Components. V , s. Range. 1 mile. Duration. Instant
You summon an enormous storm cloud that brings down 4 barrages of rapid chaotic lightning to points you can see withing range. Each creature in a 20 foot radius sphere centered on each point you choose must make a dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 10d12 lightning damage and 10d12 thunder damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one. A creature in the area of multiple storms is only affected by one.
I created this spell because I wanted more lightning based capabilities. I based this off of 9th level meteor Swarm. This spell having the same maximum damage but a lesser average and minimum damage as well as affecting half as large of an area is my hope to make this perfectly balanced. What do you think? Any suggestions?
First off, probably ought to post this in the Homebrew forum.
Secondly, the average damage of this spell is 65 lightning and 65 thunder, for 130 damage. Meteor Swarm deals an average of 140 damage. As it's level 8, this spell basically just lets you take meteor swarm twice. The difference in the radius is negligible, you always hit the important targets in one or two spheres. As such you need to majorly tone this down to bring it into line with other spells of 8th level since this is basically a 9th level spell.
Take a look at Sunburst to see what kind of power is reasonable at 8th level. 150 foot range, 12d6 damage. incendiary cloud has 150ft range and deals 10d8 damage and remains.
Spells with a range of 1 mile fundamentally change the way that the game is played, because the PCs can just nuke from range without fear of getting hurt. As an 8th level spell, a level 17 spellcaster can cast this twice - that's an average of 260 damage in 12 seconds at a range of 1 mile. So I'd suggest that for an 8th level spell, a range of 1 mile would need to be toned down to something like 6d8 at most.
Alternatively, just reskin Meteor Swarm to Lightning Swarm and change the damage types and that solves the issue.
Thank you. I missed that someone would pair the 2 together as I was only planning to take one for my character. Just tweaking meteor Swarm a bit is a good idea tho. Thank you for helping me
When it comes to making attack spells, you need to consider the following:
1) Single target vs area , 2) Possible to get no damage?, 3) Non-HP effects.
I always start with a similar spell, preferably two or more. Then I try to build a spell inbetween the two leveled similar spells.
Honestly, it often makes more sense to change the other rules than damage. I.E. Remove concentration, change from weaker damage to higher ones (i.e. elemental to necrotic/radiant or necro/radiant to force), adding a material component to weaken it, that kind of thing.
Thank you. I missed that someone would pair the 2 together as I was only planning to take one for my character. Just tweaking meteor Swarm a bit is a good idea tho. Thank you for helping me
They don't need to pair the two together - they can cast Kulenov's Electrical Storms once using their 8th level slot, then again using their 9th level slot, so they don't even need both spells!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Level 8 Evocation. Casting time. 1 action.
Components. V , s. Range. 1 mile. Duration. Instant
You summon an enormous storm cloud that brings down 4 barrages of rapid chaotic lightning to points you can see withing range. Each creature in a 20 foot radius sphere centered on each point you choose must make a dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 10d12 lightning damage and 10d12 thunder damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one. A creature in the area of multiple storms is only affected by one.
I created this spell because I wanted more lightning based capabilities. I based this off of 9th level meteor Swarm. This spell having the same maximum damage but a lesser average and minimum damage as well as affecting half as large of an area is my hope to make this perfectly balanced. What do you think? Any suggestions?
First off, probably ought to post this in the Homebrew forum.
Secondly, the average damage of this spell is 65 lightning and 65 thunder, for 130 damage. Meteor Swarm deals an average of 140 damage. As it's level 8, this spell basically just lets you take meteor swarm twice. The difference in the radius is negligible, you always hit the important targets in one or two spheres. As such you need to majorly tone this down to bring it into line with other spells of 8th level since this is basically a 9th level spell.
Take a look at Sunburst to see what kind of power is reasonable at 8th level. 150 foot range, 12d6 damage. incendiary cloud has 150ft range and deals 10d8 damage and remains.
Spells with a range of 1 mile fundamentally change the way that the game is played, because the PCs can just nuke from range without fear of getting hurt. As an 8th level spell, a level 17 spellcaster can cast this twice - that's an average of 260 damage in 12 seconds at a range of 1 mile. So I'd suggest that for an 8th level spell, a range of 1 mile would need to be toned down to something like 6d8 at most.
Alternatively, just reskin Meteor Swarm to Lightning Swarm and change the damage types and that solves the issue.
Thank you. I missed that someone would pair the 2 together as I was only planning to take one for my character. Just tweaking meteor Swarm a bit is a good idea tho. Thank you for helping me
There are lots of ways to transform damage.
When it comes to making attack spells, you need to consider the following:
1) Single target vs area , 2) Possible to get no damage?, 3) Non-HP effects.
I always start with a similar spell, preferably two or more. Then I try to build a spell inbetween the two leveled similar spells.
Honestly, it often makes more sense to change the other rules than damage. I.E. Remove concentration, change from weaker damage to higher ones (i.e. elemental to necrotic/radiant or necro/radiant to force), adding a material component to weaken it, that kind of thing.
They don't need to pair the two together - they can cast Kulenov's Electrical Storms once using their 8th level slot, then again using their 9th level slot, so they don't even need both spells!