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Bonustopher
Acolyte
USA
3 Posts |
 Posted - 21 Jan 2010 : 04:47:15
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First off, this is my first post, so hello everyone! Kysus has been telling me about this site for some time, and it looks like this will be a great place to bounce ideas around.
So, I'm trying to fine tune this spell and set a level to it; any input would be appreciated! (version 3.5, by the way)
Lori's Assisting Blade
Components:V,S,F
Casting Time:1 Standard Action
Range:Close(25ft.+5ft./2 levels)
Target:One held light melee weapon
Duration:1 round/level
Saving Throw:None
Spell Resistance:No
You imbue a light melee weapon with sentience and locomotion. The weapon has statistics as a small animated object, except for the following: Speed:Fly 30ft.(perfect), Damage:as weapon. Every round during your turn, as a free action, you may command the weapon to attack or assist any target within range. If commanded to attack, it will move toward that target and attack. If commanded to assist, it will move toward the target and attack anyone the target attacks. In either case, it will make room for allies if necessary, and will attempt to flank what it is attacking. If the distance between the caster and the weapon ever exceeds the range, the spell ends immediately.
Focus:A light melee weapon (which the spell is cast on).
The purpose of this spell was to give my rogue/wizard something to flank with, allowing for sneak attacks. I talked with Kysus about this to some extent, it was he that suggested I post this here for input. We figured the obvious spell to go off of for this is Animated Objects. Also, there is a "flying" weapon enchant that I haven't seen myself, but I have the understanding that it has a similar effect, and only adds +1 to the effective bonus of the weapon.
(Also, ideas for a better spell name welcome!)
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Fizilbert
Learned Scribe
USA
123 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2010 : 13:02:10
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Welcome to the forums.
Well, my first thought is that there are already a couple of spells out there that do essentially the same thing. I'll have to look through my books but this seems somewhat familiar to me.
My second thought involves the word "sentience." This implies to me that you are intending the sword to have some type of intelligence, even if just basic. But the rest of your spell description doesn't seem to suggest this is what you intend. It's a big difference whether the sword will be commanded to move by the caster, or if it will have basic intelligence and will be able to roam around at will. If you want the latter, I would think that would boarder on making a magical artifact, and my initial thoughts would be not to allow that. Or at the very least, the spell would have to be 9th level.
If you wanted the prior, which it sounded like you did, I still don't know if it will work for you. If you want to have a spell which allows the wizard to control a sword around the battlefield, this will usually require the caster to concentrate on commanding the sword, thus he/she would not be able to perform other functions.
Let me see if I can find some of those spells that seem similar and maybe it can give you some ideas on how to tweak the spell.
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Fiz
Level 10 Vice-president
World of Elethril |
Edited by - Fizilbert on 21 Jan 2010 13:16:20 |
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Fizilbert
Learned Scribe
USA
123 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2010 : 13:15:20
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I'm not sure if the spell made it to 3.5E, but Mordekainen's Sword is very similar in effect. It's a 7th level spell. In a nutshell it creates a plane of force that acts like a sword, but the caster must concentrate on moving the sword, thus losing any other actions.
If you were to use that spell as a base idea, you could possibly tweak your spell to make it a unique spell. Some of the ideas you could potentially do is to have the sword randomly attack creatures. By doing that you could take away the need to have the caster concentrate on commanding it.
Or you could make it so that the sword hovers around the caster, attempting to intercept anyone/thing trying to attack the caster.
My initial thought is that if you do either one of those, you can probably lower the level on the spell by 1 or two levels.
