Weird Spell + Use Brainstorm Thread

[Lysander]

Ok, here's a little experiment. Let's think of spells that have no obvious use, in combat or as a utility spell. Nothing outright stupid, just the stuff the wizards accidentally stumbled upon while researching the more popular stuff. Then let's come up with realistic uses of other people's spells.

I'll start with this:

Erase Water
Transmutation [Water]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: Up to 2 gallons of water/level
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You delete a single solid mass of liquid water from existence. This works on fresh and salt water, but not water that is mixed in with other substances such as juice or blood. Erase Water cannot be cast on any creature.

Any ideas/spells of your own?

[DracoDei]

Well... it is good for cleaning up after a spill, or with repeated castings, unflooding a basement... I would knock it down to a cantrip though...

[UserClone]

At higher levels, you could pull a Moses - just cast a wall of force to either side of your intended path, erase water in between them, haul ass and then when the bad guys are halfway through, dismiss the wall of force spells.

[absolmorph]

At higher levels, you could pull a Moses - just cast a wall of force to either side of your intended path, erase water in between them, haul ass and then when the bad guys are halfway through, dismiss the wall of force spells.

This brings up the question of whether Moses was a Sorcerer or Wizard.

[Eurus]

At higher levels, you could pull a Moses - just cast a wall of force to either side of your intended path, erase water in between them, haul ass and then when the bad guys are halfway through, dismiss the wall of force spells.

How many gallons would you need to eliminate, though? A 5-foot cube is eight gallons...

I'd say either reduce it to a cantrip to mirror create water, or increase the volume of water erased.

[absolmorph]

How many gallons would you need to eliminate, though? A 5-foot cube is eight gallons...

I'd say either reduce it to a cantrip to mirror create water, or increase the volume of water erased.

Maybe change it to a 5-foot cube of water?
That makes it easier to figure out how much is still around. A level 20 caster could then get rid of 160 gallons per cast, compared to 40 with the original.
40 gallons of water seems like not much, even for a level 1 spell.

[Milskidasith]

Delay Hangover
Transmutation (I guess?)
Level: Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 full round action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1d10 minutes/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You cause your hangover to temporarily recede. When you cast this spell you instantly lose all symptoms of a hangover. You are not aware of the duration of the spell, and the round after it ends, your hangover instantly returns, just as strong as it is before. The alcohol in your blood still persists as long as it normally would, so this cannot be used to "wait out" a hangover.

Whew, I think it finally worked, Jeff. If we could only find a way to transfer this spell to others, we'd be rich! Think of all the tavern owners that would pay for a wand of this to help them out in the morning, or as complementary services for guests! I think that... Oh god, the lights in here are too bright! Stop yelling, already!

Another failure... I need to go sleep.

[DracoDei]

I might say that the concentration checks for that are at -5... because casting with a hangover has GOTTA have some sort of roll associated with it, right? So you would craft the spell to be extra easy to avoid flubbing like that...

Good for getting back to normal long enough to pwn assassians who thought to take advantage of your disadvantaged state...

[SurlySeraph]

Add Persist and you're at full capacity for the rest of the day. A 6th-level slot is totally worth spending to remove a handover.

[Milskidasith]

Add Persist and you're at full capacity for the rest of the day. A 6th-level slot is totally worth spending to remove a handover.

For a day. After 24 hours, the hangover returns, exactly as strong as it was before you got it.

[SurlySeraph]

"The alcohol in your blood still persists as long as it normally would." Doesn't that mean that your blood alcohol level drops as it normally would, and so your hangover ends when it normally would? Not to rules-lawyer the spell you just wrote, but that seems like the most obvious interpretation of it to me.

[Milskidasith]

I need to edit it, but it was intended to simply delay the hangover, not allow you to make it last less time.

[absolmorph]

For a day. After 24 hours, the hangover returns, exactly as strong as it was before you got it.

Go to sleep before it ends, and your body has time to get all the alcohol out of your blood.
Then, you just need to pee.
A high level sorcerer casting this repeatedly throughout the day after drinking is a highly amusing thought.
Aw, crud. The hangover is back. I'll cast Delay Hangover again. That'll keep it down for a while.

Also, DracoDei, you meant the DC is 5 less than normal, right?

