Power Word Spells

[Blystos Re]

I wager that 'Tep's blood pressure goes up a notch every time he adds one of those winky-faces.

[P. Fricebottle]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually agree with Lorker when he says they're underpowered. I have a Divination Focused mage who does just fine, but the initial purpose was to use Power Word Kill - I've yet to kill anybody with it. Now I wager I'm not using it entirely correctly, but I really can't seem to get anybody with it.

Now, from what I know, a Divination mage will be better at Power Word Kill than a Rogue using UMD. However, its not that much better. I'd need to test it out, but I believe a Divination focused mage can instantly kill anything that is below 200 hit points, not maximum but current. Problem is, very few level 40s are willing to run around at this stage and most simply drink a healing potion and don't really have to worry about it.

At this point, its just too difficult to estimate when to use Power Word Kill. You have to make sure their hp is just low enough, and even then, its just a waste. Why guess on Power Word Kill when you can simply throw a maximized IGM and know you're going to kill them, or get that much closer?

Personally, I think it'd be easier to use and somewhat effective if it scaled percentage-wise. Like, say, an unfocused mage can insta-kill anything at Near Death with PWK while a mage with Epic Focus Divination could instal-kill anything at Badly Wounded.

[Lorkar]

Again, I never said they were underpowered. All I said is that a focused caster should be able to kill more than a rogue using a scroll. Anything at near death (just about anything) can be killed with PWK if you can overcome the SR.

[Sparky]

I'll go ahead and give a thumbs up to making them better with focuses. The bigger trick is the balancing act that follows, esp considering when immunities to both spells can completely negate them. Do some number crunching and get back to us. I love when the players throw hard numbers at us to support their ideas.

[Alkapwn]

Is Power Word Kill scrollable? If it isn't the arguement is moot. The effort involved in finding all those scrolls for a umd'r would warrant the similar casting effect. I built a Ranger/Rogue build with transmutation focus's to umd Timestop +other benefits. It worked great untill I ran out of scrolls/crystals. Just saying umd using consumables vs. caster the caster would always come out on top no matter what.

[Lorkar]

PWK is scrollable. I was making scrolls for the crafter and tried it and lo and behold I ended up with a stack of 10. Thats why I brought this whole thing up.

[Alkapwn]

rolls up power umd'r!

[P. Fricebottle]

Well, first off, I'm not sure why one scrolled spell should be any better than any other scroll simply because the crafter was focused in the spell school. Sure, the person who wrote the scroll might have been skilled, but that doesn't make the Rogue or Bard whose reading it any more good at faking the incantations.

I'll go ahead and give a thumbs up to making them better with focuses. The bigger trick is the balancing act that follows, esp considering when immunities to both spells can completely negate them. Do some number crunching and get back to us. I love when the players throw hard numbers at us to support their ideas.

I'll give it a go, but can't say I'm any good with numbers. One idea I just thought of was if it could be more random. Right now its set in stone that you can only kill something with about 200 hit points who doesn't have Death Ward or Shadow Shield on. I was thinking of changing it a bit to add in the aspect of luck to where it'd be more worth it to cast the spell and hope for the best rather than cast it hoping the target has less than 200 hit points.

Heres an equation I had in mind.

20d20 = Hit Point Mark

I'm not sure what dies are available in the engine right now, but something along those lines would make things more appealing. The average for 20d20 is 200, which is about what a focused mage can kill right now. Then in addition to this as a base equation, I was thinking that each focus added a certain amount of points to the end result.

• Spell Focus - 15
• Greater Spell Focus - 30
• Epic Spell Focus - 50

Those numbers could be tweaked to lower or higher, depending how little or much the spell is to be improved.

So, a mage with Epic Spell Focus (Divination) would have the following roll.

20d20 + 50

With the ability to kill a character with a hit point total of a maximum of 450, minimum of 70, and average of 250.

[VagaStorm]

I aplogize if I missunderstod, but wasn't the point of the thread that the spell should be better when -cast- by a focused caster, as oposed by used by a umder?

On a side note. If potions are made with an extended spell, I think the potion is extended to unless the potion is given to someone oter than the caster..

[LinuxPup]

A UMD rogue using a scroll against someone with even a little SR should prove futile I would think.