Post by David on Feb 24, 2009 19:22:17 GMT -5
So, I was thinking the other day -- what's the definition of an elemental attack? I mean, let's say you're wearing a ring of fire resistance. Well, the effects of the ring are pretty clear -- you don't burn well and thus get saving throw bonus, reduced damage (per die), and outright immunities. But that's with respect to an obvious energy source (and would be the same for lightning), yet what about the other THREE elements? This might not be too much of an issue for most PCs, but for any spell-caster with an Arabian/Zakharan bent is going to need to know!
For instance, let's say you have "wind resistance" or "earth resistance" -- what does that mean? Less damage from attacks which rely on these elemental spells and attack forms, right? And the spell lists spell out what these are -- so for earth, you get -2/die from hail of stone or Maximillian's earth grasp or even an earth elemental's wallup. So stones flung out you do less damage...interesting...what about if you're flung at the stones? Shouldn't someone with this resistance take less damage from falls (impacts with earth)? (Nasty DMs will point out that impacts with metal or wood are NOT covered...!)
Moving right along, wind seems pretty sucky -- I mean, how often do you get a "wind cut"? But lance of disruption is on the list, so logically, so too should be all sound-based spells. And that makes sense cuz they're basically wind attacks on the microscopic scale. What's more, all gas attacks, including a gorgon or green dragon's, logically fall into the "air" category. Not so bad...
Finally, there's water. At first blush, this seems totally balanced, but the only real water-attack spells are in truth cold-attack spells, like ice storm and cone of cold. I would ammend it to include acid too (since acid storm is covered and acid bolt is missing from all regular lists entirely), but also possibly give some MINOR bonus to underwater move/combat. But I would love to hear someone else's thoughts.
And finally, there are immunities. Again, normally not an issue with Western spell-casters, but kahins and maybe even sha'irs (I've found some fascinating pre-Islamic sources for these "poets of the desert") could have these resistances. In the interest of helping to spell things out, I would say that air means you can NEVER suffocate, water means you can breath the stuff if there's any dissolved air in it, fire is obvious, and earth means you can't be turned to stone. Pretty powerful abilities, really...certainly on par with shapechange.
And, yes, I made changes to the kahin class a LONG time ago so that they gain their special abilities starting at SIXTH level (not 16th!), but only one at a time, at 6th, 9th, 12th, and every level thereafter (20 is max for kahin). Similarly, there are some cool upgrades for a sha'ir's gen...
Thoughts? The game is only as good as your participation makes it...!
For instance, let's say you have "wind resistance" or "earth resistance" -- what does that mean? Less damage from attacks which rely on these elemental spells and attack forms, right? And the spell lists spell out what these are -- so for earth, you get -2/die from hail of stone or Maximillian's earth grasp or even an earth elemental's wallup. So stones flung out you do less damage...interesting...what about if you're flung at the stones? Shouldn't someone with this resistance take less damage from falls (impacts with earth)? (Nasty DMs will point out that impacts with metal or wood are NOT covered...!)
Moving right along, wind seems pretty sucky -- I mean, how often do you get a "wind cut"? But lance of disruption is on the list, so logically, so too should be all sound-based spells. And that makes sense cuz they're basically wind attacks on the microscopic scale. What's more, all gas attacks, including a gorgon or green dragon's, logically fall into the "air" category. Not so bad...
Finally, there's water. At first blush, this seems totally balanced, but the only real water-attack spells are in truth cold-attack spells, like ice storm and cone of cold. I would ammend it to include acid too (since acid storm is covered and acid bolt is missing from all regular lists entirely), but also possibly give some MINOR bonus to underwater move/combat. But I would love to hear someone else's thoughts.
And finally, there are immunities. Again, normally not an issue with Western spell-casters, but kahins and maybe even sha'irs (I've found some fascinating pre-Islamic sources for these "poets of the desert") could have these resistances. In the interest of helping to spell things out, I would say that air means you can NEVER suffocate, water means you can breath the stuff if there's any dissolved air in it, fire is obvious, and earth means you can't be turned to stone. Pretty powerful abilities, really...certainly on par with shapechange.
And, yes, I made changes to the kahin class a LONG time ago so that they gain their special abilities starting at SIXTH level (not 16th!), but only one at a time, at 6th, 9th, 12th, and every level thereafter (20 is max for kahin). Similarly, there are some cool upgrades for a sha'ir's gen...
Thoughts? The game is only as good as your participation makes it...!
