Panic Button [PEACH, D&D 3.5 spell]

[RelentlessImp]

Parallel Self
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 9, Time 9
Components: 1 level; see text
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: Self
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless); see text
Spell Resistance: No

Upon casting this spell, time freezes as if by a Time Stop spell, but only for one round for the caster. During these six seconds, the caster is freed to manipulate the flow of time that shaped him, instantly manipulating all aspects of who he is - his class levels, his race, any and all templates, feat selection, skill allocation, and so on. He cannot increase his effective character level beyond its norm by this method, and any addition of level adjustment will result in having a lower number of class levels as appropriate.

When the Time Stop ends, it is still the caster's turn, and he is free to act in any manner he wishes according to his new abilities. He instantly has access to any spells, psionic powers and power point totals, and so on, as if he had just started the day. When the spell ends, the caster immediately reverts to his original form ("original form" being the class, race, etc combination that he was prior to casting this spell) and is paralyzed for 1d20+5 rounds, regardless of whether or not he is immune to paralyzation and is not allowed a save against this effect. The caster also immediately loses one experience level, as if affected by a raise dead or resurrection spell. All of the caster's spell slots are also counted as "used", robbing the caster of all of his spells until he can rest and prepare spells once again.

This level loss is immediately permanent, and cannot be recovered through any means, including recovery of experience via a thought bottle. The character must work to earn his experience level again, leaving this spell most often a panic button for powerful mages who have run out of options.

Material Component: An out-of-game pre-prepared extra character sheet to replace the character's with for the duration of the spell. If the caster's player tries to cast this spell without this component, beat him over the head with the thickest book you have - any of the Forgotten Realms books should do.


Thoughts? I was thinking of the panic buttons full casters have available to them, and this spell came to mind fully formed. Too powerful? Not powerful enough? Not necessary? All opinions are welcomed on this.

[Asheram]

Parallel Self
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 9, Time 9
Components: 1 level; see text
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: Self
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless); see text
Spell Resistance: No

Upon casting this spell, time freezes as if by a Time Stop spell, but only for one round for the caster. During these six seconds, the caster is freed to manipulate the flow of time that shaped him, instantly manipulating all aspects of who he is - his class levels, his race, any and all templates, feat selection, skill allocation, and so on. He cannot increase his effective character level beyond its norm by this method, and any addition of level adjustment will result in having a lower number of class levels as appropriate.

When the Time Stop ends, it is still the caster's turn, and he is free to act in any manner he wishes according to his new abilities. He instantly has access to any spells, psionic powers and power point totals, and so on, as if he had just started the day. When the spell ends, the caster immediately reverts to his original form ("original form" being the class, race, etc combination that he was prior to casting this spell) and is paralyzed for 1d20+5 rounds, regardless of whether or not he is immune to paralyzation and is not allowed a save against this effect. The caster also immediately loses one experience level, as if affected by a raise dead or resurrection spell. All of the caster's spell slots are also counted as "used", robbing the caster of all of his spells until he can rest and prepare spells once again.

This level loss is immediately permanent, and cannot be recovered through any means, including recovery of experience via a thought bottle. The character must work to earn his experience level again, leaving this spell most often a panic button for powerful mages who have run out of options.


Thoughts? I was thinking of the panic buttons full casters have available to them, and this spell came to mind fully formed. Too powerful? Not powerful enough? Not necessary? All opinions are welcomed on this.

*whimpers* Good god, this is too powerful.
This esentially makes you a God for those (atleast 17) minutes it's active.
You realise that this essentially makes you able to perform almost every kind of cheeze that the optimization boards pumps out? Including Pun-pun.

[RelentlessImp]

*whimpers* Good god, this is too powerful.
This esentially makes you a God for those (atleast 17) minutes it's active.
You realise that this essentially makes you able to perform almost every single kind of cheeze that the optimization boards pump out? Including Pun-pun.

But only those (at least) 17 minutes, and only once a day, and then you get to spend a lot of time leveling back up to your previous level while your friends progress easily upwards. It's a different kind of optimization button; it's reactive rather than proactive, and it makes it a poor choice to use on piddling things, only in absolute life-or-death situations at the very most - the kind of situation smart wizards avoid.

