OT: Narf has gone looney and wants to GM.(Edited2)

[Jack Simth]

douglas said:
Take out the randomness of the damage type and the expensive MC, and it is almost exactly on par with Cone of Cold. I don't think making the damage type random is worth any adjustment at all, as long as sonic is left out of the lineup. Either the damage type doesn't matter, or you're giving up the certainty of getting maximum effect against foes with known vulnerabilities in exchange for having a chance of it working well against anything.

Not quite what I meant; a spell where, at casting time, you get to choose between Fire, Cold, Acid, or Electricity would be more powerful than a Cone of Cold; a Cone of Cold, however, always does Cold damage, so you know it's liable to work against that Fire elemental, or that Red Dragon you are facing, with total certainty; but against the White Dragon, or that odd Ice Golem, it's quite useless, and you spend your time casting something else. Casting-time selectable, however, makes it a tad more useful, as: Red dragon? No problem! Cold ball! White dragon? No problem! Fire ball! Blue dragon? No problem! Acid ball! ... especially when it's just low enough for the Wizardess casting it to Empower for 21d6....
A spell-set element can be readily dealt with from a DM's perspective; "she usually favors Chain Lightning? Well, it's her turn to be relatively usless, time for something that's immune to electricity..." something that's chosen at casting time? A little trickier. Something that's random? Lacks a few abilities inherent in a set or selectable spell.

[Violist]

Speaking of useless, all these damn demons we're fighting with their SR and their saves... grr.

[Jack Simth]

Try picking up a summoning spell or two, some battlefield control spells, perhaps some more buffs; sure, you can't do the mega-damage against that high SR critter, but it's rather awkward for the demon when he suddenly finds there's something threatening him... just opposite from where the Rogue is standing. It doesn't really matter if it's a fluff creature (at this level, something from Summon Monster III or IV is mostly fluff) as it still threatens, and grants the Rogue flanking. Sure, it's Full-round; but when up against things you can't affect directly....
Such spells as Heroism or Greater Heroism are also very useful - bonuses to Attack Rolls, saves, and skill checks? Very useful against those high-AC targets, or all that save vs. X stuff out there. The Greater version even grants temporary HP and immunity to fear....
Battlefield control ... well, this is an interesting one, mostly only useful when up against multiple or highly mobile opponents; wouldn't it be great to be able to pin down that archer who shoots three arrows and moves in the same round so Derrel can get a full attack in? Or maybe just a nice solid Wall of Iron ... or better yet, an unbreakable Wall of Force... between you and the thing that's trying to kill you....

[Jack Simth]

douglas said:
That's Ashton, not me.

I have so many difficulties keeping everyone from blurring together.... case in point....

[NullAshton]

Grey-elf is fine as long as it's in the SRD.

You know what would be really useful? Rock to mud and mud to rock. Use rock to mud, the demon falls into the mud, gets stuck in mud, you use rock to mud, he's in solid rock.

[Jack Simth]

Nah, that's not how you do it; you use Rock to Mud (5th), then Dispel Magic (3rd) (after all, it's your spell - automatic success!) rather than Mud to Rock (also 5th). A wizard can manage the trick with only a little over half the recources. And hey; Dispel Magic is always useful when there's an opposing sparkcaster around....

[Violist]

So I was thinking about possible campaign rules if I were to at some point be seized by the desire to GM... what do people think of the Elementalist class (spells yet to be developed)?

Spells for the class would focus primarily on use of the various elements (Fire (and cold), Earth, Air (and electricity), Water (and ice/steam), and U-235 (just kidding)). I'm thinking it might be a little overpowered though, so any suggestions on where to weaken it would be appreciated.

Edit: I think I'm becoming a little too obsessed...

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Definitly a little too much firepower.

[Jack Simth]

You might want to look up the Elemental Savant Prestige class in Tome & Blood or Complete Arcane; similar theme, but focusing on one element.

Also, you can mostly do that by using a specialist wizard (Evocation), and look into the Variant Classes from Unearthed Arcana (which was declared OGC, for the most part.... so is available online....) for it's specialist wizard variant classes.

[Violist]

Hmm, OK. I don't have any variant rulebooks.