Sword of Darkness spell (OA,CA) problems (long)

[Wanderer20]

My Wu Jen is about to fight with the adventure's villain, an undead Maho-tsukai (see OA), whose potential use of the Sword of Darkness spell (available to both Maho-tsukai and Wu Jen at 7th level, very similar to the spell Mordenkainen's Sword) raised both my eyebrows. My doubts follows:

If used against a living being, it bestows him a negative level (there's no need to debate about the chances of this Sword to actually hit, it's not a problem for me).
If used against an undead, it grants it 25 temporary hit points.

Now, I foresee the villain casting Sword of Darkness and make it strike him every round to gain the equivalent of Fast Healing 25 (since multiple uses of the same spell giving temporary hit points do not stack, luckily, since the spell can strike up to 4 times a round). Assume that I deal the villain at least 25 points of damage every round.

*N.B. I cannot post the exact text of the spell since it's not a OGC, should have I misunderstood its effect(s) please correct me*

Imho a spell able to grant fast healing 25 OR to bestows negative levels on the enemy is unbalanced.

Ways to counter it I thought and proposed to the DM are:

-A Sword of Light spell (Wuj7) that acts the opposite of a Sword of Darkness (gives temporary hit points to living beings and bestows "positive levels" to the undead positive-based negative levels that affects undead). My DM has many doubts about allowing a Wu Jen spell that grants temporary hit points (that should be a shugenja's or a cleric's feature), and insists into saying, for instance, that the fact that the spell Iron Bones exists (+6 permanent natural armor to an undead) doesn't mean a "Iron Skin" spell (+6 permanent natural armor to a living being) should exist, since undead and livings shouldn't be treated the same way.

-Another version of the Sword of Light (this time Wuj3 or Wuj4) whose unique purpose is to strike a Sword of Darkness and destroy both of them in the process (this Sword of Light wouldn't have any attack ability but that) -forgot to specify the Sword of Darkness can be damaged in no way save being being dispelled-

-The use of a new spell (already approved by the DM) that works like Spell Turning, with these differences: the spell works upon touch spells, the spells do not rebound on the original casters but simply vanish as if they were counterspelled, the use of any kind of attack action from the caster ends the spell.

My DM says this defensive spell does not work upon the Sword of Darkness, as it would not work upon a Mordenkainen's Sword, since these "Sword" spells are not targeted and the target of these "Sword" spells isn't my character.

I think instead that the fact my spell stops the enemy touch spells means that a "Sword" spell, when it enters in contact with me, effectively "touches" me.

Kudos to everyone who read all of the post and thanks in advance for the feedback !

 

[shilsen]

Here's my $0.02:

Sword of Darkness is definitely not a touch spell any more than any efect spell is, so the defensive spell you described should not work on it. But there are other ways to deal with the Sword of Darkness. The simple one, of course, is to simply dispel it, though that may not work on the first try. Also, a round when the enemy is casting Sword of Darkness is a round when he's not attacking you, and hitting him with a readied dispel can end up disrupting the casting and take out some of his protections as well. Another option is to begin the battle, let the opponent cast it, and then retreat (assuming that's possible) and return a couple minutes later. If possible, that is a good strategy anyway, since it means the enemy uses up short-term spells preparing himself, which may not last till your return.

It would be easier to make suggestions if one knew more about the situation. Will you (or the enemy) have any allies? If not, can you get some? Under what circumstances do you expect the combat to occur?

Kudos to everyone who read all of the post and thanks in advance for the feedback !

You're welcome. In comparison to some of the really convoluted, horribly misspelled posts one gets, yours was easy

 

[Wanderer20]

All we know about this villain is that he's a 20th level Maho-tsukai with an undead template (probably a variant of the Akutenshi) and he can cast Sword of Darkness, Tainted Aura, Destruction, and Cloud of Taint.

His CR should be around 22-23 while we are a party of four people with average level 17th (but is almost certain we'll hit level 18 before the final showdown).

Unfortunately for us, this villain declined every our offer of honorable duel and fair play (yes not only we are do-gooders but we're even honorable ones -darn oriental setting ^_^-) by making his minion outnumber us after having buffed them, so we are expecting him to resort to every dirty trick his mind can conceive.

Even worst, it is a fact that we'll have to hunt him in his very lair, with bad possible scenarios -the simplest I can think and fear, he starts the fight with 4-5 Sword of Darkness active and an Oni army between him and us-.

The Greater Dispelling is surely a good suggestion, but since our Shugenja will reach max CL 17 and my multiclassed Wu Jen CL 15, trying to counterspell CL 20 can be a dangerous gambling.

So far I tried to invent and develop spells that will make the villain waste precious time during the fight AND to persuade the DM not to use spells...a bit broken in certain conditions...

Don't you think the Sword of Darkness is too good a spell when used by an Undead?

 

[FireLance]

Don't you think the Sword of Darkness is too good a spell when used by an Undead?

No more than mass heal or the various mass cure spells are too good when used by a living party fighting undead. When cast by an 18th-level spellcaster, mass heal can cure up to 180 points of damage to party members while dealing 180 points of damage (Will save for half, SR applies) to undead creatures. Provided they are all within 30 feet of each other, of course.

 

[Wanderer20]

Thanks for your reply (even if it supports my DM's opinion grrrrrr)

Hope others will put theirs

 

[RisnDevil]

Since your DM seems to like to be a stickler about rules technicalities (reference the fact the modified spell turning that works on touch spells doesn't work) as written the sword of darkness attackes ENEMIES and always attacks from your square. Sure, if he were his own enemy I gues he COULD attack from his own square, but since he's not.....

 

[Wanderer20]

Nice one

But I fear it won't work as long the Rule0 exists