PC spells.

[Anastasia]

With epic coming up, creating spells is going to become more common. I'd rather have all the discussion about new spells centralized in one topic, so post 'em here.

First try and writing up a mini-guide to making epic level spells. How is this? Do you guys find it helpful?

Epic spell creation tutorial.

Before anything else, the DMG has a section on creating new magical spells. It's on page 35 and it's not in the SRD, so go find your DMG and read it. Done? Good. Read it again. I'll be waiting. Done? Alright then. Epic magic works largely the same way - the spells continue at 10th level and beyond magic. There's no massive paradigm shift like in ELH epic magic. However, things aren't precisely the same, either.

First of all, each spell level is 'bigger'. Instead of two levels long, spell levels are 3 or 4 levels long, depending on the class. A wizard gets access to a higher level of spells every two levels, right? In epic he gets a new spell level every three levels instead. So what does that mean? There's more room to work with in each spell level. There's stretching room in design to make a concept work. Bear in this mind.

Second is that I make a concerned effort to make epic magic, for lack of a better word, epic. I aim for interesting and distinct magic when possible; things that have a certain style or new angles rather than just another 5d6 damage tossed on top of it. Whenever I make an epic spell, I ask myself on question. That question is: What makes this spell epic? I aim for a certain flare with them, a certain vibe that makes them more than the common fireball.

Third is that balance should be maintained. Some ideas aren't suitable, such as things that mimic the Celerity line of spells. Keep things along the same guidelines as lower levels, this isn't an invitation to do crazy-broken shit. I don't think you guys are likely to do this, but it bears repeating. This all gets filtered through the lens of DM approval, so anything particularly out of line won't make it past that in the first place.

Finally, have fun. Come up with ideas, throw ideas to together and go for it.

Designing a spell.

Once you have a spell in mind, you need to stat it out. I recommend that you at least write a beta version of the spell out first, so you have something to refer to. This isn't required, but I find it to be helpful.

First is the name of the spell. Take some time and come up with a decent name. We don't need literary gold here, but something that doesn't sound too horrible is preferred. If you developed the spell yourself, you may prefix it with your own name. For example, Melf's Acid Arrow. This isn't mandatory and is more akin to asserting your work and ego than anything else.

From here, I recommend that you read down this list and follow it. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm This provides a basic overview and explains what a spell is made of and how it is expressed. I'd recommend keeping a few spells open in another tab so you can refer to them and see how things look in practice.

Once you have all that done, polish up your spell, balance it out and present it to me. Once we get this going, I'll make a topic for spell posting and discussion, so we can keep it all focused in one place. In any case, I'll either accept it, reject it if it is completely out of hand or unsuitable, or offer suggestions on how to revise and clarify the spell and tell you to work on it some more. Most of the time it will be the first or third, I don't foresee having to reject many spells.

[Yuthirin]

So this has been bouncing around in my head for the last couple of days. I wasn't sure what spell level to assign to it, but I figured sonic damage with no save + deafness + Shatter = at least 9th level. Someone give me some feedback on this and tell me if it's as cool as I think it is.

Ring the Bell

Evocation [sonic]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 9
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area: 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: See text
Spell Resistance: Yes

As you shake the bell and speak the words, a ball of warped air appears before you, filling the air with a harsh buzzing noise. At your mental command, it blasts forth to strike at your enemies. 

The ball will proceed to the target at great speed, provided it does not impact with any object in the intervening space, and then explode, dealing 16d6 sonic damage.

Any creature within the area of effect when the ball explodes must make a fortitude save or be permanently deafened. A successful fortitude save also halves the damage done by this spell.

Any inanimate object, crystalline creature, or objects held by a creature at the epicenter of the blast must make a Fortitude save or be destroyed, as the Shatter spell. This effect only affects creatures in a 5 foot radius from the epicenter of the blast.

Arcane Focus: A delicate and ornate spherical bell made of glass and mithral worth no less than 1000g

[Anastasia]

Okay, so it's a fireball like spell, but sonic with some add ons? Sonic spells usually do low damage for the spell level but have secondary effects. For instance, Greater Shout stuns and deafens, while Lion's Roar throws in some boosts and temporary HP. Let's look at all of them.

15d6 sonic + deafening + shatter.

Technically shatter doesn't destroy animated objects to begin with, as an animated object is a creature and not subject to that function of shatter while animated. The damage is fine - a bit of a jump from Greater Shout, but nothing unreasonable at this point I think. The destruction clause is unclear - is it supposed to be limited to non-magical items like shatter is?