Hopefully this helps you out a little bit. |
Fiz
Level 10 Vice-president
World of Elethril |
Edited by - Fizilbert on 21 Jan 2010 13:16:33 |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4436 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2010 : 14:06:29
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Based on the Dancing weapon property, you have to have a CL of 15th to create a weapon of that sort. This spell pretty much emulates that effect, but with a shorter duration. Taking into consideration that it only affects a light weapon, I could see this being a level 6 Transmutation spell. There is a similar version of this spell called Persistant Blade (Spell Compendium) shown here:
Persistant Blade
Evocation [Force]
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 1
Components: V,S,F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25ft. + 5ft/2 levels)
Effect: One dagger made of force
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throws: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
You hold a dagger in your hand and concentrate on it, evoking hte power of the spell. A duplicate of the dagger, made of translucent force, appears besides it and flies off at your command.
You bring into being a tiny blade of force. The blade flies at a speed of 40 feet (perfect) and attacks any target within its range, as you desire, starting in the round you cast the spell. The blade attacks on your turn once each round, striking with an attack bonus equal to your base attack bonus +1/2 your Cha modifier or Int modifier and deals 1d4 points of damage, with a crit. range of 19-20. If an ally also attacks the creature, the blade moves on your turn to flank the target. As a force effect, it can strike ethereal and incorporeal creatures. The blade cannot be attacked.
Each round after the first, you can use a standard action to switch the blade to a new target; otherwise, it continues to attack the same target. If an attacked creature has spell resistance, the resistance is checked the first time the persistant blade strikes. If the blade is successfully resisted, the spell is dispelled. If not, the blade has it's normal full effect on that creature for the duration of the spell.
Focus: A silvered dagger.
So as you can see, there are many similarities to your spell and this one. A couple things that make your spell superior are, no spell resistance. Second- you animate a weapon, not duplicate, so any enchantments/benefits the weapon you animate has also carries those when it attacks by itself. I would even venture to remove the "light weapon" restriction the spell has so you can use any weapon you see fit. I'd also incorporate the "...striking with an attack bonus equal to your base attack bonus +1/2 your Cha modifier or Int modifier.." part too.
So, possibly your spell could look like this:
Lori's Assisting Blade
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 6 (or 7)
Components: V,S,F
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Range: Close (25ft. + 5ft./2 levels)
Target: One held weapon
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No
You hold a weapon in your hand and concentrate on it, evoking the power of the spell. The weapon slowly floats and resonates with a slight sentience and locomotion, flying off at your command.
You imbue a weapon of your choice the power to move and attack as you see fit. The weapon flies at a speed of 30 feet (perfect) and attacks any target within its range, as you desire, starting in the round you cast the spell. The weapon attacks on your turn once each round, striking with an attack bonus equal to your base attack bonus +1/2 your Cha modifier or Int modifier and deals the weapon's normal damage as if it were being used by hand. If an ally also attacks the creature, the weapon moves on your turn to flank the target. The weapon cannot be attacked.
Each round after the first, you can use a standard action to switch the weapon to a new target; otherwise, it continues to attack the same target.
Focus: A weapon you can wield
PS- Made the focus a little different so players who use this spell can't abuse it with huge or giant weapons.
And welcome aboard to Candlekeep!
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Edited by - Diffan on 21 Jan 2010 14:10:11 |
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Bonustopher
Acolyte
USA
3 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2010 : 19:21:14
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Diffan, that persistent blade spell is pretty much exactly what I wanted to do. I think I'll just adapt that to use an actual dagger. I also want the spell to be in the range of 1st to 3rd level, so any opinions or suggestions to that effect would be great.
So, here's where the spell is now:
Lori's Assisting Blade
Transmutation
Sorcerer/Wizard (1-3?)
Components:V,S,F
Casting Time:1 Standard Action
Range:Close(25ft.+5ft./2 levels)
Target:One masterwork dagger
Duration:1 round/level
Saving Throw:None
Spell Resistance:No
You hold a dagger in your hand and concentrate on it, evoking the power of the spell. The weapon floats and resonates with a slight sentience and locomotion, flying off at your command.