What would better balance it? Putting it in the realm of Epic spellcasting would be silly as building an epic spell like this wouldn't take too much time, effort, or ability.

[Rithaniel]

Hmmm, right off the bat, this reminded me of Shapechange, just a little weaker. The differences being that, this lets you be any character build, what-so-ever. The only bad part is, with being a Wizard, you don't want to be anything other kind of character build, when you could instead turn into a Ravid or a Pit Fiend (in fact, I remember one build that got both Clerity and Dictum both at the same time, despite the fact that Dictum is a cleric spell). Just one comment on this though: This spell will likely eat up a massive chunk of time in game.

Think about it, though, you're in the middle of combat, and you cast this spell, allowing you to become whatever you want. At this point, you start designing what you want to be... now then, isn't making a character one of the most time consuming parts of D&D? and that, is when you're making a low level character... imagine making a twentieth level character on the fly. This spell might as well also include a clause that says "When you cast this spell, the rest of the party can go play a game or twenty of Smash Brothers: Brawl while you work out what you are changing."

Now then, there's nothing wrong with the spell. After all, you can always have a second sheet prepared for when you cast it, but, there are a few questions I have:

When you come out of the Time Stop, are you fully healed?
Can you control your equipment? Like, what if you changed size?
Do you have recollection of your life before the change? Or are you actually an entity from another timeline?

There is more that needs to be asked, but, I forget what they are. Now, this spell is good for 9th level, and it intrigued me (time is sort of my thing), but, it definitely needs some fine tuning.

[RelentlessImp]

Hmmm, right off the bat, this reminded me of Shapechange, just a little weaker. The differences being that, this lets you be any character build, what-so-ever. The only bad part is, with being a Wizard, you don't want to be anything other kind of character build, when you could instead turn into a Ravid or a Pit Fiend (in fact, I remember one build that got both Clerity and Dictum both at the same time, despite the fact that Dictum is a cleric spell). Just one comment on this though: This spell will likely eat up a massive chunk of time in game.

Think about it, though, you're in the middle of combat, and you cast this spell, allowing you to become whatever you want. At this point, you start designing what you want to be... now then, isn't making a character one of the most time consuming parts of D&D? and that, is when you're making a low level character... imagine making a twentieth level character on the fly. This spell might as well also include a clause that says "When you cast this spell, the rest of the party can go play a game or twenty of Smash Brothers: Brawl while you work out what you are changing."

Now then, there's nothing wrong with the spell. After all, you can always have a second sheet prepared for when you cast it, but, there are a few questions I have:

When you come out of the Time Stop, are you fully healed?
Can you control your equipment? Like, what if you changed size?
Do you have recollection of your life before the change? Or are you actually an entity from another timeline?

There is more that needs to be asked, but, I forget what they are. Now, this spell is good for 9th level, and it intrigued me (time is sort of my thing), but, it definitely needs some fine tuning.

1: Depends on the DM and how they rule how Wild Shape and Shapechange and new CON scores adjust your hitpoints; a like percentage of current hitpoints/total hitpoints when you change (50/100 old form, 200/400 new form), or fully healed.
2: Equipment can be changed to suit the "new form" but only with a like wealth value of what you currently have. Thus if you don't have a +10 weapon you can't create a +5 vorpal sword, and so on.
3: Recollection of your "old life", borrowing the "new life" from the form of an "alternate you" made up of different choices that the character made throughout his life. The character should have a working knowledge of how to use those abilities while the spell's in effect, but only wind up with strict bare details of what happened while the spell was in effect.

And yeah, having an alternate character sheet (or three) on hand for your "ohcrap PANIC" form would be the best way to use this spell. Grinding the game to a halt because you're in a bad situation isn't a good thing, but if a player's intending on using this spell they should prepare for it - or be smacked by every book on hand.

[Roderick_BR]

I wouldn't allow it out of epic.

[RelentlessImp]

I wouldn't allow it out of epic.

Thank you for that in-depth evaluation and critique thoroughly detailing your problems with the presented material. It will really help me work the spell to a level that doesn't scream "I'm broken, use me, use me like a two-dollar whore". You've really opened my eyes to the problems with the spell. Wow. Thank you so much.

