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Explosions
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:27 pm
by JonSetanta
I'm trying to CharOp a mage (preferably Sorcerer, which is sub-par but maybe I can talk my way into a 'Sorcerer fix' alternative)
Here's the drag, tho: I want a good Evoker, with combat-control type spells that may or may not deal damage, and some good 1-2 punch combos.
My fav is Thunderclap since it hits multiple channels (roll all saves? ringadingding) but I need stuff that hurts many people at once without hurting me, and stuff I can use in enclosed areas (don't really care about the surroundings, the mage is CE)
The goal here is explosions. Big, violent, flashy explosions.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:04 pm
by Voss
Just do a Warmage? Its definitely explosion heavy, you get a few combat control spells in the basic list, and can pick up evocation control spells like wall of ice, wall of force through the advanced learning feature. And you aren't crippled by a sucktastic limit on spells known
Since you have access to the entire warmage list all the time, you can pretty much dance around energy resistance issues and switch from big area explosions to confined area.
Downside is a hard limit on non-combat spells and utility, but you've got more hit points and actual class abilities. And you can pull a decent AC out of your equipment as you advance.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:55 am
by Talisman
Book of Exalted Deeds has a feat called Purify Spell that lets you keep a spell from affecting Good creatures, at a cost of +1 spell level. Maybe an evil version of that? Would let you trigger fireballs and what-not right at your feet.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:44 pm
by josephbt
Born of 3 Thunders from CA. It stuns and prones(is that a word?) people that get damaged. Not really explosions but thunderstrikes.
It also dazes you for 1 round, which means absolutely nothing since that effect expires at the beggining of your next round. Best if combined with continuous effects.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:37 pm
by tzor
My favorite explosion of all time was a home brewed 1E fireball variant the "Key Hole Fireball" The range was "caster." It acted like a fireball in every way with one exception, the fire started from a semi sphere centered on the caster so that everyone but the caster was hit. This semi sphere was supposed to look like a 2D keyhole rotated around its axis, hense the name.
I believe the stomatic component was pumping your fist in a swift downard motion. It was the perfect answer to anyone who wanted to simply charge the wizard.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:11 pm
by JonSetanta
Aw what the fuck, my post days ago never showed up????
Nice suggestions everyone. I'm leaning towards a Chaotic Neutral but CE is fine too, making Evil Fireballs valid but not effective near other party members (friends prefer Good, on average..)
The Bo3T feat I've known about but wasn't that nerfed? Or is that a rumor.
Is there anything like either feat option but with Fire? Or a cheap constant way to give Fire or Lightning immunity/high resist so that blasting myself isn't a problem...
tzor: Interesting. A researched specific Fireball variant. There's a spell called Fireburst that does this, but the range sucks and damage is less. I'll try your homebrew.
Although, maybe there's shaping possibilities?
Sculpt Spell houseruled to allow a hemisphere? Is that too much?
Re: Explosions
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:48 pm
by Judging__Eagle
sigma999 at [unixtime wrote:1190409091[/unixtime]]
Sculpt Spell houseruled to allow a hemisphere? Is that too much?
Just use Sculpt Spell normally. It's a kick ass metamagic feat; lets you turn 20 by 20 fire balls into 4 smaller 10 by 10 fire balls to drop them where you wish or into a line or cone, but can also turn a lighting bolt into a 20 foot sphere.
If you can combine with widen spell, so much the better. 4 widened 20 foot spheres all placed on tope fo each other....
Uhm, I don't know if that's legit though, being able to roll quadruple dice (4 saves as well? or one save for all 4?) for +2 spell levels?
Meaning that with sculpt you could in theory drop the 4 10 by 10 spheres on one location to deal 4x as many dice to those covered/targeted.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:31 pm
by erik
If your DM lets you stack the four 10' squares atop each other and stack their damage... then they deserve the moronic beating received.
Enlarge+Cone areas often works nicely against big numbers of enemies.
Also, Widen+Sculpt costs more than +2 spell levels. Widen is +3, Sculpt is +1.
Rods of Lesser Sculpt and Lesser Enlarge are often a hoot. In LG my rogue bought a Rod of Lesser Sculpting just to loan out to my wife's conjurer.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:36 am
by JonSetanta
Yeah for +1 SL that should be obvious, not to quadruple damage. I hope most DMs never allow that, and if they do, they deserve the pain of playing that session.
