Locate City

[Korivan]

Quick question. What book is locate city in? Thanks

[Flickerdart]

Races of Destiny, I'm quite certain.

[Amiria]

Races of Destiny, I know it, unerringly.

[herrhauptmann]

Quick question. What book is locate city in? Thanks

Are you aiming for Locate City bomb?

[Doc Roc]

Please don't actually use the locate cities bomb! I mean, it's funny, but don't actually do it!

[MickJay]

Does anyone remember how LCB was supposed to work? I've read an argument that it shouldn't work by RAW, but I can't remember the details.

[Kzickas]

Does anyone remember how LCB was supposed to work? I've read an argument that it shouldn't work by RAW, but I can't remember the details.

A chain of effects and/or metamagic are used to fullfill the prequisits of others until eventually you make it do damage in it's area. Then you do something (don't remember any details) that makes your AoE damage spells move enemies to the edge of their area and deal damage based on how far they moved, Locate city has a radius measured in miles/level.

[arguskos]

Take Locate City. Apply Snowcasting, making it a [cold] spell. Then use Flash Frost Spell to make it deal 2 points of cold damage. Add a touch of Explosive Spell, and suddenly, it's tossing people all over the damn place.

[Sinfire Titan]

Take Locate City. Apply Snowcasting, making it a [cold] spell. Then use Flash Frost Spell to make it deal 2 points of cold damage. Add a touch of Explosive Spell, and suddenly, it's tossing people all over the damn place.

The variant is to use Fell Drain and Twin/Repeat Spell+Residual Metamagic in place of Explosive spell, but that's a lot harder to do. You end up killing every commoner in the area, and get an army of wights out of the deal in exchange for the harder setup. None of them are under your control, but being able to necrofy a 10 mile/CL radius worth of commoners has got to be worth something.

[Zeta Kai]

Locate City Bomb
(quoted from someone smarter & more evil that I)

Locate City (Races of Destiny, page 166) - 10 mile/level radius, finds a city
Apply Snowcasting (Frostburn, page 50) - spell now has the cold descriptor
Apply Flash Frost feat (Player's Handbook 2, page 91) - spell now deals 2 points of cold damage to all in area (and makes area slippery but we don't care about that)
Apply Energy Substitution (Electricity) (Complete Arcane, page 79) - spell now deals electricity damage
Apply Born of Three Thunders (Complete Arcane, page 76) - spell deals half electric, half sonic, but what is important is that it now requires a reflex save, allowing us to...
Apply Explosive Spell (Complete Arcane, page 79) - all creatures/things in area that fail their reflex saves are shunted to the outside of the area of effect (10 miles/level) and take 1d6 damage per 10’ moved!


Voila, you have just nuked an entire kingdom with a 4th level spell slot, a handful of snow and a silly combination of feats. Of course you have to be creative as well to not get shunted 200 miles yourself, or end up with a thousand tons of debris and bodies on top of you.

[arguskos]

Yeah, forgot about the Energy Sub (elec) and Three Thunders. That's what I get for going off memory. :smallsigh:

Thanks for the save there Zeta.

[Keld Denar]

Take Locate City. Apply Snowcasting, making it a [cold] spell. Then use Flash Frost Spell to make it deal 2 points of cold damage. Add a touch of Explosive Spell, and suddenly, it's tossing people all over the damn place.

You forgot 2 steps. You need Energy Admixture(Electric) to add the [Electric] subtype to the spell, which then qualifies for Born of 3 Thunders that is what gives it the Reflex save required to apply Explosive Spell.

But yea...Fel Draining Locate City is a heck of a lot more hilarious...Wightocolypse anyone?

EDIT: I'm pretty sure that Energy Sub doesn't work. It loses the [Cold] subtype, which means it isn't a valid target for Flash Frost anymore. Energy Admixture, however, is 100% legal since then it would be both [Cold] and [Electric].

[Guancyto]

You know, he might just have a party lost in the wilderness and have just gotten some exp for his wizard... :smalltongue:

[Claudius Maximus]

I thought I saw a refutation based on the fact that Locate City has an area defined as a circle rather than a sphere, which would negate the explosive spell shenanigans since the nearest open space would be "up" by a very small margin.