[Anastasia]

This got edited, so lemme give it a look over and hit all the little things.

Ring the Bell, or Yuth's Aural Bomb

I prefer Ring the Bell. FYI, if you wanna name a spell after someone, do it for a character, not a player. >_>

Evocation

Needs the sonic descriptor. Should be Evocation [Sonic].

Components: V, S, M

If you're using an arcane focus, it should be V, S, F and not V, S, M. M is a material component that's expended each time you cast the spell. An arcane focus is not expended.

The ball will proceed to the target at great speed, provided it does not impact with any object in the intervening space, and then explode, dealing 15d6 sonic damage.

Does this sonic damage offer a saving throw? If so, it should probably tie in with the deafness effect. A failed save is full damage + deafness, a passed save is half damage + no deafness.

Any inanimate objects or objects held by a creature at the epicenter of the blast must make a Fortitude save or be destroyed, as the Shatter spell.

Do you mean just the single target in the center of the blast, or the entire blast range? I presume the former the way it's written, but let's be clear.

The spell's generally fine, as long as you don't mind potential item destruction. Let me know when you've edited it again with a post.

[Yuthirin]

Spell clarified, damage increased and save added for the damage.

[Anastasia]

Looks fine, approved. Adding to house rules.

[Anastasia]

This is a simple exercise. Read the spell and answer the questions. I'm curious as to what you think of it and how you'd place it, plus it's a good learning exercise if you're going to be designing your own spells too.

The spell:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Stone Skewers
??? [Earth]
Level: ?
Components: V, S, M.
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100ft + 10ft/level)
Target: 1 creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: See text.
Spell Resistance: Yes.

On intoning the final word of power, the caster causes dozens of long stone spikes to grow out of the target's skeleton. This skewers the target from the inside and out, dealing 1d6 points of damage per caster level (maximum 35d6). A fortitude save is allowed for half damage. The skewers that erupt from the target's body go out for ten feet in all directions. If they come in contact with a solid surface such as the ground or a wall, they burrow into it and hold the target fast. The target is treated as being paralyzed. As a full round action the target may attempt a DC 30 strength check or Escape Artist check to free himself of the skewers. Doing so ends the paralysis. Otherwise, the paralysis lasts indefinitely. If there are no solid surfaces within 10ft of the target, this aspect of the spell fails and the target is not paralyzed.

Any creature within 10ft of the target suffers 5d6 points of damage, with a reflex save to negate. A creature who takes damage from the skewers is unable to move and is effectively stuck in place. As a full round action, a creature trapped by a skewer may attempt to escape by a DC 30 strength check or Escape Artist check.

This spell is ineffective against creatures that lack a discernible skeleton, such as oozes.

Arcane Material Component

A set of four miniature stone spikes.

1. The school for the spell is omitted. What school would you place it in and why? Does it need any other descriptors besides the Earth descriptor?
2. The class and level of the spell is omitted. What classes should gain access to this spell and at what level?
3. Do you feel the spell is clearly written?
4. Would you make any changes to the spell? Why or why not?
5. How do you like the style of the spell?
Bonus: If you know of a spell that does the same thing, speak up.

[Ebiris]

1: I'd put it as transmutation or necromancy, since the target's body is being changed directly rather than having stuff thrown at it or conjured into it. No other descriptor is needed.
2: I'd put it for Druids and Sorcerer/Wizards. Spell level 9th - the damage has a high cap but it's no better than polar ray well into epic. The paralysis effect is neat but doesn't affect a lot of creature types, and the radius is pretty small with minor damage.
3: It raises a question, if the paralysis from being struck by this is indefinite, does that mean the big 10 foot skewers sticking out of the target's skeleton are stuck there forever? I can think of this having quite a few ramifications on the targets life...
4: I'd say that a passed fort save also negates the paralysis. Maybe even negate the damage to creatures within 10 feet, fluff it as the change being confined to inside the body?
5: It's very stylish. I approve.

[Merc]

1. Transmutation. If you were creating them out of nothing, you could argue Conjuration, but since you're growing them from the target's skeleton specifically (and even have an exception stating characters without skeletons can't be affected), it really seems more transmutation. Necromancy -might- be a secondary school, but only if the spikes don't vanish since Eb interprets them to be permanent, and they're treated as maybe some sort of curse or permanent wound. The spell is a little unclear regarding the duration and the paralysis. More in 3+4.

Adding a necromancy class also just makes it more complicated needlessly, so I'd probably stick with just transmutation.

