Brilliant Gameologists Forum
The Thinktank => Min/Max It! => : Petruchio June 01, 2011, 04:38:09 PM
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Introduction to Elven Spell Lore
By Orantos Shingal, Elven Archmage
Be not afraid mortals! I, Orantos Shingal, Master of the Arcane Arts, puts forth this thesis as a precursor to a larger handbook on Uttercold Assault Necromancy, and arcane Necromancy in general. A normally displeasing art, the Uttercold Assault Necromancer normally requires specialize feat investment, namely Energy Substitution: Cold and Lord of the Uttercold. Until now.
From PHBII pg 78 with erranta
Elven Spell Lore
Prerequisite: Int 17, Knowledge (arcana) 12 ranks
Benefit: Your understanding of the elven secrets of magic grants you two BENEFITS:. When you cast dispel magic or greater dispel magic, you gain a +2 bonus on your caster level check. Your understanding of magic allows you to more easily unravel the power that sustains a foe's spell. In addition, your knowledge of magic grants you rare insights into forgotten spell lore. Choose a single spell in your spellbook when you take this feat. When preparing that spell, you can alter the energy type of the damage it deals to some other energy type of your choosing. You must make this choice when preparing the spell (those who do not prepare spells cannot benefit from this aspect of the feat). You can prepare the spell multiple times, selecting the same or a different energy type for it with each preparation. You can gain this feat multiple times. The caster level bonus does not stack, and each time you take the feat, a different spell must be chosen.
This feat is split into two parts. The first part adds +2 to caster level checks when you cast dispel magic or greater dispel magic. Solid bonus, but not at all flashy or fantastic. Part two allows the substitution of the type of damage done by a spell. One of the Archmage’s class features is similar to this, except the archmage does it spontaneously on any spell he chooses, while this feat only works on a single spell and must be prepared ahead of time.
Why take this feat then? Well, while the Archmage may change the damage into acid, cold, fire, electricity, or sonic, there is no such limitations with this feat.
Let me repeat that for those of you who do not understand, you make a spell deal the energy type that you want.
So let us say that you, the arcane god of your adventuring party, do not like fire. Or ice. Or sonic. You can substitute any damage dealing spell with force. No way to get around that type of damage. But what if you despise the blaster, as gods are oft to do? Leave it to your sorcerous cousins and barbarians to damage HP you say. What if you like your undead, and are commanding an ever spawning army of Wights and Shadows to take over the world. If only there was a type of energy to support them!
Oh wait, there is negative energy. Heal them, hurt things that are alive. The true beauty of it all is that any energy type, not just the standard elemental energies. So you may cast a nice wall of fire and make it deal ice, acid, electricity, sonic, force, vile, evil, sacred, divine, city, or even negative energy. You and your party can even take part in the fun if you all had Tomb-Tainted Soul.
But would you all take the extra feat? Most of us are frugal with our feats. And what about you, oh, I’m too good to be dealing with undead minions. Well, I personally do not tolerate such a paladin-esque moral code, but some of you roll with these types. Thankfully, this feat also includes something for you too. Positive energy, i.e. the energy that heals living things/kills unloving things. At the end of a particularly difficult battle, make the heal-bot more irrelevant than normal and cast a positive energy fire wall, and heal everyone up to max HP. You will seem more godly as you can now heal injuries more effectively than your cleric’s chosen divinity. Maybe you should start your own temple…
In conclusion, this feat has been overshadowed in the PHB II by other arcane favorites, the Beguiler, Arcane Thesis, Immediate Magic and the like. Well no more. This feat is easily attained, as any wizard worth his salt will have an Intelligence of 17 and Knowledge (arcana) 12 ranks by level 9. It also CAP’s the Uttercold Assault Necromancer, who, without additional investment, needs two feats to split damage into half cold, half negative, requiring investment in specifically cold immune undead (mostly skeletons). This feat can turn all the damage of a specific spell into negative energy, healing undead and damaging most enemies for the full amount, in addition to allowing other energy types, including force and positive energy, and a +2 on caster level checks for dispelling.
