It's common knowledge that Evocation sucks. It's also common knowledge that Conjuration is ridiculously powerful because of planar binding and the like. Instead of trying to errata individual spells I'm adding rules to the school itself, thereby fixing any and all spells that would take advantage of things like Wish granting monsters.
Bolded Italicized Underlined text is an addition to the normal rules textFeel free to add the fixes you use or specific problems that need to be addressed.
AbjurationAbjurations are protective spells. They create physical or magical
barriers, negate magical or physical abilities, harm trespassers, or
even banish the subject of the spell to another plane of existence.
Representative spells include protection from evil, dispel magic,
antimagic field, and banishment.Abjuration Rules:1. If one abjuration spell is active within 10 feet of another for 24 hours or more, the magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. The DC to find such spells with the Search skill drops by 4.
2. If an abjuration creates a barrier that keeps certain types of creatures at bay, that barrier cannot be used to push away those creatures. If you force the barrier against such a creature, you feel a discernible pressure against the barrier. If you continue to apply pressure, you end the spell.
3. Any spell that grants an AC bonus is considered an Abjuration for the purposes of feats or abilities that enhance Abjurations.Abjuration Comments: • Now Abjurant Champion can benefit from Mage Armor.
ConjurationEach conjuration spell belongs to one of five subschools. Con-
jurations bring manifestations of objects, creatures, or some form of
energy to you (the summoning subschool), actually transport
creatures from another plane of existence to your plane (calling),
heal (healing), transport creatures or objects over great distances
(teleportation), or create objects or effects on the spot (creation).
Creatures you conjure usually, but not always, obey your commands.
Representative spells include the various summon monster spells, cure
light wounds, raise dead, teleport, and wall of iron. Universal Conjuration Rules:A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it. The creature or object must appear within the spell’s range, but it does not have to remain within the range.
Calling RulesA calling spell transports a creature from another plane to the plane you are on. The spell grants the creature the one-time ability to return to its plane of origin, although the spell may limit the circumstances under which this is possible. Creatures who are called actually die when they are killed; they do not disappear and reform, as do those brought by a summoning spell (see below). The duration of a calling spell is instantaneous, which means that the called creature can’t be dispelled.
A called creature cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have, and it is incapable of casting any spells that would cost it XP, or using any spell-like abilities that would cost XP if they were spells. Creation RulesA creation spell manipulates matter to create an object or creature in the place the spellcaster designates (subject to the limits noted above). If the spell has a duration other than instantaneous, magic holds the creation together, and when the spell ends, the conjured creature or object vanishes without a trace. If the spell has an instantaneous duration, the created object or creature is merely assembled through magic. It lasts indefinitely and does not depend on magic for its existence.
It is however magical in nature, and is effected by Dispel Magic as if it were a Disintegrate spell. Poisons summoned are automatically applied directly to the weapon(s) of your choice and last 1 round/CL.Healing Rules:Certain divine conjurations heal creatures or even bring them back to life. These include cure spells.
I'm moving all of them to Necromancy.Summoning Rules:A summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again. When the spell that summoned a creature ends and the creature disappears, all the spells it has cast expire. A summoned creature cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have, and it refuses to cast any spells that would cost it XP, or to use any spell-like abilities that would cost XP if they were spells.
Teleportation Rules:A teleportation spell transports one or more creatures or objects a great distance. The most powerful of these spells can cross planar boundaries. Unlike summoning spells, the transportation is (unless otherwise noted) one-way and not dispellable. Teleportation is instantaneous travel through the Astral Plane. Anything that blocks astral travel also blocks teleportation.
Teleportation
As an alteration to the off target rules(mostly because perfectly accurate Teleport and Plane Shift annihilates a DM's ability to prepare adequately). Applies to ALL teleportation, including Plane Shift. Plane Shift applies a chance for arriving at the wrong plane if not at least at Aware familiarity.
Off target distances apply only to the horizontal plane for locations of Aware and better. For Uncertain or worse locations, a vertical displacement of 2 steps weaker(Uncertain->Accurate) also occurs. Direction is determined by a d8 for each axis, distance is determined separately for each axis.
When displaced into a solid object, the creature is shunted into the nearest open space within the spell's range capable of containing it unless it is incorporeal or otherwise capable of existing in the same space as solid material. This only applies to arriving off target, intentionally arriving in a solid material leaves the creature embedded in the material and the excess material displaced to where the creature left from.