Earth's the only descriptor that's needed.

2. Level 9 as well, for much the same reasons as Eb. I do think it needs some reworking based on what it actually does, which might shift it's level. It's probably still roughly that level after my rework attempts, I think.

I'd also only give it to the druid, and not the sorceror or wizard. The wu jen and shugenja could also get it due to their flavor/abilities, but nobody really uses those classes...so dunno if it's worth bothering to do so? Sucky reason not to give a class a spell, but meh.

3+4. I just don't think it's as clear as it should be, particularly about the paralysis and the duration of the stone spikes.

Also, the paralysis effect just bugs me, partly for the reasons mentioned in part 1, but also the fact that getting out of it involves strength checks or escape artist checks makes it hard to see them as really helpless, and paralysis induces that. It actually makes them feel more like they're pinned and they're making checks to escape a pin. The paralysis occuring if there's a surface but nothing happening if there isn't also just feels really weird.

They have all these spikes coming out of them from pretty much everywhere, it should be making it hard for them to move even if there are no surfaces to get stuck to. There's an entangled condition, should apply that to them then?

The duration part kinda makes it kind of weird too. It says instantaneous, but then it sticks around if it's near a surface or if there's somebody within the radius? And does it vanishes otherwise (that really points to conjuration)? It -looks- like the stone skewers actually stay stuck on the target's skeleton

5. I like it for the most part, it's a cool mental image, I just think the effect is weirdly written and doesn't quite work with paralysis.

Bonus: There's actually a somewhat similar druid spell, level 5, from PHBII called Blood Creepers (thorny vines erupt from body and entangle+do continuous damage). It's actually conjuration too, though for reasons mentioned, I still think this particular spell is transmutation.

Rewrite attempt:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Stone Skewers
Transmutation [Earth]
Level: Druid 9
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100ft + 10ft/level)
Target: 1 creature
Duration: 1 day/caster level.
Saving Throw: See text.
Spell Resistance: Yes.

On intoning the final word of power, the caster causes dozens of long stone spikes to grow out of the target's skeleton. This skewers the target from the inside as the spikes erupt out to 10ft from the target's body in all directions. This deals 1d6 points of damage per caster level (maximum 35d6) to the target and causes it to become sickened for 1 round, as well as entangled. On a successful fortitude save, the target only takes half damage and no longer becomes sickened, though it still become entangled. The target remains entangled for as long as the stone spikes remain all over their body.

At the time the spikes erupt, if there are any solid surfaces (such as the ground or walls) within a 10ft radius from the target, the target also becomes pinned in place, as the spikes burrow into that surface, holding the target in place. On the target's turn, attempts to free itself from the pin are done against a CMB of 25 (assuming the target is normal size, otherwise modify opposed CMB by the target's size).

Any creature caught within this radius at the time the spikes erupt takes 5d6 damage from the spikes and also becomes pinned. On a successful reflex save, the creature escapes both effects, and is instead entangled, at least while it remains within a 10ft radius of the target. If pinned, either the target or the creature may attempt to free themselves on their turn by making an opposed check against a CMB of 25 (again modified by the target's size, if it is not normal size).

Characters moving through the space occupied by the stone skewers treat it as difficult terrain, but do not become entangled or pinned (including creatures that were initially caught in the radius and had moved away, then back inside the space) by them.

The target can break the stone spikes so that it is no longer considered entangled, though it takes a few minutes to do so, and stony portrusions remain to scar its body. The stone portrusions (or spikes if they were never broken to aid the target's mobility) eventually vanish though, as they only remain 1 day/caster level. Over the course of that time, any remaining stone slowly breaks off or gets absorbed back into the skeleton.

This spell is ineffective against creatures that lack a discernible skeleton, such as oozes.

Arcane Material Component: A set of four miniature stone spikes.

[Yuthirin]

1. Transmutation with an Earth descriptor, definately. I can kinda see Necromancy, but you're not actually manipulating the life force of the target, just growing stone out of its bones. Really, you're turning its bones into stone. Stonebones, if you will. Probably Sorc/Wiz 9, Druid 9, and Earth 9 maybe as an option to what already exists.
2. This is a 9th level spell, with that damage cap plus the effects. Especially if you use the stuff below.
3&4. This should actually have a handful of effects. Firstly, the paralysis spell isn't really paralysis, as you can still yell and move thy arms. Effectively, it's the same though, so it'll work. I'd add on an entanglement feature to creatures not paralyzed, as stone spikes coming out of your skin everywhere would make everything gosh-darn difficult to do. Furthermore, if you're sprouting stone spikes out of your bones, that sould include wings as well. I'd say that this would also ground any non-magical flyer, whether by weight or simple inability to fly. Yay physics in D&D!
5. I like it. Very stylish and cool. I'd want to use this to abruptly ruin someone's day.

