The New and Improved "Spells to Implement Next" Thread

[MysticTheurge]

One thing I would say is that this list seems to imply that the Devs don't have copies of the Compendium laying around that they scour for new spells to implement. I think they do, they are just limited by development time.

Of course they do. But they have copies of the PHB too, and we still suggest all kinds of things out of there to them.

These are the ones I think would be more easily implemented in DDO (well, and maybe a few trickier ones).

And it's also fun for people who don't have copies of the Spell Compendium, be they devs or not, to see what's potentially out there.

[The_Cataclysm]

With new spells announced, don't you think it is time to dust this thread off and update it?

[MysticTheurge]

With new spells announced, don't you think it is time to dust this thread off and update it?

Updated to move the newly implemented spells to the end of the list. 4 down... just a few more to go.

As always, if people have suggestions for things to add, just mention them here. I might try to go through some other resources (namely Eberron books) and see if there's anything else worth adding.

[The_Cataclysm]

I will check some other books. Only thing I was looking at tonight was the spell compendium.

[jkm]

they implemented mass camouflage


mmm, contingency...

[joracie]

All I can say is....I prepared explosive runes this morning.....PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

[katanaflame]

especialy for pallys.
I have been tell people the ddo version was under powered as per pnp but I did not have my books to show them so thanks

[Silverblade-T-E]

You missed oen AWESOME lvl 7 wizard one from the Spell Compendium:
BODY OF WAR

Turns you into a Warforged Titan for 1/round level...
Tenser's Transformation doesn't have nothing on that baby! BOO YAH!
the gorgeous painting in the spell compendium, of a warforged titan slaughtering goblin worg riders, is soooooooo sweeet!

[MysticTheurge]

You missed oen AWESOME lvl 7 wizard one from the Spell Compendium:
BODY OF WAR

I tried to initially stick to spells that would be relatively easy to implement.

Since they're already struggling with the ramifications of adding Enlarge Person due to size changes, a spell like Body of War is probably out of the question.

You'll also notice I've left off pretty much all spells which target items, as they don't seem to have that capability yet either.

[nabrendel]

I personally would love love love.. to see them do something with the summon line.. either upgrade the monsters' or at least give us a list of 2-4 to chooose from like in PnP... I mean an Earth Elemental is fine for some things but in all things it is not.. and the spider is useless... so show some summoning love please :-)

not to mention whatever plane they come from must be running low because our summons die so fast.. eeep

[binnsr]

Shield Other: You take half of subject’s damage. [Cause I still don't understand how it's broken.]

As I understand it, here's how Shield Other works in PnP, and how it's broken.

Char A casts Shield Other on Char B.
Char B casts Shield Other on Char A.

Combat ensues
Char A takes 16 points of damage; this is split into 8 for A and 8 for B
Because Char A cast Shield Other on Char B, that 8 assigned to him is split again, into 4 for each character. Then that 4 is split back into 2 for each character, and again into 1.
I think there are two ways of assigning the split damage, either at the end of the splitting, or each time it gets split.
With the first way, by the time the splitting is complete, each of them takes 1 point of damage, no matter how large the initial strike was.
The second way, by the time it's through splitting out, each of them has taken more damage than the original strike.

for example:

total A  B
16    8  8
8(B)  4  4
4(A)  2  2
4(B)  2  2
2(A)  1  1
2(B)  1  1
2(A)  1  1
2(B)  1  1
     19 19

I'm sure that's not the entirety of how it's broken and that I've missed some earth-shattering violation of the rules of the multiverse here.


Otherwise, great thread (as per norm), MT.

[Aesop]

As I understand it, here's how Shield Other works in PnP, and how it's broken.

Char A casts Shield Other on Char B.
Char B casts Shield Other on Char A.

Combat ensues
Char A takes 16 points of damage; this is split into 8 for A and 8 for B
Because Char A cast Shield Other on Char B, that 8 assigned to him is split again, into 4 for each character. Then that 4 is split back into 2 for each character, and again into 1.
I think there are two ways of assigning the split damage, either at the end of the splitting, or each time it gets split.
With the first way, by the time the splitting is complete, each of them takes 1 point of damage, no matter how large the initial strike was.
The second way, by the time it's through splitting out, each of them has taken more damage than the original strike.

for example:

total A  B
16    8  8
8(B)  4  4
4(A)  2  2
4(B)  2  2
2(A)  1  1
2(B)  1  1
2(A)  1  1
2(B)  1  1
     19 19

I'm sure that's not the entirety of how it's broken and that I've missed some earth-shattering violation of the rules of the multiverse here.


Otherwise, great thread (as per norm), MT.

See and how I'd always thought of this spell is that the shield holds a tap line between the two siphoning off some of the damage from outside sources. However since the shield bypasses DR or the caster I'd assume it also would bypass any other form of protection... ie

A casts on b
b casts on A

A gets hit for 16

each take 8. No bouncing the lines back and forth. At least that's how I'd rule it... otherwise its silly

Aesop

[binnsr]

As a live DM, you're free to say no bouncing around (and I agree that it's kind of silly - which is why it's broken), but since the spell description doesn't specify anything of the sort, it would be very easy to interpret it the opposite way (especially in a translation to an online game) and to have the server say 'wow, B just took 16 points of damage, let me transfer half of that to A.' followed by 'wow, A just took 8 points of damage, let me transfer 4 of those to B'.

