Desiger houserule in Unearthed Arcana: energy damage not subject to SR

[soullos]

So I was looking through UA the other day and noticed a small little sidebar tucked away in the corner that caught my attention on page 174.

"House Rule: No spell resistance against energy damage:
In my campaign, spell resistance does not work against energy attack spells. Spell resistance cannot counter any energy damage dealt by a spell, though it still applies against any other effects of the spell. This rule promotes the use of popular energy-attack spells, such as fireball and lightning bolt, while still allowing spell resistance to stop those annoying save-or-die spells.
Andrew Finch"

hmm... I kind of like this. Conjuration (Creation) [X energy] spells, like the Orb spells (which I feel should be Evocation, and have house ruled accordingly, but that's another topic), already have the benefit of this, but Evocation spells have to deal with SR on top of Energy Resistance and Saving Throws. Just having energy damage deal full damage (assuming they fail their saves) regardless of SR is a nice buff to blasters I feel and Evocation as a whole.

I might try this out in my games. Any unforeseen problems this houserule might cause? Too powerful?

[AnimeTheCat]

I dont think it will cause unforeseen problems or is too broken, I think it will still be largely ignored. A spell slot in exchange for damage is rarely a good trade, and even more rarely a good trade in favor of the player. If you want blasters the be more prevalent you need to either make that trade more favorable (debuff or buff on the attack spell) or make other trades less favorable by comparison (make debuff and buff spells last shorter or be easier to resist). Otherwise it's pretty much always more favorable to cast color spray than it is to cast burning hands, or glitterdust than it is to cast flaming sphere, scorching ray, or acid arrow.

[soullos]

I dont think it will cause unforeseen problems or is too broken, I think it will still be largely ignored. A spell slot in exchange for damage is rarely a good trade, and even more rarely a good trade in favor of the player. If you want blasters the be more prevalent you need to either make that trade more favorable (debuff or buff on the attack spell) or make other trades less favorable by comparison (make debuff and buff spells last shorter or be easier to resist). Otherwise it's pretty much always more favorable to cast color spray than it is to cast burning hands, or glitterdust than it is to cast flaming sphere, scorching ray, or acid arrow.

All good points sadly. As a fan of blowing **** up, even I know it's not exactly the best option a lot of the times. I'll implement this houserule at least as a start. ;)

[Psyren]

Other than the incongruity of spell resistance/immunity somehow having such a gaping hole in it, I don't think it's that big a deal. Certainly it would make orb spells less mandatory for blasters.