[Dante & Vergil]

Add in a note or warning that recreating a character consumes a lot of actual time, so that one may need to have a good chunk of what he/she wants before actually casting the spell to speed up time.
Actually, giving something like this to the fighter types at higher levels may bring them closer to power level with the casters themselves.

[Gorgondantess]

There's one good reason I can see to use this spell without making it broken, and thankfully, it's availible to the 2 classes that would want it: wizards and sorcerors.
You get to remake your entire spells known/memorized, from the ground up. Keep the same skill points, keep the same feats, classes, race, etcetera, but entirely change your spell list.
Nifty. Not worth a level, though

[Dante & Vergil]

I say that there needs to be an xp component (Nothing too serious), maybe even no cost at all for what it does compared to other spells of the same level, especially since it paralizes the caster afterwards and isn't even instantaneous.

[jiriku]

Mmm. My initial thought is that the benefit is too good, and the drawback is too bad.

I'll start with the drawback becasue it's easier to explain: just die! Seriously, if you're about to get killed, just dying and eating the 25k gold cost for a true resurrection with no level loss is is less of a hindrance to power advancement than taking the lost level for casting this spell. If your death would mean the difference between victory and defeat, it's still cheaper to just cast wish and use it to GTFO.


Now, on to the benefit: Rithaniel is right on the mark; the DM shouldn't even allow this spell to be cast unless the player has his temporary character sheet right there at the table, fully completed and proofed for errors. No player should have the right to disrupt the game for everyone else. If you'd like a simple change, try the following verbage:


This spell can be cast in one of two ways. The caster must choose which form of the spell to cast when he prepares the spell.

The first form of casting parallel self is known as embodiment. In game terms, prior to casting the embodiment version of the spell, the player draws up an additional character sheet of the same ECL with the same approximate value of possessions, and submits it for approval to the DM. The DM will work with the player to modify it as needed. Once, the DM approves it, the player may prepare and cast parallel self as an embodiment. In a complex ritual that requires x hours, the caster delves deeply into his own place in the multiverse, contemplating paths that might have been in his life, and constructing a magical embodiment of his parallel self that might have been. The caster fixes the embodiment into a prepared magical vessel, which is shaped like a small homunculus in the form of the caster's embodiment. Crafting the vessel is part of the ritual, and requires the expenditure of y gold pieces and z experience points. No one else can use the embodied vessel, nor can the caster use vessels embodied by others. The caster can have more than one embodied vessel at a time, but each must be unique and significantly different from the others (DM's judgement as to whether embodiments are sufficiently unique).

The second form of casting is known as expression. The caster must have at least one embodied vessel of his own making in his possession in order to prepare parallel self as an expression. When cast as an expression, parallel self has a casting time of one swift action and a duration of 1 round/level. The caster spends z experience points and selects one previously prepared embodiment whose vessel he is carrying on his person. The vessel shatters, and the caster instantly becomes the embodiment, the player replacing the PC's usual character sheet with the character sheet of the embodiment. The destroyed vessel cannot be reused, although the caster can use the embodiment version of parallel self to prepare that embodiment for use again.

When the spell's duration expires, the caster falls unconscious, and remains so for one hour, although a restoration or heal spell cast upon him will cause him to awaken one minute after the spell is applied. A properly worded wish or miracle can awaken him immediately.

tl;dr The caster must cast parallel self in its first form as a lengthy ritual, spending time, gold, and xp to prepare one alternate character sheet in advance, which exists in the game as an embodied vessel. Then, he must cast parallel self in its second form to assume any previously prepared character sheet, spending xp and destroying the embodied vessel. The duration is reduced to 1 round/level and the penalty is reduced to one hour of unconsciousness, which can be mitigated through high-level restorative magic.


If that's not your cup of tea, take a look at transcend mortality, a 9th-level wu-jen spell on pp.210-121 of Complete Mage, for an example of another "all-in" type of spell. If might give you some useful inspiration.

[Debihuman]

When the Time Stop ends, it is still the caster's turn, and he is free to act in any manner he wishes according to his new abilities. He instantly has access to any spells, psionic powers and power point totals, and so on, as if he had just started the day. When the spell ends, the caster immediately reverts to his original form ("original form" being the class, race, etc combination that he was prior to casting this spell) and is paralyzed for 1d20+5 rounds, regardless of whether or not he is immune to paralyzation and is not allowed a save against this effect. The caster also immediately loses one experience level, as if affected by a raise dead or resurrection spell. All of the caster's spell slots are also counted as "used", robbing the caster of all of his spells until he can rest and prepare spells once again.

