Overhaul New Spells

Adding new spells can be great for spellcasters. 3E and 3.5E is pretty much caster heaven, there's a lot of source material.

Design Considerations

Some thoughts on new spells (and on rebalancing some existing spells):

Following the NWN spell model we want to:
- Simplify spell target selection where possible (all, enemies only, allies only, mixed)
- Generally stick to 3.0E spells but 3.5E is doable with tweaks. Rarely we might update a spell to the 3.5E edition, but not really a huge need.
- Have no spells need a casting time longer than 1 round. Yes technically there are means and ways but they're all very janky.
- Concentration based spells should be avoided (Black Blade is already pretty janky and needs a pass at the concentration check).
Utility spells that are useful would be good to add, especially short duration ones, but only if they do something. Disguise Self for instance wouldn't really be viable since no module would support recognising it.
Adding spells that extend what is available to Domains would be good to target since we could expand the usefulness of underused domains
Utilising some of the new effects and script commands in NWN:EE would be good (EffectRunScript, CreateArea, EffectIcon, etc.)

Also note on martial classes - we should think about adding more abilities they can use.

Epic Spells will probably live on another page. They're technically feats anyway.

Spell Sources

Obvious sources are other videogames:

NWN2 - This is the most obvious choice since they've already considered the NWN engine design limitations (more or less). Noting they added new functions to deal with some advanced behaviours (mainly Warlock abilities) https://nwn2.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Spells
Temple of Elemental Evil - a 3.5E turn based game, and limited to level 5 spells due to the level cap of the game. Example list: https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2020/03/The-Temple-of-Elemental-Evil-ToEE-Sorcerer-Wizard-Spells-List-Index.html
Pathfinder: Kingmaker since Pathfinder is mostly 3.5E based: https://pathfinderkingmaker.fandom.com/wiki/Spells

Beyond that there are several 3.0E sourcebooks to look into before looking into 3.5E spells specifically.

Requirements for Spells

Materials needed for a spell primarily is a spell icon (and scroll icon) and of course the spell script(s). VFX and AOE, which may include sounds, may also be required.

New Spells

Spell Name

Sources

Class/Spell Level

Effects

Reasoning

Work Required (Beyond an icon and basic script work)

Greater Mage Armor

3.5E

3.5E But Better?

Pathfinder

Sor/Wiz 3

+6 Armor AC Bonus

Just an upgraded Mage Armor with clear usefuleness

Pathfinder version goes and adds a +2 every 5 levels beyond the 5th up to a maximum of +10 at 15th level. Not sure we want to do that to have it improve, maybe? (The "But better" version of 3.5E scales even better than this!)

Arelith makes it a level 6 spell but does +2 in each of the 4 AC types the original Mage Armor does.

Epic Mage Armor for reference will be a flat +20 bonus compared to this.

VFX: A better version of the current VFX for Mage Armor, perhaps more colourful

Potential New Spells

A rough list which is in no particular order.

