Island Campaign

Peijen · Post by **Peijen** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:32 am

Changes as the result from this weekend. Free to comment if you think the change is not right.

All spell has base DC of 10 + your best (Int/Wis/Cha) bonus, sorry Jason, no strength.

Healing - base cost: 1, effect: recover 1d6 HP, each additional sp recovers 2 HP

Stone Skin - base cost: 3 sp, effect: 10 physical damage resistance, each additional sp gains another 5 damage resistance. Maximum of 50 physical resistance.

"Armor" spell - base cost: 2 sp, effect: +3 AC, each additional AC cost 2 extra sp. Maximum of +10 AC.

Attack spells - base cost: 1 sp, effect: 1d6 to single target

each additional sp gets one of the following benefit, extra 1d6 damage, increase duration, double range, increase DC by 1

each additional 2 sp gets one of the following benefit, burst (5' increment), additional target, additional effect, continuous damage (per round)

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:48 am

Jason's not playing a thiefish character?

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:08 am

Alan wrote:Jason's not playing a thiefish character?

He claims he's playing a thief, but he actually is the only character wearing armor, he's tied for the highest strength, deals more weapon damage than Peijen (the fighter), and can do almost as much direct damage and healing as Vinny (the cleric and mage). The only thing thiefish about him is that he will eventually have backstab.

VLSmooth · Post by **VLSmooth** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 4:55 am

Peijen wrote:Healing - base cost: 1, effect: recover 1d6 HP, each additional sp recovers 2 HP

So, let n = spell cost, n>0. healing(n) = 1d6 + 2(n-1)?

Peijen wrote:Stone Skin - base cost: 3 sp, effect: 10 physical damage resistance, each additional sp gains another 5 damage resistance. Maximum of 50 physical resistance.

This would be weaker than the original spell and more expensive (equivalently).

The original spell is:

Type: abjuration
Level: Earth6, Sor/Wiz4, Strength6
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: touch (I forgot this one!)
Target: creature touched
Duration: 10 min/level or until discharged
Saving Throw: will negates (harmless)
Description: (paraphrased) Treat the warded creature as having damage reduction 10/+5 (forgot this too). Once the spell has prevented 10 points of damage per caster level (max 150) it is discharged.

I'm not a fan of weakening (nerfing) spells. I think the main concern was having access to it by 3rd level via the SP system. However, I wouldn't want to make a change to it now that affects its later usefulness.

Also, the fact it's only 10/5+ not -/5+ and can be casted on others changes the spell a lot.

Peijen · Post by **Peijen** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:18 pm

Stone Skin:

My main concern is the length of the spell and relative low level of the character more than anything. I didnt really see anything wrong with the result from our play since we didn't do much to protect vinny.

There is also this

Material Component: Granite and 250 gp worth of diamond dust sprinkled on the target's skin.

Let me think about it some more. And you are right about how healing works.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:02 pm

VLSmooth wrote:I'm not a fan of weakening (nerfing) spells. I think the main concern was having access to it by 3rd level via the SP system.

Without making specific comment on stoneskin, "nerfing" is necessary to establish play balance. If every time a play imbalance is discovered, all other characters' power is increased, you get unchecked power inflation. I was trying to avoid that in this system. Low level primary casters were deliberately inflated in a controlled way to bring them in line with fighters.

On the subject of balancing spells against D&D. I don't consider that nearly as important as balancing characters as a whole. Some individual spells are nerfed (you can't deal 5d4+5 damage, no to-hit, no save to any living creature for 1 SP anymore). So don't be surprised if certain things you could do in D&D are more or less expensive here. As a group we aren't going to tell anyone what they can and can't do; however, we do need to scale those abilities up or down or we'll end up with another backstabbing fighter dealing 40+ damage a round while everyone else sits out.

On the topic of stoneskin, at higher levels (7+), you might expect to be exposed to attacks dealing more than ten points of damage or energy damage, but at low levels, you wouldn't. So, your spell grants you the equivalent of extra temporary hit points. The closest comparable spell is actually aid or bull's endurance, granting 8 (?) and +2/level respectively (plus some other effects) for 3 SP. On that ground, 10 or 15 total absorption for 3 SP seems reasonable. Maybe we need a different scaling at higher SP?

Oh, BTW, that's the 3.0 version of the spell. 3.5 gave it to druids and made it 10/adamatine.

Peijen · Post by **Peijen** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:24 pm

Next weekend (3/18). George, bring the projector.

We can do it at my place or Jason's. Parking at my place is a bit of a pain though.

George · Post by **George** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:12 pm

Damn smileys.

I hate annoying parking. We will do it at Jason's.

Which cables should I bring? DVI or VGA or what? I ask because it's easier to disconnect the cables from the projector than the computers.

Peijen · Post by **Peijen** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:45 am

VGA would probably be the best.