Advanced Spell Casting Concepts in DDO
November 6, 2008 – 9:15 pmPosted by: allemagnecharmagn
Once you get past character generation and the first few adventures, it can be difficult to understand some of the complicated factors involved in spell casting. It’s important to know what affects the success of spell casting, and how feat and skill choices affect a character’s development, before moving along in one’s career as a divine or arcane spell caster.
Armor Checks
Wearing armor causes arcane spell casters (wizards and sorcerers) difficulty in casting. Divine spell casters (clerics, rangers and paladins) do not have this issue because, in effect, instead of casting spells they are asking their god to cause the spell to happen for them. Warforged, because they are made of less flexible materials than other races, also suffer difficulty casting arcane spells. Whenever an arcane caster casts a spell, the percentage chance of the arcane spell failing is checked. It is not necessary to make an armor check when casting a spell without a somatic (body/movement-based) component, such as Blindness.
Most spells require somatic components, and usually this is disruptive enough to prevent the use of armor for arcane spell casters. Since certain spells, such as Blindness and Otto’s Irresistible Dance do not require somatic components, wearing armor is a viable option for fighter mages and similar character builds.
Concentration
When casting a spell, concentration is essential. Concentration is a skill that enables a spell-caster to avoid having their spells disrupted during casting. In the pen-and-paper game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) concentration checks may be made when you’re taking damage during spell casting, or when you’re in environmental conditions that could break your concentration, such as in high wind, and so on. In DDO, it appears concentration only applies when taking damage. There are two types of checks made when taking damage while casting spells: one is for continuous damage and the other is for taking damage only once.
Continuous damage requires a concentration check of Difficulty Class (DC) 10 + half the continuous damage taken while casting a spell.
The DC of a concentration check for non-continuous damage is 10 + the amount of damage taken.
An example of a type of continuous damage is acid damage caused by the spell Melf’s Acid Arrow, or any other spell or effect that causes damage over time.
Some feats and enhancements, such as Combat Casting, can add to concentration skills by substantial amounts.
Difficulty Classes
Spells in DDO have a difficulty class (DC) based upon the level of the spell, your primary ability score for your class, and feats. The higher the difficulty class of a spell, the more difficult a spell is to resist. The exact formula for this is as follows:
Difficulty class = 10 + the level of the spell + the ability score modifier of the primary ability score of the caster + bonuses due to feats.
For example, if a wizard has 15 intelligence and has the Spell Focus: Enchantment feat, and he casts Sleep (a first level spell of the enchantment school of magic), then the DC of the spell that must be saved against is 14.
The primary ability score of a spell-caster is based upon the class of the spell-caster. The primary ability for wizards is intelligence; sorcerers and bards use charisma; and clerics, rangers and paladins use wisdom. To determine the bonus for a spell-caster added to the difficulty class, add 1 for each 2 points above 10 in the ability score. So a 15 intelligence provides a +2 bonus for a wizard. Temporary bonuses to abilities, such as the bonuses provided by spells like Fox’s Cunning, Owl’s Wisdom and Eagle’s Splendor, count for this bonus. These spells add a +4 ability bonus, so the +2 that is gained in turn to casting ability from using these spells can be quite helpful.
The feats that provide bonuses to spells are based upon the schools of the spells. Spells are divided into 8 different schools, based upon how these spells function. The schools of magic in DDO are listed below.
Evocation: causes an energy to form and be directed in the world
Divination: finding information through magical means
Transmutation: change the nature of something into something else
Conjuration: draws a creature or affect from another world to this one
Necromancy: magic that affects or is affected by the dead and the power of undeath
Abjuration: magic that repels, banishes or protects
Enchantment: spells that affect the minds of creatures
Illusion: magic that affects the senses of creatures or changes how a thing is perceived
All magic has a school it is assigned to, for example, invisibility (since it makes you no longer visible) is an illusion. The feats that provide bonuses to DC’s are called Spell Focus. Spell Focus provides a +1 increase to the appropriate spells.
Certain schools of spells are more effective against certain types of creatures. Enchantment spells, for example, while powerful, do not affect giant vermin, oozes, constructs or undead. However, necromancy often has spells that are particularly effective against undead. While I do not know if this rule is applied to DDO, conjuration spells normally do not require a spell resistance check (when applicable) to succeed, and are therefore particularly effective against demons and highly magical creatures who tend to have spell resistance.
Other schools do not depend as much on your opponents failing saving throws in order to be effective. Evocation, since spells of this type usually do half damage even when a save is made, is one of these schools of magic.
Metamagic Feats
Metamagic is a way of changing the nature of a specific spell. Using metamagic, a spell caster can make spells last longer, make them reach farther, make them more difficult to resist, or even make them do more damage. The ability to manipulate metamagic in DDO is gained by acquiring metamagic feats.
To use a metamagic feat in DDO, the caster activates the feat, and until deactivated, any spell that can be modified by that type of metamagic will have the feat’s affect applied to it. When a spell is cast under the effect of a metamagic feat, the spell costs additional spell points, based upon what metamagic feat was used.
Metamagic feats, while increasing the spell costs of spells, can make spells much more useful. For example, Extend Spell increases the costs of a spell by half, but doubles the duration of the spell. So if the spell being extended is something always kept active by a caster, than Extend Spell makes the spell much less expensive, since the caster will only have to cast the spell half as much.
The following are the metamagic feats in DDO:
Empower Healing Spell: spell heals ½ more damage, but costs ½ additional to normal cost. This additional healing also applies to this spell when used to damage undead.
Empower Spell: spell causes ½ more damage, but costs twice as much
Enlarge Spell: doubles the range of the spell, but costs ½ additional to normal cost.
Eschew Materials: spell does not use spell components, but costs 1/3 additional to normal cost.
Extend Spell: spell lasts twice as long but costs ½ additional to normal cost.
Heighten Spell: spell level is increased to the highest level you can cast, cost of spell is increased to that of the highest level you can cast. You must be able to cast 2nd level spells to acquire this feat.
Maximize Spell: spell deals double damage. Spell costs three times as much.
Quicken Spell: spell is cast in a short duration and cannot be interrupted. Spell costs twice as much.
It’s important to understand how spell casting works, especially when you start to expand beyond the basic spell caster build. Casting in armor and using metamagic can be complicated, and making the right choices in build and equipment can spell the difference between a successful and unsuccessful spell caster. When you understand these complications, it’s possible to experiment with different builds, such as specializing in certain schools of magic, or a mixed combatant/spellcaster build.
You must be logged in to post a comment.