Post by Scott on Nov 30, 2017 23:21:37 GMT -5
I've been thinking about this again since a recent discussion at K&K. I'd like to have the official version set for my game.
PH version:
Color Spray: Upon casting this spell, the Illusionist causes a vivid fan-shaped spray of clashing colors to spring forth from his or her hand. From 1 to 6 creatures within the area of effect can be affected. The spell caster is able to affect 1 level or hit die of creatures for each of his or her levels of experience. Affected creatures are struck unconscious for 2 to 8 rounds if their level is less than or equal to that of the spell caster; they are blinded for 1 to 4 rounds if their level or number of hit dice is 1 or 2 greater than the Illusionist; and they are stunned (cf. power word, stun, seventh level magic-user spell) for 2 to 8 segments if their level or number of hit dice is 3 or more greater than the spell caster. All creatures above the level of the spell caster and all creatures of 6th level or 6 hit dice are entitled to a saving throw versus the color spray spell. The material components of this spell area pinch each of powder or sand colored red, yellow and blue.
Th Dragon #1 version:
Color Spray: A sheet of bright conflicting colors. They affect 1-6 levels of creatures, rendering them unconscious through confusion. (Note: for every 5 levels above Trickster the caster has obtained, add one to the die roll for amount of levels, the number never to exceed 6.) The distribution of the effect if there are more target levels than spell levels is semi-random, first one creature is fully affected, then another, till all the levels are assigned, there being no more than one partially affected creature. There is no saving throw vs this spell if the creature is fully affected, if all but one level is affected, it gets a normal saving throw, for every level unaffected beyond the first, it gets an additional +2 on its saving throw, in any case, it will not affect any creature above the 6th level. Range 24”.
The most common fix I've seen is just dropping the red sentence. That kind of works, but I think there's a little more to it.
From 1 to 6 creatures should probably be 1 to 6 hit dice or levels of creature. It matches the original version and fits the saving throw info.
As far as the red sentence goes, I think there was a bonus similar to the Dragon version, but it was changed, and a bad edit has caused all the confusion. The Dragon bonus is pretty weak. A Dragon Trickster was 2nd level, so the illusionist would be 7th level before getting the first +1. Which means you could be a 7th level illusionist, and your color spray could take out a total of one gnoll.
As a house roll, what if the sentence was edited to read, "The spell caster is able to affect a minimum of 1 level or hit die of creatures for each of his or her levels of experience, up to a maximum of 6."
That doesn't seem unbalancing does it?
PH version:
Color Spray: Upon casting this spell, the Illusionist causes a vivid fan-shaped spray of clashing colors to spring forth from his or her hand. From 1 to 6 creatures within the area of effect can be affected. The spell caster is able to affect 1 level or hit die of creatures for each of his or her levels of experience. Affected creatures are struck unconscious for 2 to 8 rounds if their level is less than or equal to that of the spell caster; they are blinded for 1 to 4 rounds if their level or number of hit dice is 1 or 2 greater than the Illusionist; and they are stunned (cf. power word, stun, seventh level magic-user spell) for 2 to 8 segments if their level or number of hit dice is 3 or more greater than the spell caster. All creatures above the level of the spell caster and all creatures of 6th level or 6 hit dice are entitled to a saving throw versus the color spray spell. The material components of this spell area pinch each of powder or sand colored red, yellow and blue.
Th Dragon #1 version:
Color Spray: A sheet of bright conflicting colors. They affect 1-6 levels of creatures, rendering them unconscious through confusion. (Note: for every 5 levels above Trickster the caster has obtained, add one to the die roll for amount of levels, the number never to exceed 6.) The distribution of the effect if there are more target levels than spell levels is semi-random, first one creature is fully affected, then another, till all the levels are assigned, there being no more than one partially affected creature. There is no saving throw vs this spell if the creature is fully affected, if all but one level is affected, it gets a normal saving throw, for every level unaffected beyond the first, it gets an additional +2 on its saving throw, in any case, it will not affect any creature above the 6th level. Range 24”.
The most common fix I've seen is just dropping the red sentence. That kind of works, but I think there's a little more to it.
From 1 to 6 creatures should probably be 1 to 6 hit dice or levels of creature. It matches the original version and fits the saving throw info.
As far as the red sentence goes, I think there was a bonus similar to the Dragon version, but it was changed, and a bad edit has caused all the confusion. The Dragon bonus is pretty weak. A Dragon Trickster was 2nd level, so the illusionist would be 7th level before getting the first +1. Which means you could be a 7th level illusionist, and your color spray could take out a total of one gnoll.
As a house roll, what if the sentence was edited to read, "The spell caster is able to affect a minimum of 1 level or hit die of creatures for each of his or her levels of experience, up to a maximum of 6."
That doesn't seem unbalancing does it?