Talk:True Dweomers

I'm still not convinced that it should cost 3 spells per strata to mana burn a TD.  Since it requires at least one feat to even get one of these puppies, I'm not sure we need to punish mana burning. Mana burning is already really complicated, and we don't need to find new ways to make people waste their spell slots; we've solved that problem.  If, however, you wanted to keep the 3:1 rule, but say that there is no level restriction on which strata you can mana burn up to, I might be more amenable to the idea.  

hrrrm.  i kinda love this idea. so, triple the number of slots, but you can go all the way to Strata 9 at caster level 19 level. Awesome!

tbh, I would love to get rid of the notion of minimum level for all of mana burning. If you've got the slots, and the will to make things explode, go for it. Since your level will always affect how many instances of the circle (or strata) damage you get, who cares if a level 10 character mana burns a fireball up to circle 17? They'll pay for that later, both by running out of spells quickly and because the surviving monsters will definitely see them as the biggest threat. My only hesitation on this is that we could be re-creating the 15 minute workday if the wizard/sorc just blows all their spells in the very first encounter each day and then whines until the party takes a full night's rest every time. (As a GM, I would punish the crap out of players who did this, but still...)

System and Structure

True Dweomer Damage Model

Spell Strata	Burn Cost	Min Level	Base Dice	max dice	range	avg	perfected
1	+3	19th	1d6+6/CL	31d6+186	217-372	294.5	744
2	+3	21st	1d6+8/CL	31d6+248	279-434	356.5	868
3	+3	23rd	1d6+9/CL	32d6+288	320-480	400	960
4	+3	25th	1d6+10/CL	32d6+320	392-512	452	1024
5	+3	27th	1d6+11/CL	33d6+363	399-561	480	1122
6	+3	29th	1d6+13/CL	33d6+429	462-627	544.5	1254
7	+3	31st	1d6+15/CL	34d6+510	544-714	629	1428
8	+3	33rd	1d6+16/CL	34d6+544	588-748	668	1496
9	+3	35+	1d6+17/CL	35d6+595	630-805	717.5	1610

True Dweomers are affected by metamagic feats, but note that many of the more potent feats have such a large level adjustment, they cannot be fit onto the higher level true dweomers without use of a magic wand or spell research.

• range

true Dweomers can use any range

• area of effect

true dweomers with AOE's tend to be LARGE, up to thousands of feet, miles, even leagues. note that metamagic can make even that larger.

• saves

true dweomers follow the basic rule 'no auto effects', but may impose severe save penalties in exchange for smaller range and/or area of effect, to the extreme of the example below "Corrupt Dweomers"

Current status

• True Dweomers - data compilation complete
• OGL info updated
• System scope and balance spreadsheet at about 70 percent complete (134 TD's placed so far)
• for balance pass, need to take into account the true-dweomer damage capacities of clerics, mages, druids, bard, paladins, rangers, etc. ergo, need to develop a bare-bones 'early implementation' of TD's
• have to take a feat to get a TD
• optionally, all TD's can be cast as rituals, requiring time as defined by the GM, but usually at LEAST a full minute, usually an hour or more. If cast this way, AOE's are multiplied by 10 in all dimensions, multi-target spells affect ten times as many, all ranges increase by 100 percent (double). saves and damage are the same.
• standard cast time is a full round action
• make skill roll below to cast as a standard, can be quickened if you want
• feats make skill roll easier/redundant

Example:

Bailiwick Skill Check:

• Roll is optional; if you succeed on an impossible check, you can cast the TD as a standard action, otherwise, always castable as a full round action. However, if you roll an Easy result or lower (or a 1), it counts as an auto-miss/auto-save. With 3rd and 5th feat, this risk mostly goes away, and it's just a question of whether you can get the impossible result or not.
• If you choose not to roll, or you get any result other than impossible or failure, TD takes a full-round action to cast.

Thus:

• Impossible DC (52) - standard action to cast
• Hard DC (47) - full round action to cast
• Challenging DC (43) - full round action to cast
• Average DC (38) - full round action to cast
• Easy DC or lower (33) - full round action, auto-miss/auto-save (half damage or whatever partial it does on a miss/save)