To achieve full PnP faithfulness may be a large chunk to propose for recoding, and not worth it, as it takes an instantaneous spell and turns it into a concentration spell (of which very few exist — Black Blade, et al). But at the very least, a nerf of the WTFPWN ability of said spell would be to:D20 SRD wrote:Implosion
Evocation
Level: Clr 9, Destruction 9
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets: One corporeal creature/round
Duration: Concentration (up to 4 rounds)
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You create a destructive resonance in a corporeal creature’s body. For each round you concentrate, you cause one creature to collapse in on itself, killing it.
Implosion has no effect on creatures in gaseous form or on incorporeal creatures.
1) Remove the arbitrary +3 to the DC. There's no good logical explanation for it, it is not present in the D20 original spell, it defies the core principal of DC calculation, and there's just as many arguments on one side as the other that this was a bug in the code, not a feature,
and then, treat the script it as I coded it on a D&D based MUD server:
2) Instead of an AoE spell, make it a looping spell like Sleep, et all, where it cycles through the enemies within range. Only up to 4 enemies, randomly, will be targeted with this loop.
It still ends up more powerful than the PnP version, as PnP would only implode one person per round. But at least removing the artificial DC buff, and reducing the number of potential casualties would be a better situation.
In PvP, successfully getting the spell launched would no longer an almost guaranteed win.
In PvE, it would no longer an almost guaranteed win for a party against a swarm, nor an almost certain party wipe if cast by an NPC.
NOTE: 1.69 actually got one thing right; it took away the Death Ward immunity — as the spell is Evocation, and does NOT have the [Death] descriptor.