Bestow Curse and ability damage.

[Xahn'Tyr]

My handy Stacking Handout says:

Exception 10 : Unnamed bonuses from spells or spell-like effect do not stack with unnamed bonuses from the same spell or spell-like effect applied twice or more

So I'm willing to buy the "non-stacking effective penalty" thing. Ah well, I've yet to bestow a curse anyway

 

[hong]

If the curse comes before the drain, the character is dead.

If the curse comes after the drain, the character is still alive. In this case, however, a remove curse would only restore the character to the new, lowered ability score.

 

[Corwin]

I vote for dead.

He dies.

Here's another example of why:

If you are suffering from a disease, should you be allowed to curse yourself to keep yourself alive? Or anyone else for that matter?

It shouldn't be a beneficial thing. It's a curse, for cryin' out loud!

 

[graydoom]

Personally, I'd run it that the curse always applies after all other effects. The curse can never be the reason for death... IE, if taking away the curse would mean the guy still lives, he still live. If he's taken enough other con damage to kill him, he still dies.

 

[Creeperman]

I've changed the bestow curse spell to remove the limitation of Con 1. Instead, I've simply stated that the spell will always take full effect, but can never actually result in death.

Thus, let's take your 10 Con bad guy, drain him 8 points, then curse him for another 6. The way I'd run it, he would not die unless he got Con-damaged or -drained at least two more points, but he'd be carrying an effective Con of -4, and the attendant -7 penalty to Con checks, Con-based skills, Fort saves, and hit points. Unless, of course, the hit point penalty is sufficient to bring the bad guy below -10, in which case he dies anyway.

But that's just my house rules.

 

[Storm Raven]

So I'm willing to buy the "non-stacking effective penalty" thing. Ah well, I've yet to bestow a curse anyway

Except that the ability damage in the example is derived from two different spells or spell like abilities. The limitation on stacking you cited only applies to ability damage from the same spell or spell like ability.