Indestructible materials, materials with hardness of at least 20 and creatures always cause the teleporter to be shunted.
Finally, allow chaff(clouds of floating or suspended solid material) and rain to worsen the effective Familiarity by one step. I'd throw in something about dragging grappling creatures and snares along if they fall within the weight limit(failing if they exceed the weight) as well, but thats just me.
Familiarity | Distance off-target | Greater
Present | 0 ft | 0ft
Accurate | (1d20-CL)x5ft | 0ft
Aware | (1d100-CL)x10ft | (1d20-CL)x5ft
Uncertain | 1d100x100ft | 1d100x10ft
Vague | 1d100 x 100 miles | 1d100x100ft
False | Random location | Similar location, random
| within range | or spell fails(caster choice).
-Present includes having direct line of sight, a familiar/psicrystal at the location or having an accurate sense(vision, Blindsight, anything you'd not get miss chances for if you target an attack with it) currently viewing the location. If you arrive by a Calling spell, the caster doing the Calling counts as a Present location, as does returning to the spot you were Called from.
-Accurate includes having visited the location recently, a recent image of the location, having spent an extended period of time living there or an inaccurate sense currently viewing the location(e.g. Blindsense, Tremorsense). Certain beacons may count as Accurate even if they are Uncertain.
-Aware includes having an accurate description of the location, having visited the location before or having a vague sense currently sensing the location(e.g hearing).
-Uncertain is having a reliable description of the location(at least knowing where it is relative to a location of Aware level, sufficient to walk there from the other location).
-Vague is having only a vague description of the location(relative only to Uncertain locations)
-False is attempting to teleport to a location outside the range of the spell or to an entirely nonexistent location.
Basically short version, making teleport mishaps and familiarity more of a limiter on teleportation.
• With the summoning restriction added to calling spells and beefed up to make the creature incapable of casting instead of simply refusing, Wish shenanigans don't work.
• Creation spells have been restricted in utility slightly.
• Healing might be viable in combat now that the healing feats can be used on more spells. If it's too much, let me know.
DivinationDivination spells enable you to learn secrets long forgotten, to predict the future, to find hidden things, and to foil deceptive spells. Representative spells include identify, detect thoughts, clairaudience/clairvoyance, and true seeing. Universal Divination Rules:Many divination spells have cone-shaped areas (see page 175). These move with you and extend in the direction you look. The cone defines the area that you can sweep each round. If you study the same area for multiple rounds, you can often gain additional information, as noted in the descriptive text for the spell.
Divination spells do not grant sufficient information to become familiar with an area, meaning they cannot be used to teleport.Some divinations may allow spellcasting through them, but they cannot cross temporal boundaries. A Hindsight spell may be used to see the past, but any spellcasting through it is limited to purely voyeuristic divinations such as detect magic. In short, you cannot alter the past with a divination.Scrying Rules:A scrying spell creates an invisible magical sensor that sends you information. Unless noted otherwise, the sensor has the same powers of sensory acuity that you possess. This level of acuity includes any spells or effects that target you (such as darkvision or see invisibility), but not spells or effects that emanate from you (such as detect evil). However, the sensor is treated as a separate, independent sensory organ of yours, and thus it functions normally even if you have been blinded, deafened, or otherwise suffered sensory impairment. Any creature with an Intelligence score of 12 or higher can notice the sensor by making a DC 20 Intelligence check. The sensor can be dispelled as if it were an active spell. Lead sheeting or magical protection (such as antimagic field, mind blank, or nondetection) blocks a scrying spell, and you sense that the
spell is so blocked.
Divination Comments:• The wire hanger is no longer possible, and any other similar shenanigans should be prevented.
EnchantmentEnchantment spells affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. Representative spells include charm person and suggestion.Universal Enchantment Rules:All enchantments are mind-affecting spells and fall under the subschools of Charms or Compulsions.
Charm Rules:A charm spell changes how the subject views you, typically making it see you as a good friend.
Compulsion Rules:A compulsion spell forces the subject to act in some manner or changes the way her mind works. Some compulsion spells determine the subject’s actions or the effects on the subject, some compulsion spells allow you to determine the subject’s actions when you cast the spell, and others give you ongoing control over the subject.
