[Spells] I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Life Whispers
Conjuration (healing)
Level: Bard 1, Cleric 1, Druid 1
Components: S, F
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Living creature touched
Target: Touch
Duration: 1 minute/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell grants the creature touched the ability to speak by the manipulation of life energy that all living creatures instinctively understand. Creatures lacking a Constitution score cannot hear a thing said through this spell, even if under the effects of a tongues spell.

This does not grant the creature touched any special ability to understand the speech of another.

Focus: A jawbone.

-=-=-=-=-

Wailspell
Transmutation (sonic)
Level: Bard 4
Components: V, F
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 minute/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Your voice rises to such a high pitch that most creatures cannot even hear you. You may even cast spells with a verbal component in seeming silence. All creatures in range of your voice can attempt a DC 30 listen check to hear you. Creatures with blindsight that use their hearing to 'see' can hear you normally, as well as canines such as dogs and wolves.

Focus: A dog whistle.

[DracoDei]

My first glance reaction is that these spells should never exist in the same game. Not because of some horrible broken synergy between them, but because they step on eachother's suspension of disbelief with their relative caster levels (which seem good choices for balance). The first one just sounds like a more difficult trick than the second, and yet it is much weaker mechanically. OTOH Cure Light Wounds sounds much harder to pull off then Fireball from a "grab some energy and deploy it" perspective...

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Aye, it's an unfortunate thing that the results is what a spell is based on rather than what is actually required to get there.

[FlyMolo]

Originally Posted by DracoDei

My first glance reaction is that these spells should never exist in the same game. Not because of some horrible broken synergy between them, but because they step on eachother's suspension of disbelief with their relative caster levels (which seem good choices for balance). The first one just sounds like a more difficult trick than the second, and yet it is much weaker mechanically. OTOH Cure Light Wounds sounds much harder to pull off then Fireball from a "grab some energy and deploy it" perspective...

Writing a story with a pencil is simple. Writing a story with a girder is hard.

Building a little bridge over a cup or something is easy. Building a big bridge is hard.

Lots of energy means more difficulty, even though the spell is simpler.

[Mewtarthio]

Originally Posted by DracoDei

My first glance reaction is that these spells should never exist in the same game. Not because of some horrible broken synergy between them, but because they step on eachother's suspension of disbelief with their relative caster levels (which seem good choices for balance). The first one just sounds like a more difficult trick than the second, and yet it is much weaker mechanically. OTOH Cure Light Wounds sounds much harder to pull off then Fireball from a "grab some energy and deploy it" perspective...

But the first spell only subtly strengthens a character's influence on the web of life that connects all living creatures. Surely you'll agree that's far simpler than altering your vocal chords such that you become inaudible.

[DracoDei]

Originally Posted by Mewtarthio

But the first spell only subtly strengthens a character's influence on the web of life that connects all living creatures. Surely you'll agree that's far simpler than altering your vocal chords such that you become inaudible.

Actually, no, I wouldn't NECESSARILY. One is merely changing the specifics, the other is altering communication to a totally different medium. But I could see that working that way too...

[Zeful]

Originally Posted by The Vorpal Tribble

Life Whispers
Conjuration (healing)
Level: Bard 1, Cleric 1, Druid 1
Components: S, F
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Living creature touched
Target: Touch
Duration: 1 minute/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell grants the creature touched the ability to speak by the manipulation of life energy that all living creatures instinctively understand. Creatures lacking a Constitution score cannot detect a thing, even if under the effects of a tongues spell.

This does not grant the creature touched any special ability to understand the speech of another.

Focus: A jawbone.

Not to nitpick, but this spell seems to have no affect other than to make your conversations undetectable to undead (not that that's bad), and I don't think that was your intention. So you might want to add a line saying something like "all living creatures understand you, despite not sharing a common language" unless you want that to be more of an inferred effect.
The reason I bring this up is because a couple of days ago it was pointed out that rope trick is usless as the spell does not specifically mention that you can enter the extradimensionall space at all. So you might want to clarify what, specifically, the spell can do. That and you can miss the "all living creatures instinctively understand." I did the first time through.

Just my 0.02$

[DracoDei]

Ummm... Tongues is a 3rd level spell, therefore I must conclude that this is indeed meant only to keep undead and constructs from understanding the enchanted parties and in no way provides increased communications abilities (except in as much as they may speak more openly).

[Zeful]

And that's my point, due to the line "all living creatures instinctively understand." It can be infered that this spell is a lower level tounges effect, because all living creatures understand it. It works in the same way it's assumed you can climb the rope in rope trick to enter the extra dimensional space, despite that the spell's entry makes no reference to entering said dimensional space.