Condition levels: A fix for wizard offense (PEACH)

[Yitzi]

The basic idea: Each condition has up to three levels. If you cause an effect (via magic or similar abilities, but not poisons or extraordinary abilities) that would normally bestow the second or third level, and the person fails their save by 4 or less, they take the first level instead. Likewise, if the effect would bestow the third level, and they fail their save by at least 5 but less than 10, it bestows the second level instead. The spell can never bestow a more extreme effect than the rules say.
If someone is already suffering from the first-level condition, each of these numbers is reduced by 2 (so failing by 1-2 has no further effect, failing by 3-7 bestows the second level, and failing by 8 or more can bestow the third level.) If someone is suffering the second level, failing by 6 is sufficient to bestow the third level. This does not apply to certain conditions, noted below.
If the save is for a partial effect, the effect that occurs on a save will always occur, regardless of condition levels.

And now for the condition types (Core material only):

Condition	First Level	Second Level	Third Level	Examples
Visual Impairment*+*	Dazzled	Blurry Vision	Blind	Flare, Glitterdust
Charming	Trusting until save	Charmed until save	Charmed	Charm Person,Command Undead
Compulsions***	Effect 1 round	Effect until save	Normal Effect	All Enchantment(Compulsion) and Illusion(Pattern) spells not under another category, Control Undead
Sleep	Drowsy (as Lullaby spell) 1 round/level	Sleep until save	Sleep	Lullaby,Sleep,Deep Slumber
Unconsciousness	Staggered	Stunned until save	Stunned or Unconscious	Color Spray
Blindness	Blind 1 round	Blind until save	Blind (normal duration)	Color Spray,Blindness/Deafness
Fear	Shaken	Frightened or panicked	Damage,possible death	Cause Fear, Scare, Phantasmal Killer
Deafness	Deaf until save	Deaf (normal duration)	N/A	Blindness/Deafness
Movement impeded	Staggered	Slowed (as the spell)	Paralysed	Ghoul Touch,Slow (but not Hold Person)
Nausea*	Sickened	Nauseated until save	Nauseated	Stinking Cloud
Tiredness*+*	Fatigue	Exhaustion	N/A	Touch of Fatigue, Ray of Exhaustion
Curse***	20% effect	50% effect	Full effect	Bestow Curse
Planar Travel****	Travel to native plane only	Travel to any nonhazardous plane	Travel to any plane	Dismissal, Banishment, Plane Shift, Maze
Feeblemind*+*	-2 to INT and CHA for 1 minute/level	1d6 INT and CHA damage, 50% arcane spell failure chance until key ability is fully healed	normal effect	Feeblemind
Soul Manipulation****	Dazed 1 round	Dazed 1 round, save again following round	Normal effect	Magic Jar, Trap the Soul
Harmful bodily transformation**	5d6 damage	1d6 damage/level	normal effect	Baleful Polymorph, Flesh to Stone, Implosion
Energy Drain****	1d4 negative levels	1 negative level/caster level	Death	Enervation, Energy Drain, all necromancy death effects

And now some explanations of things found in the table (not including what's already in the rules or self-explanatory):

Blurry Vision: The creature isn't quite blind, but can't see clearly. All enemies have concealment, and the creature has -10 to spot and search checks.
Trusting: The creature gets -2 on Wisdom checks and Sense Motive checks against the caster
Until Save: The creature gets to make a new save each round as a free action (at the end of their turn); on success, the effect is broken. The effect also ends after its duration is up, as usual.
X% effect: Numerical effects are rounded to the nearest whole number (or up if it's right in between.) Non-numerical effects have that chance of applying each round (so a "50% to take no action" curse at 20% efficiency would cause the creature to fail to act 10% of the time.)
Planar Travel effects: If the plane the target would be sent to does not fulfill the criteria, the spell fails. A hazardous plane is one with enviromental or planar effects that cause some sort of harm. (Enviromental effects present on only a small minority of the plane don't count here.)

