"Devour the Soul" DC bugged?

[Rusty_Can]

I've been playing a Souleater warlock and I got the distinct feeling that foes were saving too often against my "Devour the Soul" ability.

I looked for a brave volunteer, willing to let his soul devoured ... erm .... I mean .... willing to take part in a groundbreaking scientific experiment, and we stepped in a brawling pit.

Expected behavior:
according to the description, my DC should have been 18 + warlock levels (20) + CHA modifier (I was sitting at 24) = 62

Observed behavior:
we just ran a quick test; our brave volunteer saved with a 55, failed with a 52.

EDIT:

Ran a few tests on Lamannia.

The DC formula advertised in the spell description (18 + warlock levels + CHA modifier) looks completely off.

The actual DC seems to be 10 + spell level (6) + CHA modifier + anything that boosts Necromancy spells (gear, feats, enhancements, ED abilities).

More info here.

So, typo in the description or bug?

[Rusty_Can]

Am I the only one experiencing this issue?

[richieelias27]

Have you tried using heighten on it?

I think that would verify what part isnt working if heighten changes the DC at all. the 18 makes it a level 8 spell correct? So heighten *should* do nothing given that Warlock only goes to level 6.

[Rusty_Can]

Have you tried using heighten on it?

I think that would verify what part isnt working if heighten changes the DC at all. the 18 makes it a level 8 spell correct? So heighten *should* do nothing given that Warlock only goes to level 6.

During the test Heighten was on; I didn't try to cast with Heighten off.

Quicken seems to work properly.

Last but not least, the DC isn't shown anywhere.

[richieelias27]

I have Heighten and it is on; however, it looks like no metamagic feats can be applied to this ability. Last but not least, the DC isn't shown anywhere.

Well I just meant did the DC change in your tests.

The tooltip indicates that you should be able to use metamagics, so that is probably also a bug (either the tooltip or the ability).

[Thalone]

So, typo in the description or bug?

It's DDO. Possibly... typug.

[Rusty_Can]

The tooltip indicates that you should be able to use metamagics, so that is probably also a bug (either the tooltip or the ability).

The bit in my previous post about metamagic feats was wrong: the user interface lets you apply Heighten, Quicken and Enlarge. Heighten and Quicken were actually on, during my test.

I've edited my previous post and added some info to the opening post.

[typherius84]

I have a theory just based on observation but it needs to be tested further. My hunch is that despite the spell being labelled as "necromancy" it is not boosted by that school. The reason why I say this? Well when I was wearing my epic diadem from the Mark of Death raid, casting devour the soul activates the diadem to boost dc to.....conjuration. Now this seems peculiar but if you think about it, the spell is an exact carbon copy of 'trap the soul' except there's no limitation like 30 HD on monsters. I think the devs have forgotten to actually convert the spell so that necromancy affects it and not conjuration. I have found equipping my conjuration stick gave better results than necro. Again this needs more testing to be confirmed and bug reported if it's the case.

[Violith]

I have a theory just based on observation but it needs to be tested further. My hunch is that despite the spell being labelled as "necromancy" it is not boosted by that school. The reason why I say this? Well when I was wearing my epic diadem from the Mark of Death raid, casting devour the soul activates the diadem to boost dc to.....conjuration. Now this seems peculiar but if you think about it, the spell is an exact carbon copy of 'trap the soul' except there's no limitation like 30 HD on monsters. I think the devs have forgotten to actually convert the spell so that necromancy affects it and not conjuration. I have found equipping my conjuration stick gave better results than necro. Again this needs more testing to be confirmed and bug reported if it's the case.

That maybe the case, however, I've also found that the DC is alot lower then what it should be, Hurl is 10+level+cha, and devour is 18+level+cha, no matter how you look at it devour should work if hurl does. however,even if I use it on the same mob, I've found that while hurl works about 90% of the time for me, devour works maybe 50%. Both are will save spells, so they should work the same with devour working more often (Also, hurl doesnt seem to be increased by any spell school (havent tried conjuration or transmutation but none of the others seem to increase the listed DC) Devour, doesnt have a dc listed so its hard to say what it is but its alot lower then my hurl DC.

even without any spell items the DC of devour should be roughly 15 above my hold spells. yet I can land my hold monster realatively 90-100% of the time. and devour doesnt seem to work at all.

