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View Full Version : [3.5]Spell disruptor bolt



Zeebiedeebie
2008-10-03, 06:58 AM
The spell disruptor bolt
The spell disruptor crossbow bolt is a hollow, waterproof tube that is filled with a special formula that makes the target's magic behave strangely when the target attempts to cast spells, making it a very effective way of neutralizing a high level spellcatser. This deals as much damage as a crossbow bolt of it's size, but because it is hollow and weighted strangely because of the liquid inside it, it incurs a -3 penalty to attack rolls made with it. Because the bolt relies on the actual magic that the target can cast, the more HD the caster has, the more powerful the bolt's effects. The spellcaster struck must succeed on a fortitude save, or face the effects as shown on this table:
{table=head]Hit-Dice of caster|Fortitude DC|Effects
1-4|13|Must succeed on a DC 15+level of the spell concentration check or lose the next spell the target casts.
5-8|15|Must succeed on a DC 20+level of the spell concentration check or lose the next spell the target casts.
8-11|17|Must succeed on a DC 15+spell level concentration check or lose the spell and cannot cast spells of this school for 1d3 rounds.
11-14|20|Must succeed on a DC 20+spell level concentration check or lose the spell and cannot cast spells for 1d3 rounds.
15-18|23|Cannot cast spells of that school for 1d3 rounds.
19-20|28|Cannot cast spells for 1d3 rounds.
[/table]
This is a nonmagical alchemical item. It costs 500gp per bolt.

afroakuma
2008-10-03, 07:02 AM
That's too cheap; a DC 21 Fortitude save is a writeoff for most spellcasters at low and medium levels.

SilentNight
2008-10-03, 08:34 AM
Agreed, I'd even recommend upwards of 500gp.

Magnor Criol
2008-10-03, 10:49 AM
A nonmagical item that totally disables spellcasting for a number of rounds? That doesn't seem possible. It could make it more difficult, forcing a check of some sort each time they wanted to cast, but in order for something to just flat-out stop all spellcasting, no questions asked, it'd have to be magical.

Also, agreed with afroakuma and Silentnight, DC 21 Fort is way too high.

Texas Jedi
2008-10-03, 12:11 PM
Instead of Fortitude save how about a concentration check?

afroakuma
2008-10-03, 01:58 PM
Doesn't make sense to shut down spellcasting for an extended period off a single Concentration check.

And it's STILL too cheap.

Texas Jedi
2008-10-03, 02:29 PM
Doesn't make sense to shut down spellcasting for an extended period off a single Concentration check.

And it's STILL too cheap.

What I meant wasn't a full shut down but a Concentration check everytime they try to cast a spell. If they fail the Concetration check they waste the spell.

It wouldn't work on spells with the still metamagic on it though.


EDIT: Yeah that is a cheap non magical item. It would have to be a magical item for that to be used.

A low level rogue could kill a great many spell casters with those.

AstralFire
2008-10-03, 02:36 PM
A nonmagical item that totally disables spellcasting for a number of rounds? That doesn't seem possible. It could make it more difficult, forcing a check of some sort each time they wanted to cast, but in order for something to just flat-out stop all spellcasting, no questions asked, it'd have to be magical.

Also, agreed with afroakuma and Silentnight, DC 21 Fort is way too high.

I can see it being non-magical and I like the general idea.

As it is, though, it's very cheap. And I don't mean "it doesn't cost enough" (though that is also true) I mean it just flat out is imbalanced.

Innis Cabal
2008-10-03, 02:39 PM
I'd like to know how it works. You get hit by a single hollow tube and no spell casting

I won't even touch the balance problem, simply because there is no way balance was taken into account with it

AstralFire
2008-10-03, 02:43 PM
It's waterproof, not waterfilled.

You could easily flavor it as containing a poison which targets the internal nodes where your body collects energy when channeling a spell, causing the energy to instead disperse.

Innis Cabal
2008-10-03, 02:45 PM
Opps...problem with skimming and eye bleeding.

BRC
2008-10-03, 02:56 PM
I would give it a penalty to attack rolls the same way alchemists bullets and priests bullets take a penalty on attack rolls.

Also, it should be a concentration check, not a fort save. If it is a fort save, they should be allowed to make a new check every round to end the effect early.
3 rounds (the average with this weapon) is enough time to drop a squishy wizard who can't cast spells. Or get them into a grapple where they can't cast. Or just stand next to them with a readied action to attack everytime they try to cast.

Zeebiedeebie
2008-10-03, 04:09 PM
Heh. Oops. I jotted this down really quick this morning and put 5gp instead of 50. This is fixed now, and I will lower the fortitude save. Thanks for the input!

Zeebiedeebie
2008-10-06, 01:14 AM
(sorry for double post. Just updates.)
I changed the mechanics around A LOT.
I added a table, and bumped the price up. The save is now designed to be insanely hard for a high level wizard to make.

AstralFire
2008-10-06, 12:12 PM
So a bunch of level 5 Fighters with these things could just keep firing them at a single L20 wizard and have a sizable chance of fatally screwing him over?

:confused:

An item... should just about never scale upwards with its opponent.

afroakuma
2008-10-06, 12:17 PM
And even 50 gp is too cheap. A weapon that cancels out any spellcasting would be in insane demand, especially a nonmagical one, as the supply could not be regulated by the number of willing casters.

AstralFire
2008-10-06, 12:17 PM
He upped the price to 500. Which I am strongly tempted to say is far too cheap for the upper level effects.

afroakuma
2008-10-06, 12:22 PM
Which there should not be. As you pointed out, AstralFire, scalable nonmagical items are ridiculous.