[Doc Roc]

If that is true, and I turn sideways, where does the circle go then? ;)

[Deth Muncher]

If that is true, and I turn sideways, where does the circle go then? ;)

That's when you rip a hole in the plane. Not like Gate mind you, but rather shredding reality into tiny bits, which you then get sucked into, and retconned out of existence. Everyone forgets that such a combination of feats can exist, and they live much better lives because of it.

[Claudius Maximus]

That's when you rip a hole in the plane. Not like Gate mind you, but rather shredding reality into tiny bits, which you then get sucked into, and retconned out of existence. Everyone forgets that such a combination of feats can exist, and they live much better lives because of it.

I pity all those poor people who were just trying to find a city, but tripped.

[Flickerdart]

I pity all those poor people who were just trying to find a city, but tripped.
That'll teach you to max out Balance.

[The Professor]

I once had a character who had the Locate City bomb. Snuck it in under my DMs nose, and when I alerted him to what it could do, he let me keep it because it made sense for the character (netherese arcanist in the Forgotten Realms that had been petrified until recently). Sadly, I never got a chance to use it. :smallfrown:

[MickJay]

I thought I saw a refutation based on the fact that Locate City has an area defined as a circle rather than a sphere, which would negate the explosive spell shenanigans since the nearest open space would be "up" by a very small margin.

Yes, I think that's what I was looking for, thanks :) Technically, it could move people up (or down) a little, but since nobody's bigger than 10' (in any direction, with exception of creatures large enough to ignore the damage), there would be no casualties. Also, since the circle is a 2-dimensional object, if would (most likely) fail to interact with material world anyway (since its thickness is infinitely small, so are the chances of its interaction with even a single atom).

[Foryn Gilnith]

The optimal route is by far the Fell Draining Locate City Bomb.
Sources used: PHB2, Frostburn, Complete Arcane, Complete Mage, Libris Mortis, Races of Destiny
Level 6 Human Diviner

Feats: Snowcasting [1st, Frostburn], Flash Frost Spell [1st, PHB2], Metamagic School Focus (Divination) [3rd, Complete Mage], Fell Drain [wizard bonus 5th, Libris Mortis], Arcane Thesis (Locate City) [6th, PHB2]

Other: Int 16 or more, Focused Specialist (Divination) [Complete Mage]

I'm assuming Arcane Thesis gives a flat -1 level per spell, just to be safe. :smallsmile:

Of divination (which is all that matters), you have 5 third-level spells per day (1+3 specialist+1 ability); and 6 second-level spells per day. Casting a Flash Frost Fell Drain Locate City is a 3rd-level spell slot, but 3/day you can use Metamagic Spell Focus to reduce the cost to 2nd-level. So, 8/day, you can give everyone within 80 miles that doesn't have cold resistance a negative level. And cover the whole place with ice for a round. :P

[Claudius Maximus]

Yes, I think that's what I was looking for, thanks :) Technically, it could move people up (or down) a little, but since nobody's bigger than 10' (in any direction, with exception of creatures large enough to ignore the damage), there would be no casualties. Also, since the circle is a 2-dimensional object, if would (most likely) fail to interact with material world anyway (since its thickness is infinitely small, so are the chances of its interaction with even a single atom).

Well, it would still do its damage, which is potentially broken if you take the tripping/stunning or negative levels into account. Does Locate City ignore line of effect? I don't have my books at the moment, but if I recall you must cast it outside. If that's the case, I assume any walls or cliffs or whatever wouldn't block the spell, so would the bomb penetrate buildings?

[Stormthorn]

A chain of effects and/or metamagic are used to fullfill the prequisits of others until eventually you make it do damage in it's area. Then you do something (don't remember any details) that makes your AoE damage spells move enemies to the edge of their area and deal damage based on how far they moved, Locate city has a radius measured in miles/level.

I would give a reflex save to grab hold of something and not take the damage and have a % chance of bumping into something and stopping earlier for less damage.

