Talk:Tarn's Violent Prophet (3.5e Spell)

Too Low Level?

This looks like a really easy way to cast the Rage spell on yourself a few levels earlier than intended. While I don't think the spell itself is anything to worry about, you can do it more times than an actual Barbarian at the same level and that seems to step on some toes. Further, a player casting this on themselves just gains the effects of rage and doesn't have to worry about fighting his allies, since they can just claim to be "helpful" with respect to their allies and not deal with the "hostile" issue.

Since I don't think that upping the downside ever works in balancing these things, I'd like to suggest an alternate setup. You could turn this into a level 3 spell that gave the target rage and turned them against their allies because they were "worshiping wrong" and the target "needs to show them the error of their ways before it's too late". That might still work for theme and function as the debuff you seem to intend without also working as a PC buff.

My 2cp. Hope something in there is helpful. - Tarkisflux ^Talk 04:01, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Part of my initial reasoning for the balance of this spell was based on a misreading of the Rage spell: I though you could already cast it on multiple enemies (without save!) so this spell seemed tame in comparison. I also tried preventing player abuse (a bit) with the part about attitude changes but I can see that that is not strong enough. I also primarily intended this spell to shut an opposing caster down by denying him his spells, with the "attack your allies" effect a possible byproduct.

In light of the above, your comments are most welcome. However, while trying to come up with a fix, I got distracted and now its time for bed. I'll edit the spell tomorrow.

Continued: After some thought and comparison against similar spells (notably the Mindless Rage spell (SC142)) I have decided to emphasize the 'Prophet' part a bit more. I tried to define 'allies' in a way that was both simple/clear and not easily abusable but I found it difficult. The Mindless Rage spell forces the target to attack the caster which was a good idea but copying that would mean this spell would be almost identical to Mindless Rage. The self-buff deterrent I implemented now involves spending a standard action every other round ranting/preaching/prophesying. I also increased the level to 2. I hope this improves the balance sufficiently and if not I am happy to hear any suggestions/comments :-). - Anarril 17:59, 28 September 2011 (UTC)