Rods of Sculpting look promising since I wouldn't actually blow a decent feat slot on something that might not be dependable/efficient tactic on a day to day basis. Having an item to duplicate such feats may be cheese but seems worth it.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:21 am
by shirak
What level are we talking about? You can take Explosive Spell (CA I think) and put it on something with a hell of a lot of range. So people get thrown hundreds of feet away and take ridiculous damage to boot. Keith has a post around that explains this I think
If your DM allows it, take Extraordinary Spell Aim. Most awesome/broken feat ever. You can find it on Complete Adventurer but you have to be 12th level.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 1:19 am
by JonSetanta
Around level 6, since most campaigns with my friends just stop leveling there or severely slow down (and this has been going on for years, wayyy before E6)
I can't spare too many spell level adjustments, unless I grab Arcane Thesis on my fav spell (Thunderclap?) or similar SL reducing feats/items.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:58 am
by MrWaeseL
shirak wrote:If your DM allows it, take Extraordinary Spell Aim. Most awesome/broken feat ever. You can find it on Complete Adventurer but you have to be 12th level.
I didn't remember that feat, so I googled it. Lo and behold, I came across
http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/feats ... [br]Hahaha what? It even says they're violating copyright
right there on the page.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:20 am
by CalibronXXX
This site breaks copyright way worse. It's been around for years and I've seen it get linked on the WOTC boards a bunch of times; I have no idea how it keeps from getting shut down.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:59 am
by Jacob_Orlove
I just stumbled across a nifty explosion spell:
1. Use the Snowcasting metamagic feat to give Locate City the [Cold] descriptor.
2. the Flash Frost Spell metamagic feat to cause the spell to deal 2 points of cold damage per spell level (In this case, 1, so 2 points of damage).
3. Apply Energy Admixture to make half of that electricity damage, giving the spell the [Electricity] descriptor.
4. Apply the Born of Three Thunders metamagic feat to this monster of a spell. All it requires is that the spell has the electricity descriptor or the sonic descriptor and deals hit point damage. This causes half of the spell's damage to be electricity damage and half sonic damage, for 1 point of damage each. More importantly, it then gives the targets a Fortitude save in order to avoid being stunned for one round. If they fail this save, they then get a Reflex save to avoid being knocked prone. Both of these saves are at the same save DC as the original spell was.
5. Note that this horrible mishmash of metamagic feats now has a Reflex save.
6. Apply the Explosive Spell metamagic feat to this thing. On a failed Reflex save, they're ejected to the edge of the spell, taking 1d6 damage for every 10' they traveled.
7. Realise that there are 528 10' increments in a mile, and Locate City has a radius of TEN MILES PER LEVEL.
8. ???
9. Profit!
Edit: as an aside, Arcane Thesis is required to mitigate the metamagic costs, but the final spell level is what, four?
Re: Explosions
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:00 am
by Koumei
That's pretty cool - though your friends are totally going to be hit by that unless they do a Planeshift Shuffle just for you. It'd be worth it though.
One thing that might make it not-legal is that the feat states "can only be applied to spells that allow Reflex saves and affect an area (a cone, cylinder, line or burst)." If that specifically means that those four area types are the only ones allowed, then you may have a problem - what type is the AoE?
Something I wish to know about Explosive Spell in general, though, is why people think it's so amazing.
Firstly, I have CA open right in front of me, and it says they're ejected via the nearest edge. In the case above, that doesn't really matter. But in the case of Lightning Bolt, it means you're not lining them up and sending them flying along the 60' line to the end. You're just shunting them 5' to the side. That deals no extra damage.
Also, some seem to think they take extra damage from the spell for each square they go through, as though getting hit by a 10d6 Fireball and being shunted 15' out (passing through another 2 "Fireball" squares) and taking another 20d6. Nothing actually states that.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:35 pm
by CalibronXXX
People only think Explosive Spell is awesome because of people applying it to massive AoE, but otherwise underwhelming, spells. I've never heard people claim that enemies take extra damage from the spell for each square they go through.
Re: Explosions
Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:42 am
by JonSetanta
Koumei: I had an idea for using Explosive line AoEs. One combo would be to use only in enclosed areas, such as tunnels. Very effective but a singular environment; not many encounters have this option.
The second is to shape a tube out of force with the far end a hole or lattice to allow air escape when the target goes flying to the back from a Quickened or Delayed Explosive Lightningbolt.
A big 5x60 hollow cylinder.
Would that work?
As for the proper use of Explosive Spell, I figure the best method in 'open field' would be to propel someone upwards and let gravity do the work (falling damage!)
Maybe Twin or Quicken Spell on 2 radius AoEs can blast someone twice as high in a single round, then let them fall.