[Rusty_Can]

I've also found that the DC is alot lower then what it should be, Hurl is 10+level+cha, and devour is 18+level+cha, no matter how you look at it devour should work if hurl does. however,even if I use it on the same mob, I've found that while hurl works about 90% of the time for me, devour works maybe 50%. Both are will save spells, so they should work the same with devour working more often (Also, hurl doesnt seem to be increased by any spell school (havent tried conjuration or transmutation but none of the others seem to increase the listed DC) Devour, doesnt have a dc listed so its hard to say what it is but its alot lower then my hurl DC.

Aye, "Hurl Through Hell" is landing way more often than "Devour the soul".

[Sierim]

Just did some testing. DC appears to be 18 + Charisma Modifier (Warlock levels are ignored). Had a level 20 warlock with 42 Charisma. Target failed on a 33, saved on a 34. I removed all charisma items, and the DC changed in kind (dropped by 4). Tried with heighten on and off. No impact from metamagic.

Differences from OP:
Heightened Tested: no impact.
No Necromancy items/feats.

OP mentioned fail on 52.
18 + 24 = 42
Specialist is +3
Arcane Initiate is +1
Necromacy Focus is +1
Necromacy Item is +3
That only gets us to DC50

Still missing 3. Transcendental Magic (Exalted Angel Core 5)?

Edit: Tested with Transcendental Magic. The DC increased by 2 rather than 3. I'm not sure what's going on.

[Rusty_Can]

Still missing 3. Transcendental Magic (Exalted Angel Core 5)?

If memory serves me right, I was in Draconic Incarnation; but I might be wrong.

I'm not sure what's going on.

Neither am I!

[Rusty_Can]

Ran a few tests on Lamannia.

The DC formula advertised in the spell description (18 + warlock levels + CHA modifier) looks completely off.

The actual DC seems to be 10 + spell level (6) + CHA modifier + anything that boosts Necromancy spells (gear, feats, enhancements, ED abilities).

Heighten doesn't seem to have any effect.

Necromancy DC =
+ 10 (base)
+ 6 (spell level)
+ 26 CHA modifier
+ 3 (feats: Spell Focus: Necromancy, Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy, Past Life: Arcane Initiate)
+ 9 (gear: + 6 Dwarvencraft Necromancy Focus + 1 Shadow Caster + 2 Topaz of Greater Necromancy)
+ 3 (Necromancy Specialist)
+ 1 (Immortal Will)
+ 1 (ship buffs)
= 59

Target saved with 60, failed with 58.

Removed my TF scepter: DC dropped by 6; target saved with 53, died with 52.

Dropped Necromancy Specialist: DC dropped by another 3; target saved with 51, died with 49.

[Sierim]

Ran a few tests on Lamannia.

The DC formula advertised in the spell description (18 + warlock levels + CHA modifier) looks completely off.

The actual DC seems to be 10 + spell level (6) + CHA modifier + anything that boosts Necromancy spells (gear, feats, enhancements, ED abilities).

Upon review, that matches with my tests as well. I forgot about my ship buffs XD, and must have missed another +1 elsewhere. Draconic Presence, maybe? It's necromancy, and might be labeled as fear-based. It would at least explain the increase of 2 rather than 3 from Transcendental Magic.

[Textuality]

Wow this bug is annoying. I hope they fix this issue fast.

[KoobTheProud]

If memory serves me right, I was in Draconic Incarnation; but I might be wrong.!

If you were in Draconic your Warlock level might have been as high as 25, since you get a Warlock level for each core in Draconic.

Sounds like it is bugged to me or typug'd. If the ability does not add Warlock level it will of course be completely useless in Legendary content.