What was WoTC thinking!?!?!?! Power Word Pain

[Boss]

This may have been discussed before, and if so, I apologize. One of my friends was telling me about the penultimate spell for Sorcerers and Wizards, Power Word: Pain from Races of the Dragon. This spell is ridiculous! If I were to throw this at my players, they would not stand a chance.

It is a 1st level spell with no save. If you have less than 100 HP then you are affected. It does 1d6 points per round for a number of rounds depending on your max hit points. At 50 hit points and less, the effect lasts for 4d4 rounds. Thats 4d4 rounds at 1d6 points of damage each round without a save!!

Has anyone seen an errata on this, please tell me there is one. If not, it is definitely getting house ruled in my game.

 

[Cedric]

I don't have access to that book, for the sake of this discussion, could you post pertinent details about the spell?

 

[diaglo]

I don't have access to that book, for the sake of this discussion, could you post pertinent details about the spell?

i don't have it with me currently either.

but if it is lvl 1 as the OP states that is messed up.

all the other power word spells run from lvl 7 to 9.

 

[Artoomis]

...It is a 1st level spell with no save. If you have less than 100 HP then you are affected. It does 1d6 points per round for a number of rounds depending on your max hit points. At 50 hit points and less, the effect lasts for 4d4 rounds. Thats 4d4 rounds at 1d6 points of damage each round without a save!!

Has anyone seen an errata on this, please tell me there is one. If not, it is definitely getting house ruled in my game.

The thing to compare it to is Magic Missle.

It looks to me like this is WAY more powerful at low levels.

MM maxes out at 5d4+5. Average 16.5
4d4 rounds of d6 = average 10 rounds of 3.5 each round or 35 points of damage (average).

That definately seesm out of whack.

Are we missing something from the spell description?

 

[Ambrus]

I noticed the spell and, although I don't have the book with me, the OP is correct about the details IIRC. The only balancing factor is that it requires a fair bit of time to deal all that damage while magic missile deals all its damage up front. Still, if you're able to last long enough for it to play through then victory for low level casters is almost certain. :\

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

IIRC, that spell IS errata'd. They switched the levels on it and Shadow Word ... Nausea or something? A 4th level spell.

Look through there for a 4th level spell you'd never think of casting. That one should have been 1st level. SWP is supposed to be 4th level ... where it goes from being totally broken to totally forgettable.

--fje

 

[Infiniti2000]

As you might imagine, this spell has been discussed before.

Rules

I was performing a search of the RPG forum where I think Mike Mearls responded, but the server crapped out on me.

 

[Aaron L]

Not to be a jerk or anything, but penultimate means next to best (actually, next to last). Like 2nd place.


Sorry, but too many people use that word incorrectly. And now you can correct someone you hear use it wrong. Together, we can all make the world a grammatically safe place for you and me.

 

[Boss]

Not to be a jerk or anything, but penultimate means next to best (actually, next to last). Like 2nd place.


Sorry, but too many people use that word incorrectly. And now you can correct someone you hear use it wrong. Together, we can all make the world a grammatically safe place for you and me.

JER... heh. Not a problem, and now my group has yet another reason to hate me besides throwing them to the wolves (or Warforged Titans as just happened in my campaign)... I get to correct them on their grammar! Thanks ya'll!!!!!!!

(what can I say, I'm from Texas)

 

[Artoomis]

Not to be a jerk or anything, but penultimate means next to best (actually, next to last). Like 2nd place.


Sorry, but too many people use that word incorrectly. And now you can correct someone you hear use it wrong. Together, we can all make the world a grammatically safe place for you and me.

Well, what do you know. Second from the last.

I learned something today.

Thanks.