[Yuthirin]

So. Spell ideas. First of all, Dire Winter in the11th level list ought to be Druid 11 as well. It's so Druid it smells like plants.

I had a spell idea similar to an 8th level spell that I can't recall at the moment. Basically:

Spoiler: ShowHide

You hear an incredible blast from off in the distance. Moments later, a huge block of stone hurtles from the sky and slams into your foes.

Level 9, Conjuration (Creation)

Ranged Touch

4d8+1d8/level (max 24d8) bludgeoning damage + stunned 1d4 rounds

Reflex halves damage and negates stunning.

Spell component: jagged piece of stone from the plane of earth

It's something along the lines of reaching across the elemental barriers to the inner planes and yanking back a chunk of elemental stone. Tra-la.

Then, I had this idea for an epic druid spell that would give anyone who cast it a massive headache!

Spoiler: ShowHide

Furious Call of the Wild
Level ??
All animals in a half-mile radius are transformed into dire versions of their former selves and are considered to be under the control of the caster as though they were Animal Companions. They receive benefits of the Animal Companion bonuses as based on their listing on the Druid Advanced Animal Companion scale. They are also considered to be under the effects of an Augmented Summoning spell. They proceed immediately toward the druid at top speed.

Round 1: 1d10 dire badgers
Round 2: 1d10 dire wolves
Round 3: 1d10 dire bears
Round 4: 1d10 dire tigers

The flavor on that one needs to be adjusted. It kind of grew as I wrote it. Anywho, I'm posting them here to generate a bit of feedback. Tell me if I'm crazy or not.

[Corwin]

1.
School. I agree with the rest. Transmutation works for me, considering it changes your target. I don't know if I see Necromancy or Conjuration, and why bother trying to make it fit there when a school for transformations already exists?

Additional descriptors. It's pretty subjective, but I cringed when I read the description of a body horror spell, the way it seems to be permanent and the incapacitation factor. I'd go with Evil. Take Death by Thorns from the BoVD. Sure, it's a save or die, but so is Power Word Kill or (effectively) Disintegrate, and they don't have the Evil descriptor. So fluff/the condition the person is put into probably accounts for it.

2.
Level. Hmm. The only single target direct damage spells I can think of up to lvl9 that do ~35d6 damage, even conditionally (such as 'vampires only') are Moonbow (3x10d6 elec, sorc/wiz lvl5) and Disintegrate (sorc/wiz lvl6).

Disintegrate
Transmutation
Level:    Destruction 7, Sor/Wiz 6
Components:    V, S, M/DF
Casting Time:    1 standard action
Range:    Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect:    Ray
Duration:    Instantaneous
Saving Throw:    Fortitude partial (object)
Spell Resistance:    Yes

It's transmutation and the range/target/saving throw/SR are the same and the damage is not from energy, so let's go with Disintegrate. It gives you everything at lvl6 already, and has the nice secondary effect of nuking walls of force, which you can't dispel or normally bypass (plus it tunnels through stuff if you really need it to).

Stone Skewers is better, assuming high enough CL, since it:
-autohits
-has secondary damage to others
-has secondary effect
-the secondary effect isn't negated by the save

I'm ignoring the 'if there is earth nearby' part as irrelevant. If it's not there, you won't use it. Web isn't any less good since there are conceivably chances you won't get to anchor it, and holy avengers don't use a +2 cold iron longsword as the baseline for their price. I also disagree that the damage is not better than Polar Ray's. Although it's true enough that if your CL is near 20-25 the actual damage output is comparable, Polar Ray is an energy that's easily immuned/resisted. Also, I think the key word is 'treated as being paralyzed'. Even if you are normally immune to paralysis, if you have a spine and there was a floor nearby, you would still be pinned to it and need an unfair Str check to get out. I think the only ones excluded here are oozes/intangibles/elementals?

Anyway, spells that deal paralysis are the Hold X line. What we need is a spell that can paralyze multiple targets within a 10ft burst, offers no save for the main target and a save to the others. Here's Hold Monster (sorc/wiz lvl5) and Mass Hold Monster (sorc/wiz lvl9). I'm really inclined to go with the latter despite the larger radius (30ft opposed to 10ft) because Hold Monster offer a save to shake it off, and since their target is just '1 living creature' while Stone Skewers is '1 creature'. In fact, Hold Monster offers a new save each round to shake it off, and that DC is both easier to make and autopasses on a natural 20. Hitting Str DC 30 is probably impossible for most people, even at our level, however. I guess some people use Escape Artist....