Spell Name	Sources	Class/Spell Level	Effects	Reasoning	Work Required (Beyond an icon and basic script work)
Spell Matrix Spell Sequencer Spell Trigger Contingency Chain Contingency	All in Guide to Fearun (as "Simbul's..."): 3.0 Spell Matrix 3.0 Spell Sequencer 3.0 Spell Trigger 3.5 Contingency (PHB) 3.5 Chain Contingency (Tomb and Blood)	Sor/Wiz 5 Sor/Wiz 7 Sor/Wiz 9	Allows a pre-cast spell or set of spells to be released instantly or sometimes with a triggering condition.	Mages get some more prepared defensive or offensive power and I like BG2 mages, and this cuts down on some of the time taken to do things.	NUI selection menu to set it up properly (and for Spell Trigger to have a triggering action). Can just decrement the spells instead of having them cast, as long as not in combat. Then a NUI panel to cast one or all the spells from it with player target selectors and either a proper spell cast (cheat-cast) added or it just does it in a script. Choosing how best to do these 3.0E or 3.5E ones will depend on how it feels in NWN in general.
Disintegrate	3.0 SRD	Sor/Wiz 6	High magical damage to a single target if a touch attack hits	Pretty fun spell and Bioware made a beam for it. Can optionally also make a cool vfx to do the "disintegrate"	Reuse the VFX (might need a SFX) do a disintegrate VFX (the BG2 one was ace) and do some magic to disintegrate a target leaving only a loot bag (if we're not destroying all the items).
Baleful Polymorph	3.0 SRD (Polymorph Other) 3.5 SRD Arelith	Sor/Wiz 4 Sor/Wiz 5, Drd 5	Makes the target into something like a Chicken	Moderately high level, can script to not apply vs plot/immortal characters, shapeshifters etc.	Not really much, a new polymorph line and some coding around it (so AI can't "cancel it"). Note is quite powerful so may make 1 round/level, or reverts on X damage (maybe link to temporary HP/EffectRunScript) so it's more a disabling spell. Make sure it doesn't affect Immortal creatures.
Iron Body	3.0E SRD	Wiz/Sor 8	Polymorph into Iron Golem, or apply a load of bonuses	Just a great defensive spell.	Might not add but might see how it goes. Can do a lot of the effects (and catch potion uses I guess) to allow 50% spell failure (can't just do arcane spell failure - unless creature hide).
Spell Immunity	3.0E SRD	Clr 4	Cleric spell to provide immunity to very specific enemy spells, level 4 or lower, and 1 per 4 caster levels	Clerics get a buff versus mages again. But it's easily implementable.	Probably a NUI selection menu (searchable spell list) and a way to save presets in subdial spells.
Read Magic	3.0E SRD	Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Pal 1, Rgr 1, Sor/Wiz 0	Identifies an unidentified scroll	Nice little cantrip / low level spell for identification	Not much, new VFX might be nice.
Shield Other	3.0E SRD	Clr 2, Pal 2	Target gets +1 defelection AC and +1 to saves, and caster takes 50% of the damage they take	Would be fun to have OnDamaged used and do something semi useful	Can't account for being damaged to death, so need to note that. Would apply EffectHeal and EffectDamage on the various people involved. Easy enough except if the damage is high enough to kill a person outright.
Summon Natures Ally I - XI	3.0E SRD	Drd 1-9, Rgr 1-9	Summoning creatures for Druids	This allows spontaneous casting of Summoning spells for Druids.	If added will need to have the base healing spells duplicated for Druids so they are not spontaneously castable by them. Bit of a faff annoyingly. This is unless the engine has support to limit what spells are spontaneously castable per class.
Lionheart	NWN2	Paladin: 1, Other: Cleric w/ Law domain 1	Immunity to Fear for 1 round/level.	Paladin spell addition, also used for Law domain in NWN2	VFX would be good.
Protection from Arrows	3.0E SRD	Sor/Wiz 2	10/+x damage reduction against ranged weapons only, up to 100 (10*caster level), where x increases up to +5 at level 20.	New engine parameter to EffectDamageReduction allows this.	New VFX would be good. One was in Spellmans.
Shocking Grasp	3.0E SRD	Sor/Wiz 1	1d8 + caster level electrical damage on melee touch attack.	Simple and effective level 1 spell. Easy to implement.	Doesn't really need anything can use existing VFX.
Maze	3.0E SRD	Sor/Wiz 8	Sent straight to a Maze for time depending on their intelligence score.	This is simple, and fun to do with CreateArea. Possibly easier to just do with plot flag + cutscene ghost + cutscene immobilise + cutscene invisibility.	It needs some balancing possibly, since it is very powerful, and can potentially break things so needs some structure around it (eg; what if a PC disconnects during being in a Maze, or their spells kill the enemies when they are in a Maze and the game attempts a cutscene...!) TBH the game logic breaking things make me wary about this spell.
Power Word: Blind	3.0E SRD	Sor/Wiz 8, War 8	Blindness for creatures in an area up to 200HP.	This goes along well with Stun and Kill power word spells.	New VFX / sound might be good.
Shillelagh	3.0E SRD	Drd 1	Quatertstaff or club becomes a +1 weapon and deals extra damage.	Druids need some help, this can be pretty helpful early on.	Damage rolls become +1d10 but may be easier to make it do the "same again" damage.
Invisibility to Animals	3.0E SRD	Drd 1	Invisibility to allies but only against animals. If anyone affected by it attacks, all other instances of the invisibility are also lost	Interesting spell and the engine supports vs. racial types for Invisibility.	Can do EffectRunScript for the removal part.
Snare	3.0E SRD	Rgr 2, Drd 3	Essentially creates a snare trap. The best way to do this probably is to generate an actual trap object, which essentially has a save DC else entangled.	Since it only snares one creature not too bad balance wise. Could also make it not usable in combat. Or make it usable. Dunno.	Need to test creation of traps via. scripts out.

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