msterswrdsmn wrote:Have the level 1 version of it grant a +2 or +4 vs mind affecting spells vs alignment rather than a full blown immunity. Have the magic circle give a slightly higher boost.
This is to prevent the 1st level spell from effectively working better than clarity/mind blank/etc against mind affecting spells vs alignments without it completely loosing its usefulness.
Why was this even a thing?Mithreas wrote:The level 1 spells now give +5 bonuses to mind affecting spells vs alignment. The circles (which may work now we have a better server) give +10.
This makes saving throws relevant, but still provides hefty protection.
Prot vs. Alignment was NOT better than clarity. It only protected you from certain alignments. Clarity protected your mind from EVERYONE. PvA already had it's duration shortened to not make it so cheesable, but to make it how it is now DOES make it useless. Most people get deflection mods from other places that surpass what PvA gives you. and the situational +2 to saves is hardly gamebreaking. This spell's main use was to give mind protection from very specific enemies. Now, it no longer does that.
Who can use it? casters and anyone with UMD
Okay, that turns out to be alot of people, but lets break that down.
Casters who can use it are clerics, bards, and sorcs&wizs. Clerics have good will saves already anyway, sorcs and wizards and bards may need it, but eventually have access to stronger mind protection.
so who this really affects the most is people that have to use it through UMD. But how good is it really for those people? People that have to use it through UMD get ultra short durations anyway. So, yeah, they get good mind protection, but only for...what...12 minutes? if that? Wand and scroll versions of the spell cast at caster level 2, which only gives you 2 IG hours, or 12 minutes IRL, and this has been shortened to i dont know how much when the spell's general duration was changed.
so, you see, this spell is not nearly as broken as it sounded at first, but had a very important use that had a fair cost for non-casters.
If Magic Circle Against Alignment was a viable upgrade, that would be something, but it isn't. The +10 might actually help mind saves some, but the spell ends FAR earlier than it says it should. It is supposed to last lvls/hour, but it goes away after just a couple minutes, making, it too, useless.
Also, DnD 3.5 Prot vs. Alignment uses flat mind protection, not a bonus, so this is not an attempt to be closer to PnP rules.
I tried to give this change a chance, but after a while, i'm still left wondering...why? why? why?