SpellsWishThe following effects can be cast with no XP cost:- Duplicate any wizard or sorcerer spell of 8th level or lower, provided the spell is not of a school prohibited to you.
- Duplicate any other spell of 6th level or lower, provided the spell is not of a school prohibited to you.
- Duplicate any other spell of 5th level or lower even if it’s of a prohibited school.
- Undo the harmful effects of many other spells, such as geas/quest or insanity.
- Revive the dead. A wish can bring a dead creature back to life by duplicating a resurrection spell. A wish can revive a dead creature whose body has been destroyed, but the task takes two wishes, one to recreate the body and another to infuse the body with life again. A wish cannot prevent a character who was brought back to life from losing an experience level.
- Transport travelers. A wish can lift one creature per caster level from anywhere on any plane and place those creatures anywhere else on any plane regardless of local conditions. An unwilling target gets a Will save to negate the effect, and spell resistance (if any) applies.
- Undo misfortune. A wish can undo a single recent event. The wish forces a reroll of any roll made within the last round (including your last turn). Reality reshapes itself to accommodate the new result. For example, a wish could undo an opponent’s successful save, a foe’s successful critical hit (either the attack roll or the critical roll), a friend’s failed save, and so on. The reroll, however, may be as bad as or worse than the original roll. An unwilling target gets a Will save to negate the effect, and spell resistance (if any) applies.
When creating items, the XP cost is 1 per 5 gp value of the item created, with a minimum of 5,000 XP. You can create an item of any value, so long as the XP cost would not cause you to lose a level.- Create a nonmagical item.
- Create a magic item, or add to the powers of an existing magic item.
This costs 5000 XP to the target, not the caster:- Grant a creature a +1 inherent bonus to an ability score. Inherent bonuses stack, but note that an inherent bonus may not exceed +5 for a single ability score. If the target is unable to pay the 5000 xp (because he would lose a level, for example), the spell fails.
The abilities that remove afflictions, heal, and raise from the dead have been removed.The three Planar Binding spellsIt seems the biggest abuse of these spells is to summon something, and make it cast spells or use SLAs of a higher level than you could normally cast. The "easy fix" I'm thinking of would be that you can only force a bound creature to use a spell or spell-like ability of a lower level than the level of the Planar Binding spell cast. So if you use Planar Binding (6th level) to bind an efreeti, you could not force it to cast anything above 5th level in exchange for it's freedom (thus, no Wishes). The creature could decide to use these types of spells to fullfil its service, but at its descresion.
The only thing is you could use Heighten Spell to boost it higher, so I may want to put in an exception for that.
GateThe only use of this spell is now for the transport feature. Use Planar Binding and Summon Monster for other summons. Also, specific creatures can be called with gate, but they do not have to travel through.
Summon Monster/Nature's AllyWhat are some of the worst abuses here? I've never seen it pushed too far from personal experiene, so I don't know what needs to be controlled.
PolymorphThis one's a mess! I'm not sure where to start with it. One thing (suggested by Rich Burlew at GiantITP) is to not give the caster the new form's type. Keep the type the same, and add a Polymoprhed subtype for the duration of the spell.
When a new form gives the caster new physical ability scores, look at how much each score increases. Cap the increase based on caster level. I don't have an exact number in mind. Perhaps no more than caster level or maybe one half caster level increase. So a 7th level wizard casting Polymorph would be either limited to +7 or +3 per stat increase. I still have to think this one through.
Natural armor should also be capped by caster level. Perhaps +1 max for either every two or three caster levels.
Alter SelfSimilar changes as to Polymorph, but perhaps with lower caps.
ShapechangeThis one is so hard to control based on the sheer number of monsters out there with abilities not meant for PCs. A few obvious fixes include fixing the balor's monster entry so the Vorpal sword isn't a supernatural ability (seriously, WTF?). Still what about forms like the choker? Is 3.0 Haste too powerful for a 9th level spell slot?
WraithstrikeI love this spell, but there are way too many ways that it can be *too* good. One nerf might be to limit it to the first attack you make that round. That way, it's still a swift action to cast, you can still charge, or even full attack, but only the first attack benifits. It also eliminates pouncing Wraithstrike charges.
GlitterdustA failed Will save blinds the creatures for one round. They are dazzled for the rest of the spell.
Color SprayThis works similar, but the effects are weakened a bit:
- 2 HD or less Creature is stunned one round and blinded for 1d4+1 rounds.
- 3 or 4 HD The creature is stunned for one round and blinded for two rounds.
- 5 or more HD The creature is blinded for 1 round.