You imbue a masterwork dagger with rudimentary sentience and locomotion. The blade flies at a speed of 40 feet (perfect) and attacks any target within its range, as you desire, starting in the round you cast the spell. The blade attacks on your turn once each round, striking with an attack bonus equal to your base attack bonus, +1/2 your Cha modifier or Int modifier, +1 for being masterwork, and deals 1d4 points of damage, with a crit. range of 19-20. If an ally also attacks the creature, the blade moves on your turn to flank the target. Each round after the first, you can use a standard action to switch the blade to a new target; otherwise, it continues to attack the same target.
Focus:A nonmagical masterwork dagger (which the spell is cast on). (edited: added nonmagical)
The way I figured is that it wouldn't have sentience so much as being programmed, perhaps I should just describe it as being animated. Also, since I want to be able to flank with it, I don't want it to require concentration. Requiring a standard action to redirect it is something I hadn't thought of before; I like that idea.
If the simple fact of animating a real weapon drives up the level, I'll just have to find out who this Shelgarn fellow is who made the Persistent Blade spell, and get that spell from him. One of Kysus's rules for our game; you can't just learn a spell made by an NPC, you have to find the creator or someone else who has it. Common spells are of course, an exception. |
Edited by - Bonustopher on 22 Jan 2010 09:29:46 |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4436 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jan 2010 : 12:13:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Bonustopher
Diffan, that persistent blade spell is pretty much exactly what I wanted to do. I think I'll just adapt that to use an actual dagger. I also want the spell to be in the range of 1st to 3rd level, so any opinions or suggestions to that effect would be great.
So, here's where the spell is now:
Lori's Assisting Blade
Transmutation
Sorcerer/Wizard (1-3?)
Components:V,S,F
Casting Time:1 Standard Action
Range:Close(25ft.+5ft./2 levels)
Target:One masterwork dagger
Duration:1 round/level
Saving Throw:None
Spell Resistance:No
You hold a dagger in your hand and concentrate on it, evoking the power of the spell. The weapon floats and resonates with a slight sentience and locomotion, flying off at your command.
You imbue a masterwork dagger with rudimentary sentience and locomotion. The blade flies at a speed of 40 feet (perfect) and attacks any target within its range, as you desire, starting in the round you cast the spell. The blade attacks on your turn once each round, striking with an attack bonus equal to your base attack bonus, +1/2 your Cha modifier or Int modifier, +1 for being masterwork, and deals 1d4 points of damage, with a crit. range of 19-20. If an ally also attacks the creature, the blade moves on your turn to flank the target. Each round after the first, you can use a standard action to switch the blade to a new target; otherwise, it continues to attack the same target.
Focus:A nonmagical masterwork dagger (which the spell is cast on). (edited: added nonmagical)
The way I figured is that it wouldn't have sentience so much as being programmed, perhaps I should just describe it as being animated. Also, since I want to be able to flank with it, I don't want it to require concentration. Requiring a standard action to redirect it is something I hadn't thought of before; I like that idea.
If the simple fact of animating a real weapon drives up the level, I'll just have to find out who this Shelgarn fellow is who made the Persistent Blade spell, and get that spell from him. One of Kysus's rules for our game; you can't just learn a spell made by an NPC, you have to find the creator or someone else who has it. Common spells are of course, an exception.
I don't really see any benefit to using your spell as it stands now. What exactly makes it better than Persistant Blade? The focus is more expensive (master work dagger) and it isn't made of force so it cannot attack incorporeal or ethereal creatures. Other than the +1 to attack, it seems less effective than the 1st level spell. With the other version you could use any weapon, essentially giving that weapon the Dancing property for a short time.
Also, there are rules in the DMG for allowing players to create their own spells or modify current spells for additional effects. So maybe your character goes out and finds a wizard/sorcerer who knows the spell or goes to a magical store that might have the scroll on-hand. After learning the spell, the character then modifies the spell to be more effective. Just some thoughts. |
Edited by - Diffan on 22 Jan 2010 12:17:27 |
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New spell input
