5th Level Wizard Spells DCs - Error?

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The Venomous Pao
Far-Sighted Wanderer
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Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:33 am

5th Level Wizard Spells DCs - Error?

Post by The Venomous Pao »

Forgive me if this has come up before (I didn't see it in a quick read of the errata thread), but I just noticed something that seems to be an error. The text of the rules says the following:
In general, your spell succeeds if your spell check is equal to or higher than a base DC of 10 + (2x spell level).
And it is indeed almost always true that the DC for successful casting is 10 + (2x spell level). What I noticed was that the 5th level Wizard spells all have 18 as their minimum successful casting DC while the 5th level Cleric spells are all DC 20.

I don't think this is a big deal - especially since the text says "in general" (and, of course, ignoring and changing rules is encouraged, etc.) - but I noticed it and thought I should bring it up.
maxinstuff
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Re: 5th Level Wizard Spells DCs - Error?

Post by maxinstuff »

You might be right - as written in the tables (regular cover, second printing), 5th level Wizard spells are no harder to cast than 4th.

Wizards do need to be 9th level to even cast them anyway so I doubt it will affect many games. If I had characters in my game getting close I would definitely consider changing the numbers on the table to match the cleric tables before handing the spells out to anyone.

It also makes the lower end of the table look strange, as a 9th level caster will have to roll a natural 2 to lose the spell for the day, and 10th simply can't roll a result between 2 and 11 (excluding a natural 1 which is it's own thing) - made worse by the fact that many wizards will have at least +1 Int as well.

Personally I think I would change the first couple of ranges and then let it go back to RAW for the rest of the table.

i.e.
1: lost, failure and worse!
2 - 13: Lost. Failure.
14 - 19: Failure, but spell is not lost.
20 - 21: First successful result.
22 - 23: Second successful result.
And from the next result (24 - 25) the table is RAW.
The Venomous Pao
Far-Sighted Wanderer
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:33 am

Re: 5th Level Wizard Spells DCs - Error?

Post by The Venomous Pao »

I like your approach, maxinstuff. I think that generally solves the problem. Which, as you note, won't likely show up in play for a very long time (if ever).
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