Spell change: Conjure flame > Funeral Pyre

[TeshiAlair]

Reasonings:

Change conjure flame to funeral pyre, a spell with the same overall effect, but requires an uncovered corpse to burn.

1. The other elemental spellbooks have various sub-schools that encourage you to branch out. Fire does not.
2. Conjure flame is a very strong, very efficient spell, particularly for level 3. This makes it a bit more conditional, but still very useful.
3. Fire/Necro combos well with Inner Flame, which is awesome.

Downsides:
Reduces Fire's unique identity as all blasting all the time, which is arguably a perk.
Overlaps with Corpse Rot (a spell which I am personally not the biggest fan of)

[nicolae]

Reduces Fire's unique identity as all blasting all the time, which is arguably a perk.

It is a perk; the elemental schools can stand all the mechanical distinction they can get.

[nagdon]

Reasonings:

Change conjure flame to funeral pyre, a spell with the same overall effect, but requires an uncovered corpse to burn.

1. The other elemental spellbooks have various sub-schools that encourage you to branch out. Fire does not.

This is true (although Inner Flame is a Fire/Hexes spell), but this is one of the main defining properties of the Fire school, and I think it is a good thing.

2. Conjure flame is a very strong, very efficient spell, particularly for level 3. This makes it a bit more conditional, but still very useful.

Conjure Flame is strong, but corpses are (1) not always generated and never generated from some monsters, (2) immobile and if you can decide where to kill a foe then it is a trivial fight anyway, (3) are probably under or behind the not yet killed enemies if you fight a pack, (4) are probably already butchered if they're from the previous enemy group. These factors together make it highly unlikely that Funeral Pyre will do anything useful in a given fight, so it isn't "a bit more conditional", it is "if you're very lucky and/or lure enemies to corpses, it is a bit useful". Also I often cast several Conjure Flames to fill a corridor with flame, these usages are impossible with Funeral Pyre.

3. Fire/Necro combos well with Inner Flame, which is awesome.

Why does Fire/Necro combo with Inner Flame (a Fire/Hexes spell)? Also Inner Flame destroys the corpse of the blown up enemy, and while it probably kills others, it still makes corpses rarer.

Downsides:
Reduces Fire's unique identity as all blasting all the time, which is arguably a perk.

Fire = blasting all the time is a good thing, it is a viable playstyle different from the approach of other elemental schools.

Overlaps with Corpse Rot (a spell which I am personally not the biggest fan of)

The overlap is very severe, and while I rarely use Corpse Rot, I think it is still a better spell than this Funeral Pyre. (And it is stronger, I think this Funeral Pyre is the equivalent of a level 1 spell -- very rarely it is almost level 3, but usually it is simply useless).

Also note that using Funeral Pyre optimally would involve luring monsters towards corpses, and this is a boring and annoying activity (IMO this is also the main problem of Corpse Rot).

[nicolae]

Why does Fire/Necro combo with Inner Flame (a Fire/Hexes spell)? Also Inner Flame destroys the corpse of the blown up enemy, and while it probably kills others, it still makes corpses rarer.

I think the Inner Flame + Necro combo involves Inner Flaming your own zombies and skeletons and siccing them on your foes.

[Velikolepni]

Also note that using Funeral Pyre optimally would involve luring monsters towards corpses, and this is a boring and annoying activity (IMO this is also the main problem of Corpse Rot).

They only reliable way of using Corpse Rot that I have found is to worship Kiku and use the corpse delivery system.

I also don't support changing Conjure Flame. It is a good spell but it doesn't need a nerf.

[Hurkyl]

(whoops, didn't mean to thank the previous post)

The OP misses the more obvious effect in that you will no longer be able to create clouds of flame on open tiles whenever desired, and the consequential ramifications of that.

I think, ultimately, that tallies into the "downside" column, as it and ring of flames are the only defensive spells in the whole school (at least, ones that are not in the sense of being a good offense). Also, it would effectively eliminate the "place a cloud and tank the monster" style of offense.

[TeshiAlair]

All really good points

[Aule]

This would be a real nerf for wizards, who have it quite hard enough in the beginning, thank you very much.

"What?? You can stay alive long enough to have fun? How about if we take this spell from you? Let's see how good you are now! Muahhahah..."

Anyway, it's already been nerfed by not letting it set fire to trees anymore. Stop the hate!