Bogdanov89 wrote...
Since i am using the Community Patch 1.71 RC3, can you please explain what it has changed about Empower (or Maximize, or the spell system) - but in simple english 
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MagicalMaster wrote...
Empower has been changed from boosting spells by 50% to sometimes only boosting spells by 10-25% depending on the spell.
This may be the effect, but it's not the change. Saying it like this gives the impression ShadoOow went around changing things willy nilly in order to balance the spells in the manner he thought best. That's not accurate, and it may contribute to people not using the patch for specious reasons.
To answer your quesiton, Bog, Empower Spell is, according to ShadoOow's interpretation of BioWare's intent given the most recent HotU spells, supposed to provide a 50% bonus to the die roll portion of spell effects. So a spell that does 1d6 + caster level damage, when empowered, does (1d6 * 1.5) + caster level damage.
However, as implemented in (most of) NWN's spells, Empower gives a 50% bonus to the final damage amount, not just the die roll portion. So that same spell would, in NWN, do (1d6 + caster level) * 1.5 damage.
This has important implications for the math. In the example above, the damage amounts for would be:
Cast by a fifth-level wizard:
- unempowered: 1d6 + 5 = 8.5 average damage
- empowered (NWN): (1d6 + 5) * 1.5 = 12.75 average damage (a 50% increase)
- empowered (CP): (1d6 * 1.5) + 5 = 10.25 average damage (a 20% increase)
Cast by a twentieth-level wizard:
- unempowered: 1d6 + 20 = 23.5 average damage
- empowered (NWN): (1d6 + 20) * 1.5 = 35.25 average damage (a 50% increase)
- empowered (CP): (1d6 * 1.5) + 20 = 25.25 average damage (a 7% increase)
The change greatly nerfs Empower Spell when dealing with spells that have large static bonuses. Spells like Fireball, which have only dice added with level, are no different.
- unempowered: 5d6 = 17.5 average damage
- empowered (NWN): 5d6 * 1.5 = 26.25 average damage (a 50% increase)
- empowered (CP): 5d6 * 1.5 = 26.25 average damage (a 50% increase)
So why the change? Well, Maximize Spell ensures that all dice have the maximum possible roll. Whether this is better than Empower Spell depends on the spell. Using the example spells above:
Cast by a fifth-level wizard:
- unmaximized: 1d6 + 5 = 8.5 average damage
- maximized: 6 + 5 = 11 damage (14% less than NWN Empowered, 7% better than CP Empowered)
Cast by a twentieth-level wizard:
- unmaximized: 1d6 + 20 = 23.5 average damage
- maximized: 6 + 20 = 26 damage (26% less than NWN Empowered, 3% better than CP Empowered)
Fireball, cast by a fifth-level wizard:
- unmaximized: 5d6 = 17.5 average damage
- maximized: 30 = 30 damage (12% better than either type of Empowered)
TL;DR:In other words, in some cases in the vanilla game Empower Spell can be more powerful than Maximize Spell even though Maximized spells are more expensive to cast. ShadoOow's fix makes it so they aren't, but MM thinks it does so at the expense of making Empower inconsistent and, sometimes, useless. MM would prefer that Maximize Spell be changed to make it actually superior Empower in all cases.
Ironically, this sort of balance change is just the sort of thing he complains about being in the CP in the first place.EDIT: My position is that the rules as written, both in NWN's description of the feat and in the D&D Player's Handbook, explicitly state that the extra modifiers to the die roll should be included in what's multiplied. BioWare's spells that don't conform to this model should be treated as bugs, not a change in direction that should be applied retroactively to all other spells.
Modifié par Squatting Monk, 31 janvier 2014 - 08:32 .