Wouldn't anyone witnessing this effect be stunned at the transformation? How could this not affect anyone around the caster?

Also, if the caster is paralyzed for 1d20+5 rounds, after the effect, he is essentially a sitting duck.

Debby

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Also, if the caster is paralyzed for 1d20+5 rounds, after the effect, he is essentially a sitting duck.

I assume that would be the point--this isn't supposed to be worth it to use except in a scenario in which either you or every hostile within miles will end up dead.

However, I'm pretty sure there are other ways to create a "become whatever you want to be" spell than letting someone craft a new character in the middle of things; I strongly second jiriku's suggestion of requiring a pre-created sheet to keep things flowing smoothly at the table.

[RelentlessImp]

Mmm. My initial thought is that the benefit is too good, and the drawback is too bad.

I'll start with the drawback becasue it's easier to explain: just die! Seriously, if you're about to get killed, just dying and eating the 25k gold cost for a true resurrection with no level loss is is less of a hindrance to power advancement than taking the lost level for casting this spell. If your death would mean the difference between victory and defeat, it's still cheaper to just cast wish and use it to GTFO.


Now, on to the benefit: Rithaniel is right on the mark; the DM shouldn't even allow this spell to be cast unless the player has his temporary character sheet right there at the table, fully completed and proofed for errors. No player should have the right to disrupt the game for everyone else. If you'd like a simple change, try the following verbage:



tl;dr The caster must cast parallel self in its first form as a lengthy ritual, spending time, gold, and xp to prepare one alternate character sheet in advance, which exists in the game as an embodied vessel. Then, he must cast parallel self in its second form to assume any previously prepared character sheet, spending xp and destroying the embodied vessel. The duration is reduced to 1 round/level and the penalty is reduced to one hour of unconsciousness, which can be mitigated through high-level restorative magic.


If that's not your cup of tea, take a look at transcend mortality, a 9th-level wu-jen spell on pp.210-121 of Complete Mage, for an example of another "all-in" type of spell. If might give you some useful inspiration.

I do like that version as well; but there's enough ways out of danger that require time, money, and generally more time than a person normally has for an 'ohCRAP' moment of decision. I mean, there's Craft Contingent Spell, Contingency, crafting magic items that let you teleport away, and so on. The entire point of this spell is to be reactive rather than proactive.

Also, I assume your version would be one spell for Sorcerers rather than two? With the way it's worded, Parallel Self (embodiment) and Parallel Self (expression) are two different spells that would take up way too many 9th level Sorcerer spells known. (2 out of their 3 total?)

And yes, I'll be adding a few caveats to the spell, such as having the sheet prepared ahead of time.

On the drawbacks: It's meant to be a serious decision between death and using this spell. It's meant to be the ultimate all-or-nothing spell, when you've got no choice left. Transcend Mortality is a nice buff, but it won't keep a determined opponent from killing you if they have a good idea of your abilities. Though a 25k cost limits it, it ultimately means nothing with the way 3.5's economy's broken. Experience, though, is something that's difficult to abuse with the removal of experience-restoring tricks such as a thought bottle.

[jiriku]

Yes, it's one spell, castable two different ways, much like binding, forcecage, or pyrotechnics. Although, any sorcerer who chooses this as a spell known needs a swift kick in the head. Wish is much more flexible at ~1/3 the XP cost, and most sorcerers won't touch wish with an adamantine ghost touch 10' pole.

On the subject of preparation, I think we might actually be agreeing with one another in an unusual way. The expression version I proposed is your OhCrap!(TM) spell, just like the original proposal. The embodiment version of the spell is a game mechanic that formalizes the need for the player to plan ahead and gain DM approval.

Why do this? Two reasons:
1) Amortization! Part of the cost of the OhCrap!(TM) moment can be paid ahead, reducing the need for an OMGWTFBBQ crippling effect when the OhCrap!(TM) spell expires.
2) Optimization! Preparing 30 character sheets in advance makes the spell much more powerful than preparing one, but the spell as written doesn't get more expensive if you optimize it in this way. The changed version attaches a cost to each prepared character sheet, limiting potential abuse without the need for DM fiat.