Without a clear rule either way, it's easy to break.

[MysticTheurge]

As a live DM, you're free to say no bouncing around (and I agree that it's kind of silly - which is why it's broken), but since the spell description doesn't specify anything of the sort, it would be very easy to interpret it the opposite way (especially in a translation to an online game) and to have the server say 'wow, B just took 16 points of damage, let me transfer half of that to A.' followed by 'wow, A just took 8 points of damage, let me transfer 4 of those to B'.

Without a clear rule either way, it's easy to break.

Uh, so they implement it without the bouncing.

Damage from Shield Other becomes unblockable, unresistable and in all other ways unreduceable. It's really that simple.

And the spell's not broken. It would essentially take a particularly obnoxious rules lawyer and a DM with their head up ... well you know where, for this spell to be "broken."

But realistically. Even if you did let them bounce it back and forth, all it takes is a rule that says all the damage goes somewhere (i.e. odd numbers give the extra point to the originator of the damage) and you can't subdivide 1 point of damage, and the spell still isn't broken. One person (the person to originally get damaged) gets more of the damage, but all the damage is still there. To use your example:

Split 1
Person A: 8
Person B: 8

Split 2
Person A: 8 (original) + 4 (new split)
Person B: 4

Split 3
Person A: 8 + 2
Person B: 4 + 2

Split 4
Person A: 8 + 2 + 1
Person B: 4 + 1

Final Tally
Person A: 11
Person B: 5
Total damage: 16 just like when you started.

[Silverblade-T-E]

DM can just say "NO WAY, YOU CHEATING GITS!", like he should, and have them tear open a paradox rift in the Planes and dump 'em someplace nasty


Body of War
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/sp...lery/92194.jpg
you know you want it, you know you do!

[Gimpster]

And the spell's not broken. It would essentially take a particularly obnoxious rules lawyer and a DM with their head up ... well you know where, for this spell to be "broken."

It's still broken, even if working as intended, because the concept of redirecting damage from one player character to another character is bad for gameplay.

That's what it comes down to. The spell leads you to making nonfun tactical desicions.

Look at a fantasy book or movie: when the knight, paladin, or other burly hero is protecting his weaker allies from harm, how does he do it? He certainly doesn't cast a spell and redirect hitpoints from one person to another.

[MysticTheurge]

Look at a fantasy book or movie: when the knight, paladin, or other burly hero is protecting his weaker allies from harm, how does he do it? He certainly doesn't cast a spell and redirect hitpoints from one person to another.

Neither does he do it by summoning his extraplanar mount.

But this isn't really an argument for the spell being broken, it's an argument for the spell not being in keeping with the general philosophy of the game. And that I don't really agree with. There's something very noble (i.e. paladin-istic) about taking someone else's damage upon yourself.

You certainly can break it down to unfun tactical decisions, a la I'm going to cast it on X so that we both have less of a chance to die before we can be healed. But you can break the whole game down to those kinds of unfun tactical decisions if you really want to. It's all just numbers on paper (or in the computer) in the end; the rest is up to you to create. And there are plenty of genre- and character-appropriate ways to cast Shield Other.

[The_Cataclysm]

A spell from The Forge of War

Predator's Cry (Ranger 2) - Fears 1 animal/level who fail will save

Couldn't really find any other spells that would work.

[MysticTheurge]

Predator's Cry (Ranger 2) - Fears 1 animal/level who fail will save

I don't have my copy of Forge of War yet, but I went ahead and added this one. It seems, from the excerpt like some of the other ones would work as well. I'll look a bit more once my copy comes in the mail.

[Symar-FangofLloth]

I'm just going to go through some of my books and see what I think could work, if any are already listed, I apologize.

Armor Lock: Bard 1, Sorcerer/Wizard 1; 1 round/level, Fort negates; movement speed reduced to 10 ft, lose dex bonus to AC. Only works on armored opponents (but doesn't really affect the armor per say, so they'd just need an armor flag on enemies with armor).
Fatal Flame: Sorcerer/Wizard 2; 1 minute/level, Will negates; when the target dies, they explode in a ball of flame dealing fire damage equal to twice their HD or twice your caster level, whichever is less.
Healer's Vision: Cleric 1; personal range; 1 round/level; +5 on heal checks, +1 point extra healed per level of cure spell cast, +2 attack and damage on sneak attacks (only if you have them).
Spore Field: Druid 1, Ranger 2; Fort partial; 1 minute/level; 10ft radius spread; traveling through the area halves your land speed, and there's a DC to avoid being sickened for 1 round.
Allegro: Bard 3; 1 minute/level; basically a mass expeditious retreat.
Critical Strike: Sorcerer/wizard 1; 1 round; +1d6 damage, double threat range, and +4 to confirm crits against a flanked or dex-denied foe.

That's about all I have time for right now (plus the rest of my books aren't immediately nearby).