[cha0s4a11]

Poke
Evocation
Level: Sor/Wiz 0
Components: S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 5 ft
Target: 1 creature or object
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

If used on a creature, flip a coin, if heads it causes 1 non-lethal damage to the creature.

If used on an object, causes 1d2 damage (minus the object's hardness as per a normal attack) to the object.

No metamagic may be applied to this spell.

Edit: Replaced 1d2-1 with a coin flip

[absolmorph]

Why'd you put "1d2-1" for damage rather than just "1"?
The minimum that damage can be penalized to is 1. Anything beyond than that just doesn't do anything.

[cha0s4a11]

Why'd you put "1d2-1" for damage rather than just "1"?
The minimum that damage can be penalized to is 1. Anything beyond than that just doesn't do anything.

The idea is that it has a 50/50 chance of doing 1 non-lethal damage to the target or doing absolutely nothing. 1d2-1 seemed the quickest way to express that. Likewise the objects ability has a 50/50 chance of either breaking a 1 inch thick glass window (1 hp, hardness 1), or not really doing enough damage to break anything.

[DracoDei]

Also, DracoDei, you meant the DC is 5 less than normal, right?

Precisely.

[Milskidasith]

The idea is that it has a 50/50 chance of doing 1 non-lethal damage to the target or doing absolutely nothing. 1d2-1 seemed the quickest way to express that. Likewise the objects ability has a 50/50 chance of either breaking a 1 inch thick glass window (1 hp, hardness 1), or not really doing enough damage to break anything.

1d2-1 is always 1, because all attacks deal at least one damage.

[SurlySeraph]

Breaking a window with a light touch could probably give you a circumstance bonus on an Intimidate check. And it's silent, so you can break things without anyone hearing you.

[UserClone]

Negative. Just because the spell doesn't have a verbal component doesn't mean that shattered glass or ripped paper don't make a sound, and hardly any object is affected by 1 damage anyway, due to hardness.

[Silverscale]

Random side question

1 inch thick glass window (1 hp, hardness 1)

Does a 1 inch thick pane of glass really only have hardness 1? that seems Extremely low to me. My family used to own a glass coffee table. The table top was nothing more than a 1/2 inch think sheet of glass with no trim of any sort around the edges. That this was solid as a rock.

[Lysander]

Random side question

Does a 1 inch thick pane of glass really only have hardness 1? that seems Extremely low to me. My family used to own a glass coffee table. The table top was nothing more than a 1/2 inch think sheet of glass with no trim of any sort around the edges. That this was solid as a rock.

A glass table is quite a bit stronger than an average window. Those are kept deliberately light and thin so you can see through them and raise them easily.

I suppose Poke would be a good way of knocking a captive out without risking dealing lethal injury. Just keep poking them. Or, when fighting a creature that has unbeatable spell resistance and damage reduction to any other move you have.

[Narmy]

Has no one thought of completely disabling any creatures that require water to live, and or for mobility.

By taking away the water, you essentially **** them over.

[Zom B]

Preserve
Necromancy
Level: Clr 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S, DF
Area: One 5' cube per 2 levels
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell functions like Gentle Repose, except as listed here. The spell only affects harvested plants (not plant creatures) in the area, preventing them from spoiling or being eaten by insects for the duration of the spell.

[UserClone]

With enough of that, you could save a town from a plague of locusts getting into the grain silo.

[Lysander]

Distortion
Illusion (Figment)
Level: Brd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Effect: Stationary sphere of distortion 10ft wide
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No

You create a wavy distortion in mid-air that causes anything viewed through it to appear warped, shifting, and blurry, like looking through a waterfall or old glass. Players have a -4 penalty on all spot checks made through the distortion. However they also receive +4 to all spot checks to notice the existence of the distortion, making hiding behind one a poor way to go unnoticed. The distortion is completely intangible.

[DracoDei]

A glass table is also probably tempered glass...

[Zexion]

I have a spell kind of like the idea suggested by Narmy, but with shutting off the nervous system. It could be modified to erase water, or some other crucial part of living, like air to collapse the lungs. Or, on a completely different note, maybe it could erase alcohol, targeted on a person, to permeanently dispel a hangover?