Enjoy
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This does not work. Energy damage is a defined term. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_energydamage&alpha=)
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Also, positive energy don't heal anyone. It damages unliving things as much as it damages living things.
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Also, positive energy don't heal anyone. It damages unliving things as much as it damages living things.
Really? That's odd. Why does Negative Energy heal undead if positive energy doesn't heal the living? I thought all those fancy healing spells used positive energy?
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This does not work. Energy damage is a defined term. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_energydamage&alpha=)
This is correct.
Also, positive energy don't heal anyone. It damages unliving things as much as it damages living things.
Really? That's odd. Why does Negative Energy heal undead if positive energy doesn't heal the living? I thought all those fancy healing spells used positive energy?
That is a trait of the undead type.
The effects that heal using positive energy specifically make mention of being a healing effect. Unrefined positive energy can be pretty destructive.
"This power is dangerous to mortal forms, which are not made to handle it."
"(They) immolate as if (they) were a small planet caught at the edge of a supernova."
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Are those last two lines a quote from something?
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This does not work. Energy damage is a defined term. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_energydamage&alpha=)
Well, it's still better than Energy Substitution if you have only 1 blasting spell, because it can do sonic damage.
Are those last two lines a quote from something?
The description of the Positive Energy Plane. However, even in the roiling raw ether of the Positive Energy Plane, you are stated to heal. You don't explode until you have 2x your max HP in temporary hp.
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I recall there being a pair of monsters, one positive and one negative, that could fire rays of their associated energy type. The positive one could choose whether to damage or heal living targets, and the negative one could do the same against undead. I just can't remember their name or what book they're in. They're roughly sphere-like, incorporeal, and not the energons from the Manual of the Planes.
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This does not work. Energy damage is a defined term. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_energydamage&alpha=)
Also I think there was an errata or FAQ or something specifically about ESL
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I recall there being a pair of monsters, one positive and one negative, that could fire rays of their associated energy type. The positive one could choose whether to damage or heal living targets, and the negative one could do the same against undead. I just can't remember their name or what book they're in. They're roughly sphere-like, incorporeal, and not the energons from the Manual of the Planes.
I think the orignials were the.... xag-ya and xeg-yi so yeah you really are describing energons there.
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I recall there being a pair of monsters, one positive and one negative, that could fire rays of their associated energy type. The positive one could choose whether to damage or heal living targets, and the negative one could do the same against undead. I just can't remember their name or what book they're in. They're roughly sphere-like, incorporeal, and not the energons from the Manual of the Planes.
Templates from the Planar Handbook now grant this ability. Entropic lets you shoot a ray of negative energy that deals 1d4+CHA damage to living, or the same amount of healing to undead. Vivacious makes you incorporeal, and gives you a positive energy ray that deals 1d4+CHA damage to undead or heals living creatures. Both templates also give you an aura that either heals or damages creatures at the rate of 1 point per round.
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Templates from the Planar Handbook now grant this ability. Entropic lets you shoot a ray of negative energy that deals 1d4+CHA damage to living, or the same amount of healing to undead. Vivacious makes you incorporeal, and gives you a positive energy ray that deals 1d4+CHA damage to undead or heals living creatures. Both templates also give you an aura that either heals or damages creatures at the rate of 1 point per round.
Really? What would the LA on that?
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Entropic is +2, Vivacious is +5.
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Fools. Everyone in the party takes Tomb Tainted Soul, and for LA+2, I have Fast Healing for us all!
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Entropic is +2, Vivacious is +5.
This is another example of them not even bothering to look for abuse. It's trivially easy to make negative energy heal >.<
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Entropic is +2, Vivacious is +5.
This is another example of them not even bothering to look for abuse. It's trivially easy to make negative energy heal >.<
If you're willing to drop two points of LA and four feats, you deserve free party healing.
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Well Vivacious template can be applied to summoned creatures as I recall. So free healing / positive energy can be had for the entire party fairly early on, if you're willing to waste the summoning spell slots.