Talk:Release the Spirit (3.5e Maneuver)

Ok, so, on one hand, this ability is mega-powerful. On the other hand, it's finale, the truly dramatic and awesome part, the explosion is unimportant.

1d10 (untyped at least) damage in a 20 ft damage with a reflex save for half.. Yeah, that's not going to make a difference in 99/100 situations. And it's the most awesome part of the ability.

On the other hand.. 3 rounds of immunity to hitpoint damage. And lets be honest, at this level in the game, your cleric can throw around Resurrections like candy, and a True Resurrection isn't that out of the ordinary either.. Being reduced to ash is unimportant and you were gonna die anyway.

Now, we must consider the average length of a fight.. At the level where one can access Release the Spirit, you're heading into/solidly in "Rocket Tag" territory. 3 rounds is an exceptionally long time, more than enough to turn the tide of almost every fight. On the other hand, by the time you're in "Rocket Tag" territory, things that can kill by other means than HP damage isn't that unlikely.

I would suggest a change to the damage this abilities explosion to something like 15d6, increased to 15d10 if you're grappling the target or being grappled. This gives you some incentive to do the grapple thing, rather than just spend another round firing off your normal dps before you explode for piddly damage.

I'd also suggest changing the duration of the effective immunity to HP damage, either by moving it down a round or two, depending on how strong you make the explosion, or making it so that the character dies if their HP reaches negatives equal to their normal max HP (or half of that, depending on how strong you make the explosion). Right now, the explosion is not the mechanically awesome part of this ability, even though it is the fluff awesome part of this ability. That needs to be changed, even if I'm completely off my rocker and have suggested totally stupid example changes. The 42nd Gecko 01:32, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Wizard level is the epitome of rocket tag and by default, maneuvers are rogue level. You don't have a high number of save or dies in rogue level, so that is moot. As far as the death throes damage. I'd agree that it is indeed pitiful, but the fact of this is, is that the extra damage of this maneuver comes from staying alive longer. Mechanically, three rounds of extra actions is a huge boost for your team. --Havvy 02:20, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Just updating, errors found and fixed. It was always supposed to be 1d10 per IL. -- Eiji-kun 00:00, 20 August 2011 (UTC)