[3.5] Whirling Shards of Glass

[Thurbane]

I have an idea for an encounter where the villain is surrounded by whirling shards of razor sharp glass. They damage and hamper attackers, but not the villain herself. She will likely be a gish of some kind. The shards are the result of a permanent magic effect/curse of some kind...

How would you best represent this mechanically? Blade Barrier (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/bladeBarrier.htm) seems obvious, but I'm wondering what other options there are. The effect would be mobile and centred on the villain, moving with her).

I looked briefly at the Glass Shrapnyl variant (EtCR p.164), Glasspane Horror (DrC p.205) and Stained Glass Golem (MM2 p.116) for ideas.

All thought weclome.

Cheers - T

[Lilapop]

How about a refluffed (spell thematic'd?) raptor cloud from Secrets of Sarlona? Duration could be handwaved with the curse aspect.

[loky1109]

Persistent Cloud of Knives?

[Fizban]

I'd have expected Ring of Blades (Minis, CA?, SpC). 1d6+cl (max +10) each round at the start of your turn to all creatures adjacent to you (in a horizontal ring).

[ShurikVch]

Ragewind (Monster Manual II) with glass shards instead longswords?

[Jervis]

How about a refluffed (spell thematic'd?) raptor cloud from Secrets of Sarlona? Duration could be handwaved with the curse aspect.

Am I the only one that thinks Spell Thematics is the worst example of 3.5’s anti-feat “should be default” syndrome? Like being able to make cosmetic changes to a spell should be the default rule.

This may or may not be me being salty over having to take a feat to make Giant Size look like a Susanoo for a character build.

[Powerdork]

There's no "should be" about it. Dungeon Master's Guide expressly says "You can let players describe the spells that their characters cast," after examples like "A magic missile could be a dagger-shaped burst of energy that flies through the air. It could also be a fistlike creation of force that bashes into its target or the sudden appearance of a demonic head that spits a blast of energy."

[Thurbane]

I'd have expected Ring of Blades (Minis, CA?, SpC). 1d6+cl (max +10) each round at the start of your turn to all creatures adjacent to you (in a horizontal ring).

Ring of Blades is a very good fit, thank you. :smallsmile:

Bit of an underwhelming effect though, I'll have to crank the CL up.

[Eurus]

Since you mentioned looking at creatures, treating it like a swarm familiar might be fun, but there's the risk of it just getting melted by AoE damage spells...

Ring of Blades, or really any damaging aura spell, is a perfectly valid option. You could easily tack on 20% concealment or something to give it a defensive benefit as well... but I kinda feel like a villain with an obvious and dramatic effect like this should have some unique mechanical weight to it, you know?

This might be too cumbersome or not what you had in mind at all, but here's a brainstorm:
The bearer of this unique curse is surrounded by a perpetual cloud of sharp, mirrored glass shards. The movement and speed of the shards varies, each piece of glass occasionally slowing down enough to reveal glimpses of reflected images and then speeding up into a flesh-shredding storm once again.

In normal conditions, the cloud of glass deals 1d6 slashing damage per round to every creature and object within 10 feet of the cursed character at the start of their turn. This damage bypasses hardness of 10 or less, and causes creatures struck to bleed, taking half of the total damage inflicted by the cloud on each of their turns until they receive magical healing. Bleeding characters must make concentration checks as normal for ongoing damage to successfully cast spells.

Additionally, when the curse bearer spends an action to move, the shards fly with them in a scouring stream. All creatures and objects that the bearer passes within 10 feet of take 1d6 damage, even if they already took damage at the start of her turn, again causing bleeding. The bearer may deal this damage no more than once to any creature or object with each move action she takes.

Finally, the dazzling magical glass can reflect magic. Any spell cast by another creature on the bearer must overcome spell resistance (10+CR). If the spell does not overcome her spell resistance, it is redirected to a random other creature within range. Touch range spells rebound on the caster.

[Fizban]

Ring of Blades is a very good fit, thank you. :smallsmile:

Bit of an underwhelming effect though, I'll have to crank the CL up.

Empower it- that multiplies the die+modifier so you get the full effect. Depending on your own ruling you could also simply have more copies.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I'd do it by spamming the steeldance spell, maybe with a few cloud of knives thrown in for some range. My Dante (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25171697&postcount=56) build used the spell matrix line of spells combined with a familiar to share both those and the steeldances with, producing a ludicrous number of orbiting blades triggered with just your swift action (and your familiar's). The blades themselves attack as a free action (each using your caster level as BAB), but only adjacent creatures.

[Anthrowhale]

Lightning Ring is a higher level effect in the same vein as Ring of Blades.

[mabriss lethe]

I think it would be fun to tack on some sort of memorable mechanic.

An example might be a spectacular vulnerability to fire. treat it as a valid target for AoE Fire spells. If it takes significant fire damage, the glass melts and the effect goes out of control, exploding to double its usual size and replacing the slashing damage with fire damage before failing.

[Miss Disaster]

How about a refluffed (spell thematic'd?) raptor cloud from Secrets of Sarlona? Duration could be handwaved with the curse aspect.

One of the very few internet-wide mentions of one of my very favorite obscure spells in 3.5 ... Raptor Cloud. Bravo!

[Thurbane]

OK, so I'm considering the following: passively, it acts as a Ring of Blades spells, and provides 20% miss chance against ranged attacks (as per Entropic Shield).

Offensively, it also acts as a Cloud of Knives spells (which never runs out), or as a standard action, can be shaped into a weapon of razor sharp glass shards, equivalent to the Ice Axe spell, but slashing rather than cold damage.

Does that sound reasonable? Also, I'm thinking of giving the NPC a +1 CR in total for these effects.

[Wintermoot]

Pathfinder has a swarm of fangs spell that you might look at refluffing as well. A lower level blade barrier might work better for a "passive" effect like what you are describing.

[Fouredged Sword]

OK, so I'm considering the following: passively, it acts as a Ring of Blades spells, and provides 20% miss chance against ranged attacks (as per Entropic Shield).

Offensively, it also acts as a Cloud of Knives spells (which never runs out), or as a standard action, can be shaped into a weapon of razor sharp glass shards, equivalent to the Ice Axe spell, but slashing rather than cold damage.

Does that sound reasonable? Also, I'm thinking of giving the NPC a +1 CR in total for these effects.

Depends on the NPC class. On something fighty, sure. It's not adding a whole lot that isn't already there. On something casty I would bump that up a point or two CR wise.

At higher CRs the effect is less notable. A rat with this effect isn't CR 1 for example, but a Balor with this effect shouldn't have it's CR shift.