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RagnaroksChosen
2008-09-11, 04:06 PM
Me and a friend are having a debate about this...

Forgotten realms campaign all books allowed ...


Are spellfire wielders Over powered? is the feat overpowered?

People over at Enworld think it is. I wanted to here you guys here...

I don't trust Enworlds powergamers/optimisers.


Thank you!

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2008-09-11, 05:15 PM
Let's assume that you're using your Spellfire as effectively as possible. That means you've got a way to keep it charged, such as having a Warlock friend target you with at-will abilities that you can absorb. You cannot absorb your own abilities that you target yourself with since you must ready an action to absorb, and you cannot then spend another action to use an ability on yourself until the opportunity for that readied action has passed. Assuming you're fully charged, you can expend it all to deal 1d6 per point of your Con score, you have to hit with a ranged touch attack, and your target gets a Reflex save always at DC 20 to take half damage. At level 1 this is powerful, but only if you have a source of magical energy to charge up with, and once you've used that you're out of spellfire for the round. You can also heal 2 points of damage on touch per level expended, good for healing up the party between fights if you have someone who can recharge you at will.

It can be used to absorb spells targeted at you if you ready an action, but if you do so and nobody targets you it's wasted actions. If they see you stand readied and absorb one spell then stand readied again, you'll never be targeted on a round you ready an action to absorb so again it's a waste of actions. Maybe if you go Psion and every round manifest a Quickened Synchronicity to ready an action to absorb, use a move action with Psionic Meditation to regain your psionic focus, and then you've still got a standard action remaining to manifest another power. You'd run yourself out of powerpoints much too quickly and again you'd be wasting a lot of powerpoints/actions whenever you're not targeted with something that you can absorb.

There's the Spellfire Channeler from Magic of Faerun, but I wouldn't bother with any more than 3 levels of it. At 4th level you can fire more than one blast/round, worthless if you spend everything on one shot. At level 5 you can drain a permanent item each day to keep your spellfire level charged, worthless if you have a Warlock to keep you charged. Nothing past that is worth such a huge investment in such a bad prestige class. At level 1 and 3 you get to multiply your Con score by 2 or 3 respectively for how much spellfire energy you can have charged, definitely useful, and at level 2 you can heal 1d4+1 per level expended instead of 2 points per level expended, also nice to have just in case.

Basically, if you have a Warlock or someone else with an at-will spell-like ability to keep your spellfire charged up, it's a really good feat to have throughout your adventuring career, probably too good in fact. If you don't have a way to recharge to full between encounters, it's not even worth taking.

AstralFire
2008-09-11, 05:23 PM
That sums it up well; Spellfire is pretty damn broken at low-levels if you have access to some source of reusable magic between encounters. If you don't, it's absolutely worthless as it does not regenerate at all. One of the worst offenders of "REAL ULTIMATE POWER" hyping that doesn't bear up in reality.

arguskos
2008-09-11, 05:26 PM
The above folks summed it up nicely.

If you wish to make it far better, just add that you regenerate Spellfire slowly over time (like 1 level per minute, or something), so you can be charged each day, at least.

-argus

RagnaroksChosen
2008-09-11, 05:29 PM
They where arguing that it was over powered, i said thats ridiculous especially in FR.

AstralFire
2008-09-11, 05:43 PM
They where arguing that it was over powered, i said thats ridiculous especially in FR.

Well, the issue with it is that if you somehow DO find a way to charge it up, from around level 1 to level 10 you have a way to death sentence things really well. It's less 'overpowered' and more 'broken' - as in very inconsistently balanced in a system built around constant balance. It'd probably be best handled as a PrC for Psionics, with Spellfire Wielders being Wilders.

EDIT: Here, gave it a shot as an Alternate Class Feature:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90718

RagnaroksChosen
2008-09-12, 06:17 AM
i don't think that hits the flavor of spellfire from FR... i meens its cool but theres no outsource for the absorbed energy.

AstralFire
2008-09-12, 06:22 AM
i don't think that hits the flavor of spellfire from FR... i meens its cool but theres no outsource for the absorbed energy.

Wild Surge points. And Wilders generally blast. So.

jcsw
2008-09-12, 06:46 AM
Btw, regarding a Psion and Synchronicity, Linked Power may be better than Quicken Power for this, manifest Synchronicity linked with Synchronicity, and you get to keep your first standard action and get another one the next turn, in effect exchanging psionic focus and 2pp for one standard action the next turn.

(Now try this on your DM in combination with Schism, see if he murders you.)

RagnaroksChosen
2008-09-12, 06:47 AM
far enough.. i did like the wilder's flavor... i wish there was a base class like that for arcane magic. similar to the wild mage prestige class.

Burley
2008-09-12, 08:49 AM
I have never even heard of it before this thread, and had no idea what it did until I read Biffoniacus_Furiou's post, but I would say, to help balance it, use this restriction:

Add d6 up to your caster/character level (don't know which would apply...) + Con Modifier, with a max of your Con Score.

Still strong at low levels, but keeps you from 16d6-ing the BBEG at 1st level. Still... 4d6-ing at first level is pretty grand.

RagnaroksChosen
2008-09-12, 08:55 AM
Burley, Don't play alot of realms?

Its a cool feat to take, lots of fun hardly broken though and a gm would be retarded to let some one have a source to keep it charged to full.

Chronos
2008-09-12, 12:03 PM
You don't need a warlock to charge it up. If you've got any spellcaster at all in your party, you can spend a few days before the adventure starts charging up, and then have an ability that'll one-shot the BBEG. A feat that lets you get a near-guaranteed kill on one enemy per adventure is a pretty nice deal.

RagnaroksChosen
2008-09-12, 12:24 PM
doesn't it disipate after a while? We always had it so that charges don't stay when you sleep...

which just makes our spell fire wielders get rings of Sustenance but still.

Burley
2008-09-12, 02:07 PM
You could say that there is a hefty strain on the user and every day he has X-amount of whatever (spell levels?) stored up, he takes a point of Con Damage. Treat is sorta like the Hellfire Warlock.

Oh... I compared them. I hate Spellfire now.