Is There Any Harm In Making All Spells Dismissable?

[Fax Celestis]

As title.

Currently, only spells with (D) in their duration lines are dismissable, which means a significant portion thereof are not.

[Extra Anchovies]

Well, there are some spells that provide a rather beneficial effect but also have a drawback; two that spring to mind are Tenser's Transformation, which grants insane combat abilities (BAB equal to CL, +4 to physical ability scores, +4 natural armor, +5 on fortitude saves), and Mental Pinnacle, which grants psionics (+4 to Int and Wis, 3 power points/CL, and access to a short list of powers). They both also prevent you from casting spells for their duration. Both spells give you some very powerful options, but with temporary loss of casting as a drawback. If they were dismissible, they'd be more useful; you could end either one as soon as you needed to cast a spell again.

These are two of the more obvious cases, but I think that some spells are non-dismissible to keep them in check; being able to instantly reverse any magical effect you've created can be abused in a lot of ways. For example, casting Transmute Stone to Mud on the floor beneath an enemy, waiting for them to sink down a bit, then dismissing it to trap them halfway in the stone. Because it's also shapeable (and can thus be spread out over a 5-foot-deep area), that lets you essentially eliminate sixteen 5-foot squares' per caster level worth of enemies, pretty much regardless of their hit dice, saving throws, and/or spell resistance.

[Coidzor]

Certainly more of them could be Dismissable without harming things, but there are a few where it might be a bit weird or require some work to make sure they weren't made unduly more potent by this.

[Psyren]

It gives a little more power to casters ("the battle's over, we don't need this acid fog in the way anymore" etc.) but I think the range, action cost and need for verbal component are enough to keep it in line. Should be fine but I haven't gone through everything.

[Ravens_cry]

Does this include instantaneous effects? It would add to book keeping if any wounds or damage faced while fighting a Wizard simply faded away when you killed them.

[Fax Celestis]

Does this include instantaneous effects? It would add to book keeping if any wounds or damage faced while fighting a Wizard simply faded away when you killed them.

No, just ones with actual durations.

[Chambers]

No, just ones with actual durations.

Technically, Instantaneous is an actual duration...

Spoiler

Show

Certain spells could be a problem, like Imprisonment or other spells that specify how the spell can end (Bestow Curse, etc).

[Curmudgeon]

This would lead to all sorts of annoyances. An NPC spellcaster could cast a plethora of buffs for pay, and then sell their services to your enemies to dismiss all those Permanency spells just as a battle starts.

Very bad idea.

[Psyren]

That seems a pretty corner case - they have to be in range, which for many buffs means they have to touch you again. Certainly they're not going to be able to book a flight to Switzerland Menzoberranzan and snap their fingers once there to screw you over.

Yeah, if you're going into battle alongside them they might be able to betray you, but this is scarcely different than simply stabbing you in the back the old-fashioned way.

[peacenlove]

There are classes that their whole spell list is dismiss-able (shadowcaster)
It had led to a small tactical advantage (mainly when our party needs to re-position itself, after laying down some AoE control).
It would weaken the incantatrix, who gains control of spell effects and would slightly buff mind affecting effects on spellcasters.
Dismissing a spell is a free standard action, that can't be taken out of turn, so you cannot exploit it easily.

So if you can keep up with the additional bookkeeping, IMO it wouldn't seriously affect gameplay.

[Psyren]

Dismissing a spell is a free action, that can't be taken out of turn, so you cannot exploit it easily.

Worse than that - it's a standard action (that does not provoke.)

Yeah, I'm not seeing the big problem with this other than giving spellcasters one less thing to worry about (i.e. AoE placement.)

[With a box]

In fact, Dismissing a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Copyed from srd