[Foryn Gilnith]

It already allows a Reflex save. Explosive Spell works only on those that fail their saves. The point is that in 10 miles/level, you'll be killing a lot of people no matter what mitigating factors you throw in.

But this is why I prefer Fell Drain Locate City Bomb.

[Keld Denar]

A Fell Frightening Locate City would have interesting results as well, especially if you had Imperious Command. Imagine life, everyone wandering around, doing their own thing, and then all of a sudden RUNNING IN TERROR FOR NO REASON, and then going back to whatever it was they were doing. Sure, its not a Wightocalypse, but its still pretty damn funny.

[Sinfire Titan]

A Fell Frightening Locate City would have interesting results as well, especially if you had Imperious Command. Imagine life, everyone wandering around, doing their own thing, and then all of a sudden RUNNING IN TERROR FOR NO REASON, and then going back to whatever it was they were doing. Sure, its not a Wightocalypse, but its still pretty damn funny.

Yeah, but the Fell Drain version has a chance of attracting Atropus.

[Keld Denar]

The Bane Elemental? Brain Saps for EVERYONE!

[Foryn Gilnith]

I just read Elder Evils. That's all that we need to attract Atropus? A paltry 100000 deaths in a short period of time? The real world would have been annihilated by now.

[Olo Demonsbane]

No bomb is worth anything without Fell Animate :smallbiggrin:

[Myrmex]

No bomb is worth anything without Fell Animate :smallbiggrin:

First I kill you....

[Coidzor]

Then I bring you back as a slavering horde!

Good thing no one figured out how to make ghoul-fever-esque zombies ala RE....

[Leon]

This is not the city you are looking for

[Sinfire Titan]

I just read Elder Evils. That's all that we need to attract Atropus? A paltry 100000 deaths in a short period of time? The real world would have been annihilated by now.

Why use a 9th level spell that takes 24 hours to cast and a Good-aligned artifact when you can use the innocuous Locate City spell?

[Doc Roc]

The Bane Elemental? Brain Saps for EVERYONE!

Mmmm buff to enfeeble in 6.60!

[Olo Demonsbane]

First I kill you....


First, I kill you.

It felt really creepy remembering that quote...

[Sstoopidtallkid]

I thought I saw a refutation based on the fact that Locate City has an area defined as a circle rather than a sphere, which would negate the explosive spell shenanigans since the nearest open space would be "up" by a very small margin.Was that not errata'd? Because a Circle makes the spell...less than useful. The earth is not flat, after all. Besides, there are no core spells with an area of a circle.

Even if so, the Locate City Wightocalypse is more fun, anyways. 10th level caster Wighting anyone without Death Ward or a means of escape in a matter of rounds...so funny.

[Philistine]

I would give a reflex save to grab hold of something and not take the damage and have a % chance of bumping into something and stopping earlier for less damage.

If you really want to negate the Locate City bomb, there are a couple of easy ways to do it. The simplest, which is completely within RAW, is to ban Frostburn.

For another, the description of Flash Frost Spell reads "Your spells that use cold and ice to damage your foes leave behind a thin layer of slippery ice," and the feat benefit states that "A flash frost spell deals an extra 2 points of cold damage per level of the spell" - the clear implication there being that Flash Frost Spell has no effect on non-damage spells. You could read it either way by the RAW, but in a real game? Expect it to get shot down.

Finally, and potentially much more amusingly, the Locate City spell's actual effect isn't created in a 10-mile/level radius, it's created inside the caster's head. So maybe nothing happens at all when you try this. Or maybe, if your DM is really annoyed (say, because you tried to create a Locate City Bomb), he could rule that applying Flash Frost Spell to Locate City does work, but that it throws the caster (or just the caster's head :smallbiggrin: ) 10 miles/level in the direction of the nearest city if he fails his saves. Needless to say, this isn't RAW.

I do recognize the disadvantages of 4E's "everything is core" approach. But 3E's "all splatbooks are developed in a vacuum" approach has some serious disadvantages of its own, too - like chains of metamagic feats, cherrypicked from 3 different splats, which stack for hilariously improbable results.