*All stink-based Nausea effects are also blocked by Delay Poison and immunity to poison. Distraction-based nausea effects are not so blocked, and are not affected by the condition levels system.
**The target may choose to take the normal effect instead of damage. If it takes damage, the reduction to the failure needed for a higher level lasts for 1 minute/caster level, and applies only to the exact same spell.
***Lower levels make higher levels easier to attain only for compulsions and curses with the same effect.
****Lower levels do not make higher levels easier to attain (except by penalizing saves).
*+*Different versions of this effect do not stack. Only the most powerful applies.

In addition, there are a few offensive spells, even in Core, that need fixing in other ways, so I'll put that here too:
Grease: When you are on a slippery area (such as a Grease spell or ice), Balance checks are necessary but you are not considered to be balancing for purposes of losing DEX bonus to AC.
Ray of Enfeeblement has a Fort save for half. Waves of Fatigue has a Fort save to negate. Waves of Exhaustion has a Fort save to reduce the effect to fatigue, or exhaustion if the target is already fatigued. Energy Drain has a Fort save to only take 1d4 negative levels.
When determining whether a Web provides cover, use the normal rules for determining cover. Thus, a creature on the edge of the web has cover from opponents outside the web, but they do not have cover from it. For determining total cover, use the normal rules for determining total cover.
Black Tentacles do not regrapple a creature that escapes them.
It is possible to move through Solid Fog with a Strength check (but not an Escape Artist check) as if it were a Web spell. You may first roll the check and then decide whether to use the check or move 5'.
Maze has a Will save to negate, but at a -4 penalty.
Imprisonment has a material component: A powder composed of diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire dust with a total value of at least 10,000 gp.

Thoughts?

[Domriso]

I like it. I think, however, that better clarification on exactly how the conditions appear could be useful.

[Yitzi]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "how the conditions appear".

[Domriso]

Yeah, I thought that sounded weird when I wrote it. Let me try to explain.

Essentially, the way that you wrote the manner in which different levels of conditions are gained is a bit confusing, at least to me. If I'm reading it correctly, then if you save against an ability bestowing one of these conditions, you suffer no ill effects. If you fail by 1-4, you gain the first level effect. If you fail by 5-9, you gain the second level effect. And, if you're unlucky enough to fail by 10, you finally gain the third level effect.

But, you also reference the fact that these only come into play when you are faced with an ability which normally imparts one of the second or third level effects. That seems clunky. I assume this is an attempt at a fixing spells, but making the players have to figure out if they are even at risk for receiving the more dangerous conditions in the first place makes it much less likely to see use.

I would advise that having any spell or supernatural ability which imparts one of the conditions listed, in any form, should be changed to use the condition levels you present. That makes it effective across the board and offers up advantages for multiple spells. A list of what spells are changed could also help.

[Yitzi]

Originally Posted by Domriso

Yeah, I thought that sounded weird when I wrote it. Let me try to explain.

Essentially, the way that you wrote the manner in which different levels of conditions are gained is a bit confusing, at least to me. If I'm reading it correctly, then if you save against an ability bestowing one of these conditions, you suffer no ill effects. If you fail by 1-4, you gain the first level effect. If you fail by 5-9, you gain the second level effect. And, if you're unlucky enough to fail by 10, you finally gain the third level effect.

But, you also reference the fact that these only come into play when you are faced with an ability which normally imparts one of the second or third level effects. That seems clunky.

Not really...basically, it means this can only be used to depower spells, not make them more powerful. You can't be blinded by a Flare spell or killed by Enervation (assuming you have more than 4 HD), no matter how much you fail the save by.

but making the players have to figure out if they are even at risk for receiving the more dangerous conditions in the first place

Nothing to figure out there...just look at what the spell says.

I would advise that having any spell or supernatural ability which imparts one of the conditions listed, in any form, should be changed to use the condition levels you present. That makes it effective across the board and offers up advantages for multiple spells.

Problem then is that Flare becomes way too powerful for a level 0 spell.

A list of what spells are changed could also help.

Many of them were given in the "examples" list; a full list would cover nearly every nondamaging offensive spell out there.