EvocationEvocation spells manipulate energy or tap an unseen source of power to produce a desired end. In effect, they create something out of nothing. Many of these spells produce spectacular effects, and evocation spells can deal large amounts of damage. Representative spells include magic missile, fireball, and lightning bolt.Frank Trollman on EvocationPolar Ray is an insult to god and man. It's not a long legacy, it was introduced in 3.5 and before that it was merely one of several options for the much lower level Otiluke's Freezing Sphere. And of course, in Pathfinder, that would have to be called Freezing Sphere for copyright reasons, but that is neither here nor there.
The point however, is that in the conversion from AD&D to 3e D&D, the amount of hit points and energy resistance that creatures have has increased literally exponentially. And damage output from Evocations has not kept up in the slightest. And while we could plausibly attempt to push the envelope and pump up damage output to match, that would only be an arms race that no one would win.
Evocations in 3rd edition rules are primarily spells which serve to devastate low level opposition or to slowly but surely chip away at the defenses of opponents that pose reasonable threats. These are sometimes valid tactics, but they are not valid tactics to use one's highest level spells to accomplish. It takes a lot of magic missiles to bring down a Shadow, meaning that there is frankly no way that any Wizard is going to have enough spell slots to dedicate to doing that to make it a viable way to eventually beat such an opponent.
So here's the solution: reduce the spell level of these underperforming evocation spells. Since they scale in damage to your level, nothing actually bad happens if you get these spells early. Even a dozen or more levels early is perfectly fine because the damage scales to something level appropriate at low level. A polar ray cast by a 1st level character does just 1d6 of damage - half the damage that the same character could achieve by purchasing a vial of alchemist frost and throwing it at a target (same to-hit roll as well at any kind of close range).
So here's what the Evocation list should look like:
Evocation Cantrips
* Burning Hands
* Dancing Lights
* Light
* Magic Missile
* Shocking Grasp
Evocation 1st Level Spells
* Fireball
* Floating Disk
* Gust of Wind
* Lightning Bolt
* Polar Ray
* Sending
Evocation 2nd Level Spells
* Chain Lightning
* Cone of Cold
* Continual Flame
* Darkness
* Daylight
* Flaming Sphere (this spell badly needs to be better than it is, but that's another subject)
* Scorching Ray
* Shatter
Evocation 3rd Level Spells
* Delayed Blast Fireball
* Ice Storm
* Shout
* Tiny Hut
* Wall of Fire
* Wind Wall
Evocation 4th Level Spells
* Fire Shield
* Interposing Hand
* Resilient Sphere
* Wall of Ice
Evocation 5th Level Spells
* Forceful Hand
* Freezing Sphere
* Mage Sword
* Sunburst
* Wall of Force
Evocation 6th Level Spells
* Contingency
* Grasping Hand
* Shout, Greater
Evocation 7th Level Spells
* Clenched Fist
* Force Cage
* Prismatic Spray
Evocation 8th Level Spells
* Crushing Hand
* Meteor Swarm
* Telekinetic Sphere
Evocation 9th Level Spells
* 9th level Spells must be written for this discipline. Seriously, timestop? Shapechange? Wail of the Banshee? Astral Projection? Shades? Weird? Most disciplines have two game defining, god-fighting spells to choose from at 9th level. Evocation hasn't been given anything remotely decent for their top tier, so new, mountain leveling spells must be written for Evokers to have.
There. It's pretty much completely backwards compatible, but nonetheless puts Evokers in at being able to do something legitimately valuable - Killing Fools.
And no, having unlimited magic missiles or shocking grasps is not ungamebalanced at 1st level, or any level. Magic Missile tops out in damage at level 9, when it does 17.5 damage against any opponent who doesn't have concealment, cover, or spell resistance. But at level 9, a Rogue is literally inflicting 17.5 points of sneak attack damage with every single attack. And that's not total damage for the round, that's just the extra damage from a sneak attack. He still gets to do his weapon damage, and make his other attacks for that round. Shocking Grasp is very likely to hit, and it does a d8+1 damage. A Longsword in the hands of a Fighter is also very likely to hit and does a d8+4. While the shocking grasp is quite likely to have a better chance of hitting an orc warrior than the longsword is, it is also much more likely to do insufficient damage to drop the orc. Indeed, the Orc Warrior out of the SRD is more likely to drop in one attack from the 1st level Fighter than he from the 1st level Wizard - even factoring in the discrepancy in hit chances.
