Put the Power Back Into Power Word

[noinfo]

We all know it, in general Power Words are next to useless. What should be some of the most feared spells are pretty much a joke in ddo. I would like to suggest a simple addon to the spells that creatures outside the regular limits hp wise have to make a save (would suggest a -2 penalty).

Just for a quick comparisson

Death spells:
FOD level 7 is used far more then PWK
Wail is used even more due to mass effects but close range
Both Wail and PWK are both level 9 spells but who would use PWK as is?

By giving PWK an effect with a -2 penalty it gives it a bonus over FOD (believe it is shorter range though) and a reason to use it over Wail with its mass effect.

[voodoogroves]

We all know it, in general Power Words are next to useless. What should be some of the most feared spells are pretty much a joke in ddo. I would like to suggest a simple addon to the spells that creatures outside the regular limits hp wise have to make a save (would suggest a -2 penalty).

Just for a quick comparisson

Death spells:
FOD level 7 is used far more then PWK
Wail is used even more due to mass effects but close range
Both Wail and PWK are both level 9 spells but who would use PWK as is?

By giving PWK an effect with a -2 penalty it gives it a bonus over FOD (believe it is shorter range though) and a reason to use it over Wail with its mass effect.

Mechanically, monsters have far more HP than they do in PNP because the pace of combat is quicker (6 seconds in ddo can take ... 6 seconds ... while on PNP it takes minutes at a go); it would be nice to know what that scaling was so that those could be done properly ... and also to make sure they worked appropriately against both pcs (in pvp) and critters.

I'd like to see them in the game, because they are non-somatic spells ...

[noinfo]

Mechanically, monsters have far more HP than they do in PNP because the pace of combat is quicker (6 seconds in ddo can take ... 6 seconds ... while on PNP it takes minutes at a go); it would be nice to know what that scaling was so that those could be done properly ... and also to make sure they worked appropriately against both pcs (in pvp) and critters.

I'd like to see them in the game, because they are non-somatic spells ...

Oh they are in the game the only place you will see them used is PVP and then really only PWS if that.

[voodoogroves]

Oh they are in the game the only place you will see them used is PVP and then really only PWS if that.

I know they are "available" ... I misspoke ... I'd like to see them USED in the game instead of just another spell I ignore on my wizard.

[bjlinden]

IMHO, all they need to do is base it on some metric other than HP, because in this game HP is so out of synch with PnP that trying to do so is impossible.

Perhaps they could base it on CR. Or better yet, simply make it so that it is impossible to use on orange or red names; this preserves the original intent of the HP limits (so that you can't use them to intagib the most important and powerful plot-related enemies) while working within the limits set by DDO.

[DarkAlchemist]

I never understood what moron thought to add those spells that would be effectively useless from the get go.

Another thing is that the powerword spells seem to be in the school of Enchantment and being an enchanter is already pretty useless in this game (not entirely but not super fantastico either). Shoot I wish the devs would get off their butts and give the rest of the schools their spells so I could choose more that Envoker, Necro, and possibly Enchanter to spell focus and greater spell focus on.

[Rakian_Knight]

Shoot I wish the devs would get off their butts and give the rest of the schools their spells so I could choose more that Envoker, Necro, and possibly Enchanter to spell focus and greater spell focus on.

I 100% aggree! I would love to play an Illusionist and Transmuter? (Still love my want-to-be Abbot, Nexal)

However, the problem was the monsters were changed to fit the real time battle, the spells were coppied right out of the book with the exception of Create Undead (why did they make this spell SUCK!!!). What they need to do is one of the following:

1) Redo the monsters/equipment more like pnp so the spells fit. (VERY UNLIKELY and not a very good option at this point in the game unless you rebalence everything and risk loosing 50% of your non-pnp players)

and/or...

2) Buff the spells like Power Word Kill (Lvl 9, 300 hp limit), Undeath to Death (Lvl 6, 9 HD limit), Circle of Death (Lvl 6, 9 HD limit), Symbol of Death (Lvl 8, 150 hp limit) , Power Word Stun, etc. so that they can, I don't know, BE USEFUL!

There really isn't any other way unless you simply give all wizards the same spell list and turn this into a horrible game to play.