Power Word Spells

[Lorkar]

I was using PWK earlier and I got to thinking that the Power Word spells should be affected by the spell focus one has. So I propose that they get rolled back to what they were originally and then implement 50-75 point jumps for each focus you have.
Spell Focus-50 points, Under 40 hit points kills up to 300 points worth.
Greater Spell Focus-50 points Under 80 hit points kills up to 400 points worth.
Epic Spell Focus-100 points Under 160 hit points kills up to 600 points worth.
with the appropriate increase in SR checks.

[Amoenotep]

so your saying they are underpowered now?

like...if you beat down a guy for a while and he keeps wanting to use heal pots so you can't kill him...you just pop a PWK on him and bam..dead......thats what ur saying?

[Lorkar]

No I am not saying they are underpowered. I am saying that a UMD using pogue shouldn't be able to generate the same effect as a caster who is focused in the school. And honestly the upper end would only jump 50 points from what the spell is currently. As it stands now it is 250 points.

[Amoenotep]

but there are lots of single fire effects a umd rogue benefits from just as much as a caster of any lvl. most of those are buffs and a caster still has the benefit of knowing more about casting than a rogue

[Lorkar]

Why would a rogue care about knowing anything about casting if they can do everything a caster can do, with scrolls.
The staff did something similar with Time Stop, the focuses gave extra rounds, why do that? So scroll users can't get the same effect as a focused caster.
So why would a spell as powerful as PWK be any different?

[Amoenotep]

so what about the other death spells on scrolls..should we scale them the same way? your actually arguing that single burst spells be scaled with lvls even though they are just that..single burst. you can scale any way you want to, but in the the PW line of spells is a single shot with a single effect...no real scaling involved.

[Amoenotep]

btw..the duration was changed for focus...it was like that already...and duration effects always go by focus/lvls...even for umd rogues.

[cRaZy8or5e]

I think Lorkar's idea has merit. PWK was already changed from its original version to make it more effective at epic levels by increasing the hitpoints affected from 100 to 250. His idea is that rather than just increase the effectiveness for all, make it so you have to take focus in the spell school IOT receive the boosted effectiveness.

IDK . . . makes sense to me.

[Lorkar]

so what about the other death spells on scrolls..should we scale them the same way? your actually arguing that single burst spells be scaled with lvls even though they are just that..single burst. you can scale any way you want to, but in the the PW line of spells is a single shot with a single effect...no real scaling involved.

All spells should scale with focus. Spells with a save do so why not other spells? So Tep, you are saying that anyone who takes 1 rogue level pre-epic should be able to skill dump his UMD and get the same effects from PWK that a caster who takes enough levels to actually cast the spell? If so then why take spell focus transmutation for that extra round of timestop? UMD Rangers used to do it before time crystals effectively vanished. UMD players who want that extra oomph should have to take a spell focus in whatever scroll they are using.

[Amoenotep]

doesn't it have a save? i thought it did...can't check now, but i thought so...

[Chuff_7]

I agree that a benefit should be given to any caster over a UMDer using the same spell. Something to think about in the design of pure-class bonuses for casters.

Perhaps a bonus to rogues/bards/assassins who invest in their levels rather than the min/maxers (i.e. 1-5 levels).

For example, classes which can take UMD receive the same "spell focus benefits" which Lorkar is proposing for specialist casters. The bonus can be at 10, 20 and 30 levels in those classes equivalent to SF, GSF and ESF.

[Amoenotep]

lol..and a umd rogue will still kill you with pwk when your hp is low...haha

[Amoenotep]

actually in line with this whole idea would be:


the rework of every set burst spell from any caster class available in scrolls..be it crafted or found. can anyone count on one hand how many very useful and powerful spells are set cast that a umd rogue/bard can cast just as effective as the caster?

[Lorkar]

actually in line with this whole idea would be:


the rework of every set burst spell from any caster class available in scrolls..be it crafted or found. can anyone count on one hand how many very useful and powerful spells are set cast that a umd rogue/bard can cast just as effective as the caster?

I am sure there are a few but none of them go off without a save besides the Power Word spells. The only check is a SR check.

[Amoenotep]

there are quite a few that go without saves and are set to certain conditions...and SR is the only thing that saves you