And no, casting fireballs at 1st level isn't unbalanced either. At 1st level it only does a d6 of fire damage, it's barely worth doing against many opponents. It certainly isn't putting color spray out of a job.
Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws to recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion. For example, if a party encounters a section of illusory floor, the character in the lead would receive a saving throw if she stopped and studied the floor or if she probed the floor. A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline. For examples, a character making a successful saving throw against a figment of an illusory section of floor knows the “floor” isn’t safe to walk on and can see what lies below (light permitting), but he or she can still note where the figment lies. A failed saving throw indicates that a character fails to notice something is amiss. A character faced with proof that an illusion isn’t real needs no saving throw. A character who falls through a section of illusory floor into a pit knows something is amiss, as does one who spends a few rounds poking at the same illusion. If any viewer successfully disbelieves an illusion and communicates this fact to others, each such viewer gains a saving throw with a +4 bonus.
Figment Rules:A figment spell creates a false sensation. Those who perceive the figment perceive the same thing, not their own slightly different versions of the figment. (It is not a personalized mental impression.) Figments cannot make something seem to be something else. A figment that includes audible effects cannot duplicate intelligible speech unless the spell description specifically says it can. If intelligible speech is possible, it must be in a language you can speak. If you try to duplicate a language you cannot speak, the image produces gibberish. Likewise, you cannot make a visual copy of something unless you know what it looks like. Because figments and glamers (see below) are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can. They cannot cause damage to objects or creatures, support weight, provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements. Consequently, these spells are useful for confounding or delaying foes, but useless for attacking them directly. For example, it is possible to use a silent image spell to create an illusory cottage, but the cottage offers no protection from rain. A figment’s AC is equal to 10 + its size modifier.
There needs to be a fix for the figment vs glamer debate.Glamer Rules:A glamer spell changes a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear.
Pattern Rules:Like a figment, a pattern spell creates an image that others can see, but a pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it. All patterns are mind-affecting spells.
Phantasm Rules:A phantasm spell creates a mental image that usually only the caster and the subject (or subjects) of the spell can perceive. This impression is totally in the minds of the subjects. It is a personalized mental impression. (It’s all in their heads and not a fake picture or something that they actually see.) Third parties viewing or studying the scene don’t notice the phantasm. All phantasms are mind-affecting spells.
Shadow Rules:A shadow spell creates something that is partially real from extradimensional energy. Such illusions can have real effects. Damage dealt by a shadow illusion is real.
NecromancyNecromancy spells manipulate the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Spells involving undead creatures make up a large part of this school. Representative spells include cause fear, animate dead, and finger of death.
Necromancy Rules: All spells that heal hit point damage, deal negative energy damage or negative levels are considered Necromancy spells for the purposes of feats and abilities that enhance Necromancy.Necromancy Comments:• Just a continuation of the healing synergy from conjuration. Makes all the feats worth a little more.
TransmutationTransmutation spells change the properties of some creature, thing, or condition. Representative spells include enlarge person, reduce person, polymorph, and shapechange.Still working on a fix for polymorph shenanigans.Basically, you replace your character with another monster. It shares your alignment and goals, but otherwise, you are flat out playing a monster as printed form the monster manual. You gain it's mental stats and you only have spellcasting if it does. The power level is not limited by HD to caster level, but instead is the monsters CR, which cannot be greater than your CL - 3. So, a 7th level wizard could polymoprh into a CR 4 or lower monster. In addition, you cannot cast any spells that require an expenditure of XP.
Inspiration: Exalted.
Anyone who has ever played Exalted knows that it's pretty much like playing Epic from level 1. The Charm system works surprisingly well, but the rest of the game is badly tuned, just like every storyteller system game.
Epic Spellcasting
Spell slots: Epic spell slots follow the same progression as normal spell slots, but new spells aren't learned. The new slots are used for metamagic feats, as well as the new Chaincasting feat.
Chaincast [Metamagic, Epic]Your mastery of spellcasting is so great that you may cast a great number of spells in a short amount of time.Prerequisites: Level 21, Spellcraft 24 RanksBenefits: You may cast as many spells as you wish in one turn by adding the total level of the spells together and adding 2. That is the spell slot that is used.
Note: 0 Level spells are treated as 1/2 a level.
Example: Magic Missile + Fireball = 6th level slot
