3.5 Epic Spells
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Reading thru the Epic Spells of the 3.5 system, i have to say it is a bit of a head scratcher. The number of spell slots is no longer by level, but by Knowledge Ranks, and Spell development is done with seeds. It’s all unnecessarily convoluted.
@daermadm we had previously discussed just treating epic spells as anything greater than 9th level spells. Assuming that is true, if we want to convert an existing epic spell (maybe even 10e it) do we take that conversion on a case by case basis.
So lets take an example (untarnished Epic Mage Armor as published in SRD):
[Start]
Epic Mage Armor
Conjuration (Creation) [Force]
Spellcraft DC: 46
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
To Develop: 414,000 gp; 9 days; 16,560 XP. Seed: armor (DC 14). Factor: +16 additional armor bonus (+32 DC).An invisible but tangible field of force surrounds the subject of epic mage armor, providing a +20 armor bonus to Armor Class. Unlike mundane armor, epic mage armor entails no armor check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. Because epic mage armor is made of force, incorporeal creatures can’t bypass it the way they do normal armor.
[Break]
Not going to dwell on all that is wrong with that.
Lets explore what this looks like as a 10E spell. The energy types used are Force(3), and Creation(18), the Efx would be Armor (0), but what would the Strength be? Replicating the same outcome as the 3.5 version of the spell, what would you use to select +20 armor bonus. A Major (8) category for Strength would be 4d6, providing a random chance of getting between 4-24 armor bonus.
Energy: Force(3) + Creation (18) = 21
Efx: Armor(0) = 0
Strength: Major (8) = 8Caster Level Required: 29
Spell Point Cost: 15 (15th level spell)10E doesn’t really account for duration of a spell, at least not elegantly i believe the default is 1/round per spell level at least that is how i have been treating it. But there is no modification to factor in 1 turn/ per spell level, or a fix time range (ie. 24hours), or a spell that lasts the duration of an encounter…there are a few ways to twist these nickers. Maybe that is an expansion of the system.
The other challenge is for things in this case were you want a fixed result (in this case +20 armor bonus, generally buffs apply here), not a clean way to handle that. You can fake both duration, and fixed bonuses with metamagic, but thinking about it the 10e magic system should hold up without having to really on metamagic feats.
Thoughts @daermadm @dwarf on improvements? Or just blissfully go about our business and crack open another barrel?
