Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

I've been considering how these two spells might actually be improved beyond the unused uselessness they currently are and it struck me that they could be converted into Feat-Spells like Deflection & Sudden Aegis.

The idea is that Snake's Swiftness, if memorised, adds a separate feat to the caster (in the same manner as Deflection & Sudden Aegis) which, when used, hastes the caster for 1 round. The feat can be used again after a 30 second cooldown for as long as the spell remains uncast in their spellbook. Using the feat should be an instantaneous action that, like Barbarian rage, cannot be interrupted and occurs the moment the feat is activated.

Mass Snake's Swiftness does the same except it may also affect party members.

Allow the duration of the Haste feat-effect to be doubled with the use of Extend Spell metamagic.

Now you've a spell that is actually situationally useful to mages and their parties. It's never going to be as great as Extended Haste or Flee the Scene, but its certainly better than the awful implementation it has currently.

Cant' it remain a thoroughly bad spell ? "This is how not to use magic kids."

But with the RCR and so, there is more and more of less and less "learning."

Besides, if it was actually a world with magic-as-rare—unlike BGTSCC—we'd actually have a hard time finding spells, so maybe Snake's would be relevant. At the moment everything is easy to get, there is little reason to waste a spell slot on these 2 spells.

Unless for some silly RP reason!

Valefort wrote:Cant' it remain a thoroughly bad spell ? "This is how not to use magic kids."

If you return Persistent Spell metamagic that alone would make Snake's Shiftness and its Mass versions quite far from useless - so the removal of Persistent Spell was what made these two spells basically worthless.

I suppose they could be buffed up with increased duration - but I do not think many want to see Hasted Dragon Druids...

Tsidkenu wrote:The idea is that Snake's Swiftness, if memorised, adds a separate feat to the caster (in the same manner as Deflection & Sudden Aegis) which, when used, hastes the caster for 1 round. The feat can be used again after a 30 second cooldown for as long as the spell remains uncast in their spellbook. Using the feat should be an instantaneous action that, like Barbarian rage, cannot be interrupted and occurs the moment the feat is activated.

Mass Snake's Swiftness does the same except it may also affect party members.

Allow the duration of the Haste feat-effect to be doubled with the use of Extend Spell metamagic.

+4!

Thanks to Tsidkenu's Arcane Spell Guide, I recently got the Deflection spell. I've got to say, the idea of 'spells-as-feats' with cooldowns is great! I'll be getting Sudden Aegis next level up as well.

For a wizard, sparing a slot to have contingencies available in emergencies is invaluable. The cooldowns balance them out nicely too so that one can't simply spam them, keeping their usage situational.

This suggestion would turn an otherwise absolutely useless spell into a situationally useful one.

I like it. Would be fun when grouping too.. a clicky 2 round haste with extend.. fun!

Sputnik wrote:Thanks to Tsidkenu's Arcane Spell Guide, I recently got the Deflection spell. I've got to say, the idea of 'spells-as-feats' with cooldowns is great! I'll be getting Sudden Aegis next level up as well.

Where do you find information about these spells-as-feats? Reading the wiki it sounds like it's just a 1 round spell? Do you have to pick a feat for them as well?

For example Ranger has some arrow related spells that are activated as feats. In short, you memorise a spell, and then you can use the feat to activate it. It will not consume the spell, there is just a timer until you can use it again.

Yes I understand the mechanics behind the concept, but don't know how to find which spells use this feature.

I suppose adding a feat for the ability would be useful for certain builds. For Dragon Druids and other shifters, it's pointless since you can't activate feats or abilities.

@ Delude

Deflection is a level 2 abjuration spell. Adds a deflection AC bonus of CL/2 (15 AC at lvl. 30) for 6 seconds. Instantly activated with a 30 second cooldown.

Sudden Aegis is a level 3 abjuration spell. Adds 10/-- DR for 6 seconds. Instantly activated with a 30 second cooldown.

The only place I found a full description for them was when I got to learn new spells at level up.
This list is incredibly helpful though ==> viewtopic.php?f=149&t=57467&p=731606#p731606 (Thanks Tsidkenu <3)

There seems to be issues with the cooldown timer for the Deflection spell-feat, so be careful if you try to do anything other than move for a few seconds after activating it.
It cannot be extended either.
I've reported these isues, so hopefully it gets sorted out in time.

That list is indeed very helpful. Thanks Tsidkenu!