe; and using it in a
pure, unrefined manner. Would this make it a more broad ability, or would it diminish the special flavour of the Forgotten Realms?
3. Mechanics-y stuff. Spellfire is fairly limited in its uses; the feat gives blasting and healing, and the 'Spellfire Channeller' PrC gives -
Draining items for more spellfire
Expending spellfire to charge items (in some early versions)
Spellfire-powered flight
Spellfire armour
Spellfire burst
I think that that's a fairly complete list, but there are a couple of things I've always found a bit weird - the draining items thing jars a little, and also I think that some sort of dispelling function is necessary. Perhaps swap the item related abilities for the ability to blast away spells?
Also, the Ref DC 20 is a little harsh - at high levels, where spellfire is meant to be meaningful, being a powerful sort of magic, anyone with evasion can basically just laugh at it, and most well built characters of similar level will be getting half damage. It already requires an attack roll, anyway.
4. What is the place of the spellfire wielder in the game? Surely other classes do all these things already?
This is probably the most controversial section.
From the effect that spellfire has on a character, it seems more appropriate as a base or prestige class than a feat - I've seen several versions of this idea of the WotC boards.
There already are two classes that emulate the main function of the spellfire wielder, that is, doing bucketloads of damage, and since D&D is close to saturation point, there shouldn't be more clones. These classes are the warmage, and the warlock.
Personally, I would say that the warmage, although also a major damage dealer, has a different emphasis to the spellfire wielder. Whereas the latter, as has already been pointed out, is at its most effective against a single magical opponent (turtle up by readying to absorb spells, and then release it all as 18d6 of damage), the warmage is, as the name suggests, a mage for war - doing damage against an area of effect, with sudden enlarge and widen.
The warlock, however, is a different proposition. It's a class whose main focus is also dealing damage with ranged touch attacks and there's even a Con-based version, the hellfire warlock (hmm ... there's something familiar there, but I can't quite work out what it is). Another complaint often made is about the sorcerer and the warlock - the latter got the cool background, but the former got the decent stats. A solution would be to allocate the warlock's flavour text to the sorcerer (whose background was, to be honest, never that great), and make the spellfire wielder a warlock redone on spellfire mechanics and lines.
What do you think? Brainstorming, thoughts, and any sort of mad ramblings would be much appreciated.
setting, is Spellfire. Who wouldn't want to harmlessly turn spells cast
against you into bolts of pure magical energy that you can lob? The
problem is, at the moment, it's not very balanced - it's quite easy to
keep a warlock or at-will spell-like ability with you at all times, so you
can charge yourself up with it between encounters.
I'd say that it's ready for a redesign, but several things need to be
settled first - ergo, we need a brainstorming thread. By the way,
here's
the feat (http://nwnprc.netgamers.co.uk/manual/english/content/feats/4368.html); the NWN version is basically the same as the original.
Stuff to work out
1. How do we stop spellfire wielders from charging themselves up on
warlocks, without making the accumulation of spellfire ranks too
difficult?
This is one of the most important questions for spellfire wielders. A
wizard or sorceror friend is unlikely to give them ranks, because they are
unlikely to swap Magic Missiles' 5d4+5 definite damage for 1d6 of
spellfire damage that might not hit. Clerics, bards, and druids, along
with their half-caster cousins, the paladin and the ranger (whose
spellcasting, to be honest, is not that useful) might be more willing, but
the question still stands.
As it is, the source of magic that most spellfire wielders should be
focusing on is enemy mages. However, it's unlikely that they will meet
enough of them to be of much use to the party, and even more unlikely that
they will be able to absorb enough power from spells targeted directly
at them (here is another often ignored weakness of spellfire - although you can keep ready actions to absorb spells, it's only 1/round, and area effects ignore this). AD&D gave spellfire wielders the ability to
recharge ranks from ambient solar energy, via some sort of photosynthetic
stuff. Perhaps the ability to do this, on a more general scale, might
help.
2. Should spellfire be setting-specific? Currently, its flavour is based
very much on the Weave, but this raises some problems - can spellfire be
garnered when on other planes? What about Sigil?
There's a whole lot of stuff that ties spellfire to Mystra - the whole
idea of the Weave is quite setting specific, but still very awesome.
Still, a pared-down form could still exist, in, say, Eberron - you would
be pulling raw energy and magic out of the universe; and using it in a
pure, unrefined manner. Would this make it a more broad ability, or would it diminish the special flavour of the Forgotten Realms?
3. Mechanics-y stuff. Spellfire is fairly limited in its uses; the feat gives blasting and healing, and the 'Spellfire Channeller' PrC gives -
Draining items for more spellfire
Expending spellfire to charge items (in some early versions)
Spellfire-powered flight
Spellfire armour
Spellfire burst
I think that that's a fairly complete list, but there are a couple of things I've always found a bit weird - the draining items thing jars a little, and also I think that some sort of dispelling function is necessary. Perhaps swap the item related abilities for the ability to blast away spells?
Also, the Ref DC 20 is a little harsh - at high levels, where spellfire is meant to be meaningful, being a powerful sort of magic, anyone with evasion can basically just laugh at it, and most well built characters of similar level will be getting half damage. It already requires an attack roll, anyway.
4. What is the place of the spellfire wielder in the game? Surely other classes do all these things already?
This is probably the most controversial section.
From the effect that spellfire has on a character, it seems more appropriate as a base or prestige class than a feat - I've seen several versions of this idea of the WotC boards.
There already are two classes that emulate the main function of the spellfire wielder, that is, doing bucketloads of damage, and since D&D is close to saturation point, there shouldn't be more clones. These classes are the warmage, and the warlock.
Personally, I would say that the warmage, although also a major damage dealer, has a different emphasis to the spellfire wielder. Whereas the latter, as has already been pointed out, is at its most effective against a single magical opponent (turtle up by readying to absorb spells, and then release it all as 18d6 of damage), the warmage is, as the name suggests, a mage for war - doing damage against an area of effect, with sudden enlarge and widen.
The warlock, however, is a different proposition. It's a class whose main focus is also dealing damage with ranged touch attacks and there's even a Con-based version, the hellfire warlock (hmm ... there's something familiar there, but I can't quite work out what it is). Another complaint often made is about the sorcerer and the warlock - the latter got the cool background, but the former got the decent stats. A solution would be to allocate the warlock's flavour text to the sorcerer (whose background was, to be honest, never that great), and make the spellfire wielder a warlock redone on spellfire mechanics and lines.
What do you think? Brainstorming, thoughts, and any sort of mad ramblings would be much appreciated.