GreaseGet rid of the whole balance section. When the spell is cast, anyone on it makes a Reflex save or falls prone. If a creature moves through the grease or stands on it, it must make a Reflex save or it falls prone. Otherwise, creatures can move across the grease at half speed.
Explosive RunesIf a target is affected by multiple runes at one time, he is only affected by one. Perhaps, have the damage overlap (so he takes damage from the one that rolled the highest damage).
Divine PowerGet rid of modifying BAB. Instead, grant a +2 Luck bonus to attack rolls. Drop the Enhancement bonus from +6 to +4. Gain temporary HP equal to caster level for the duration. Add the spell to the Paladin list at level 4. Getting rid of the BAB change sucks out about 90% of what made this spell so cool.
I also wanted to beef up some direct damage spells. Here are a few that came to mind:
Melf's Acid ArrowIncrease the damage from 2d4 to 2d6. Each time the target takes damage from the spell, it must make a Fortitude save of be sickened for one round.
FireballTargets that fail their Reflex save are started on fire (not much, but it's all I could think of).
Cone of ColdAll targets that fail the Reflex save take 1d6 Strength damage. A Fortitude save halves this damage.
Burning HandsIncrease damage to 1d6 per level (this seems lame, and I might come up with something else).
Shocking GraspIncrease damage to 1d8 per level (this seems lame, and I might come up with something else).
This list is far from complete. If you have any additions or suggestions about what I posted, please let me know.
Psionic PowersMind BladeLevel: Psychic warrior 1
Display: Visual
Manifesting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 hour/level
Power Points: 1 (A)
You create a semisolid blade composed of psychic energy. The blade is identical in all ways (except visually) to a short sword of a size appropriate for its wielder. For instance, a Medium manifester materializes a Medium mind blade that he can wield as a light weapon, and the blade deals 1d6 points of damage (crit 19-20/×2). Manifesters who are smaller or larger than Medium create mind blades identical to short swords appropriate for their size.
A fifth level manifester can create a Mind Blade that functions like a longsword or bastard sword instead of a short sword. He can shift the form as a full round action.
Augment:- The Mind Blade gains a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls for an additional three power points and is treated as a magical weapon. For every two additional power points spent thereafter, the Mind Blade gains either an additional +1 enhancement bonus or a magical ability worth a +1 bonus. More powerful abilities can be purchased with enough power points (so a +2 ability can be purchased once four additional power points have been spent). The Mind Blade cannot have an enhancement bonus greater than +1 for every four power points spent. For example, if a Mind Blade is created with eight power points, the manifester can choose to create a +1 Mind Blade with two +1 abilities, a +1 Mind Blade with one +2 ability, or a +2 Mind Blade with a +1 ability
- If two additional power points are spent, the manifester may throw his Mind Blade with a range increment of 10 feet. The Mind Blade reappears in his hand at the end of his turn.
- If six additional power points are spent, the manifester may throw his Mind Blade with a range increment of 10 feet. A new Mind Blade reappears in his hand immediately.
Turn UndeadI wanted to make a slightly less clunky mechanic. This is a slightly modified version Bier posted (possibly from Piazo?)
Turn UndeadYou create a burst of positive energy centered on yourself with a thirty foot radius. All undead creatures in the area take 1d6 points of damage per Cleric level. All living creatures in the area are healed for half that amount. You are not affected by your own turn attempts.
Undead creatures with Turn Resistance take less damage. For each point of turn resistance, reduce the number of damage dice by one. So if a ninth level Cleric (9d6 turn damage normally) would turn a vampire (turn resistance 4), he would roll 4d6 damage less, so he would only deal 5d6 damage to the vampire.
Bolster Undead (replace rebuke undead)
You create a burst of negative energy centered on yourself with a thirty foot radius. All undead creatures in the area are healed 1d6 points of damage per Cleric level. All living creatures in the area take damage equal to half that amount. Living creatures may make a Will save for half damage (DC 10 + 1/2 Cleric level + Cha mod). You are not affected by your own bolster attempts.
Improved Turn UndeadPrerequisite: Ability to turn undead
Benifit: When you turn undead, all undead creatures in the area must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 Cleric level + Cha mod) or be paralized for a number of rounds equal to half your Cleric level plus your Cha mod. This ability bypasses an undead creature's normal immunity to paralysis.
Rebuke UndeadPrerequisite: Ability to bolster undead
Benifit: When you bolster undead, all undead creatures in the area must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 Cleric level + Cha mod) or risk falling under your control. If your Cleric level is at least double the undead creature's hit dice and it fails its Will save, it is under your mental control. You may control any number of undead creature's whose total hit dice does not exceed your Cleric level.