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There's always been a couple things that bothered me about the magic system. The number one thing though is that only a few spells out of the 200 or so are actually of any use.
In short, Avasculate, Bigby's and Missile storms. They are far more effective than other spells of their level because they don't allow saves. All the other spells just feel like stocking filler, not worth memorising except for coolness factor.
I suggested a while ago increasing damage of the DC-based spells, to try and even them out, but that's not an ideal solution. It would increase the damage output per round of a spellcaster, and at the same time would do nothing to help non-damaging DC-based spells.
I then considered what would happen if you gave a blanket +5 DC to all spells. So, what was DC 28 before (the max DC for most Mages' spells) would be DC 33. Considering most warriors have Fort saves in the mid-high 20's, with many Dwarves in the early 30's it would give 9th level spells a small chance at working. But...Rogues, Wizard's etc who have a poor Fort save would get the poor end of the bargain, with saves possibly as low as +12 if they are not buffed. Likewise, Fighters with avg. Wis would get owned ~90% of the time by any Will save spell.
Its then I realised that the discrepancy between Good and Poor saves is what causes this problem. Good and Poor saves are already +6 (30%) different before adding on second and third classes, ability mods, class features, items and feats. Hence, you practically always have a 95% chance to succeed on Good saves, often even against 9th level spells.
If you decreased Good saving throws down to something like, +1 at level 1, to a max of +8 at level 20, you give DC-based spells a chance at working, without making the same spells overpowering for opponents with Poor saves.
I guess that would affect both PvE and PvP, as monsters use the same saving throw tables?
Anyway, just throwing one final suggestion out there! I reckon they never had online multiplayer in mind when they were sitting down designing this game. Or maybe I'm just tired of seeing hails of missile storms shooting at Colibrites :P
In short, Avasculate, Bigby's and Missile storms. They are far more effective than other spells of their level because they don't allow saves. All the other spells just feel like stocking filler, not worth memorising except for coolness factor.
I suggested a while ago increasing damage of the DC-based spells, to try and even them out, but that's not an ideal solution. It would increase the damage output per round of a spellcaster, and at the same time would do nothing to help non-damaging DC-based spells.
I then considered what would happen if you gave a blanket +5 DC to all spells. So, what was DC 28 before (the max DC for most Mages' spells) would be DC 33. Considering most warriors have Fort saves in the mid-high 20's, with many Dwarves in the early 30's it would give 9th level spells a small chance at working. But...Rogues, Wizard's etc who have a poor Fort save would get the poor end of the bargain, with saves possibly as low as +12 if they are not buffed. Likewise, Fighters with avg. Wis would get owned ~90% of the time by any Will save spell.
Its then I realised that the discrepancy between Good and Poor saves is what causes this problem. Good and Poor saves are already +6 (30%) different before adding on second and third classes, ability mods, class features, items and feats. Hence, you practically always have a 95% chance to succeed on Good saves, often even against 9th level spells.
If you decreased Good saving throws down to something like, +1 at level 1, to a max of +8 at level 20, you give DC-based spells a chance at working, without making the same spells overpowering for opponents with Poor saves.
I guess that would affect both PvE and PvP, as monsters use the same saving throw tables?
Anyway, just throwing one final suggestion out there! I reckon they never had online multiplayer in mind when they were sitting down designing this game. Or maybe I'm just tired of seeing hails of missile storms shooting at Colibrites :P
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