🚀 go-pugleaf

I looked over the rune word list at the Lurker lounge.

http://spirea.lurkerlounge.com/Rune_Words.shtml

Many, many seem combat oriented.  Blizzard can add Rune Words with
each patch, so I'd thought it be interesting to start a thread about
what spell casters might want.

Here are some suggestions:
Add damage to spells.  Combat characters have charms, deadly strike,
crushing blow, enhanced damage, mods all over the place.  This is a
glaring omission in the game.  You could break up spells into various
categories:
+1 fire damage to all fire spells (maybe up to +5 max)
+1 lightning damage
+1 bone spell damage
+1 holy spell (holy bolt, fist of heavens, blessed hammer)
+1 wind spell damage (twister, hurricane)
+1 to poison spells
Instead of +1 damage for cold spells, maybe increase cold duration
20%, or maybe have both.

You could add these mods to rune words to staves, wands, scepters and
orbs (and maybe clubs for druids).  These could also be charms, though
the coding may be a bit hairy at this point in the release cycle. 
Note that this above and beyond adding +1 skills to a certain type of
spell.  +1 skill charms might be a bit unbalancing.  Adding damage is
something spell casters need with the much tougher monsters.

As a parallel to deadly strike, have something like deadly spell. 
This could be the same, doing double damage, but maybe a more
interesting concept is MAX DAMAGE.  So a staff with 25% deadly spell
enables the caster to do max damage on any spell 25% of the time. 
Great for stuff like Fist of Heavens or Chain lightning.  I think this
would be relatively easy to implement and have low risk of unbalancing
the game.  Deadly strike is a useless mod for a spell caster.  They
can't hit anything later in the game, and even if they do, double 10
points of damage from a wand, is 20 points.  Like that helps you.

As a parallel to spells going off when you hit a monster, how about
spells going off when you cast.  Something like 5% of casting frost
nova when you cast any spell.  Now that would a LOT more useful than
5% when you get hit.  As the game progresses a spell caster can only
take two or three before dying, so these when you hit mods are
basically worthless to a non-melee character.

Another possible mod, 25% chance of a free spell, meaning a spell
costs no mana to cast 25% of the time.  How much would that mod be
worth to you?  To max this value, have it work even if you don't have
any mana.  That would be worth a lot against mana drain monsters, and
not mean instant death as it often does now when that blue ball
suddenly goes empty.

Let's me hear you ideas or comments about the ones I thought about.  I
hope Blizzard can implement some of these ideas in the future.
- Bill