Okay, so with CotDP replacing most the original spells with powered-up versions, the spell deck (where utility is concerned) is actually pretty neat-o nowadays.
However, I still have issue with combat spells in particular, which just universally seem weaker than they should be for their costs.
I wanted to see what folks thought of a few alternative ways of handling them to help make spell-casting fighting more enjoyable and viable. Here's the list of offenders:
1. Wither - not terrible, but outdone by pretty much every magic weapon. Even though it has a 0 sanity cost, i still feel like there's something lack with it.
2. Shriveling - probably tied with Storm of Spirits as the most generally useful and fairly balanced. I include it because it is part of the same series as Wither and Dread Curse, and some potential 'fixes' modify it as well.
3. Dread Curse - Under-performs. 2 sanity is too much to pay for a single combat spell, especially when Shriveling + Wither matches it, and 2 Shrivelings beat it handedly.
4. Fist of Yog-Sothoth - Terrible, you will average +2 or so with it, for 1 sanity cost? No thanks - it gets somewhat better if you're blessed but even then it is unreliable and not usually worth using over alternatives.
5. Spectral Razor - Equally terrible. Again, 2 sanity cost and both hands tied up, and it's extremely unlikely it will ever beat Dread Curse's damage, which is already poorly balanced as it is.
7. Call of the Azure Flame - It's identical to shotgun, but it costs a sanity every round to use. It can be useful, but really, a sanity every round?
So here are a few potential solutions:
Wither/Shriveling/Dread Curse- what if these worked like utility spells instead of combat spells (debuffs)? They keep the same sanity cost and spell check, lose hand requirements, and afflict the target monster with a curse that gives all investigators a permanent +1/+2/+3 fight and a -0/-1/-2 reduction to horror and combat damage (permanent against normal monsters, one round against AO)? It might take some tweaking - but I think this has potential. To me, it makes more logical/thematic sense. Otherwise, I think Dread Curse should provide a +10 instead of a +9, so it's at least slightly better than a Wither + Shriveling.
Fist of Yog-Sothoth/Spectral Razor - what if these were true combat spells? They retain all normal characteristics, but last a full turn. It helps a bit, but they remain somewhat situational - I'm okay with that.
Azure Flame - What if, instead of paying one sanity every turn to use it, it just reduces your maximum sanity by one while in effect?