So we have effects better or comparable to a lvl6 spell and a lvl9 spell together, all wrapped into one. Let's go for epic level?

Oh, and I'd go for Sorc/Wiz since they get all the cool spells. I don't really mind Druid being there, either at the same level or one higher than the sorc/wiz one (they tend to go either way).

3.
That the condition persists indefinitely is implied rather than stated. I vote for clarity in a spell with conditions to set it up, potential immunities, and different saves/escape rolls for different effects.

Also, you explicitly state 'This spell is ineffective against creatures that lack a discernible skeleton, such as oozes' and this is how I took it, but if you read Eb's response you'll see that he reacted to the 'as paralyzed' clause differently from me. We can't both be right and I would law the blame on the spell for not being sufficiently clear for that.

Can you teleport out? Paralysis would preclude that, unless you could do it as a mental action, but you are not quite paralyzed if you can make escape artist or strength checks. So can you cast at all while pinned down like a butterfly?

4.
It's not a cleric spell, I don't have even potential access to the Earth domain. I don't think it's my place to comment on spells that have no effect on me.

5.
I agree with the others that it is stylish, but I also find it creepy. I would not use it even if I could, and if I had to, I would refluff it to not be a body horror/alteration spell. I would also prefer not to have it used on me.

Bonus.
Well, I listed spells that do similar direct damage, similar secondary effect and that have the same sense of creepiness to them. You can also toss in Wall of Thorns if you want something that immobilizes and hurts people. But I can't really think of another spell that does it all. I hardly have encyclopedic knowledge of spells, however.

[Anastasia]

So. Spell ideas. First of all, Dire Winter in the11th level list ought to be Druid 11 as well. It's so Druid it smells like plants.

Makes sense. Added.

Spoiler: ShowHide

You hear an incredible blast from off in the distance. Moments later, a huge block of stone hurtles from the sky and slams into your foes.

Level 9, Conjuration (Creation)

Ranged Touch

4d8+1d8/level (max 24d8) bludgeoning damage + stunned 1d4 rounds

Reflex halves damage and negates stunning.

Spell component: jagged piece of stone from the plane of earth

It's something along the lines of reaching across the elemental barriers to the inner planes and yanking back a chunk of elemental stone. Tra-la.

I had the image of the sky shitting stones. It's not a bad idea, my comment aside.

Then, I had this idea for an epic druid spell that would give anyone who cast it a massive headache!

Spoiler: ShowHide

Furious Call of the Wild
Level ??
All animals in a half-mile radius are transformed into dire versions of their former selves and are considered to be under the control of the caster as though they were Animal Companions. They receive benefits of the Animal Companion bonuses as based on their listing on the Druid Advanced Animal Companion scale. They are also considered to be under the effects of an Augmented Summoning spell. They proceed immediately toward the druid at top speed.

Round 1: 1d10 dire badgers
Round 2: 1d10 dire wolves
Round 3: 1d10 dire bears
Round 4: 1d10 dire tigers

The flavor on that one needs to be adjusted. It kind of grew as I wrote it. Anywho, I'm posting them here to generate a bit of feedback. Tell me if I'm crazy or not.

[/spoiler]

Hm. For what it's worth, Annalise has a similar spell coming down the pipe that's somewhat related. The basic concept of summoning a hoard of dire animals is good. Adding in the animal companion stuff isn't really needed. I'd accomplish the same thing by having them advance in hit dice and/or having a template gained for the duration of the spell, as well as being treated as charmed or commanded by the caster.

[Yuthirin]

Hm. For what it's worth, Annalise has a similar spell coming down the pipe that's somewhat related. The basic concept of summoning a hoard of dire animals is good. Adding in the animal companion stuff isn't really needed. I'd accomplish the same thing by having them advance in hit dice and/or having a template gained for the duration of the spell, as well as being treated as charmed or commanded by the caster.

That makes much more sense. I'll see what you do and maybe abandon if yours is better? Or pivot off of it in my own way. Who knows?

[Yuthirin]

I had the image of the sky shitting stones.

My idea was more along the lines of: BOOM! "What the hell was tha-OHSHI-" WHAM! GIANT FLYING BOULDER.