Also, I'm in perfect agreement with you that an XP cost is a better way to limit a spell than a GP cost. Amen to that! In fact, that's my concern: parallel self is not powerful enough to justify an xp cost of ~ 15,000. You can gate in something with double your ECL for 5,000 XP, and this spell just isn't as good as several castings of gate.

[Agi Hammerthief]

the spell is not really reactive as it has to be prepared in the morning (Wizard) or learned at level-up (Sorcerer).

You'd be preparing a "use once per Character Level" spell instead of a powerful "once per day" spell.

A spell which might actually have prevented you needing the panic button in the first place if you had prepared/learned it.

As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero
18th level sorcerer -> three meteor strikes every day


now, if you implement it as an amulet type of thing...
the out of game preparation of the character sheet = in game craft magic item.
one magic item for each prepared character sheet
(and probably a % chance to press the wrong panic button :smallbiggrin: )
the XP cost being drawn from the user after the use instead of the caster at crafting.

Which regular spells would you have to combine in a magic item to emulate Parallel Self? (including Energy Drain as an unwanted side effect I guess if you want to keep your "Level Gone" penalty)

Looking at it from the Emulate by Combination perspective should give you a rough guide at the cost (GP & XP)


Would be fun to see a Rogue activating a stolen amulet with UMD

"whats this do?" :smallconfused:
"wowsers uber powefull new shape!" :smallamused:
- 1minute/crafter level later:
"WTF? ow! crap!!!" :smalleek:

[Siosilvar]

I'll start with the drawback becasue it's easier to explain: just die! Seriously, if you're about to get killed, just dying and eating the 25k gold cost for a true resurrection with no level loss is is less of a hindrance to power advancement than taking the lost level for casting this spell. If your death would mean the difference between victory and defeat, it's still cheaper to just cast wish and use it to GTFO.

Soul bind. *sips coffee*

[Lysander]

The biggest abuse I see here is that it replenishes all your spell slots. A wizard could cast all their spells but one level 9 slot, become a slightly different wizard, and then cast an entirely new day's worth of spells! Would it also replenish epic spells slots? What if someone modifies themselves to get more epic spells per day than normal?

[Voice of Reason]

I apologize for what is going to be a very short criticism, but I'd need more time that I have at present to critique it fully and there's a few things that need to be addressed immediately.

1) The spell only lasts for 1 minute/level, but it is so incredibly easy to tack on Persist Spell at this level. You need to account for the fact that people can, and will, persist this spell on a regular basis. You may want to do something about this, such as make the duration "special"

2) There's nothing to stop a player from casting this spell multiple times. So a wizard could cast this once, get a new spell set, cast it again, get a new spell set, repeat into infinity for the rest of its duration. You could literally hold up every splatbook you own and say "everyone in the party has every single buff in this book for a minimum of 24 hours;" it wouldn't even be that hard.

3) Since you're going to gain your original form back at the end of the duration (-1 level), there's no reason why you shouldn't just spend as much experience as humanly possible (crafting, wishing, etc.) such that you will actually gain experience back at the end of the spell.

4) Perhaps this was intentional, but if this spell is dispelled via dispel magic or a similar effect, the user reverts to their original form immediately and loses a level, even if its been active for as little as one turn.

5) The caster could walk into an antimagic field when their time is almost up. Since the spell would be repressed, they'd regain their form, but not lose their level because the spell has not yet expired. The spell's duration keeps going, so when the end time comes, they will get to avoid the level loss, since the spell effect that forces them to lose a level cannot activate while in the AMF. The wizard then walks out of the AMF with no drawbacks to this spell. Rinse and repeat with the other issues above.

In general, I think you either need to rework the spell completely, or add a very specific set of restrictions. Namely, something to the tune of "This spell cannot be dispelled or suppressed before its duration expires. Only one Parallel Self spell can be active at any time on a given target. The level loss of this spell cannot be avoided by any means."

EDIT: Wait a moment...this thread has been dead for over a month. I am very sorry, I honestly have no idea how I found it, and I apologize for the unintended thread necromancy :smallredface: