Blasphemy = Broken?

[Brother MacLaren]

Holy Word and Word of Chaos require the targets to hear the word to be affected.

Blasphemy and Dictum do not.

Given the apparent focus on making everything generally symmetrical along the axes of law/chaos and good/evil, I would be very interested in hearing from a designer if this was intended in the rules or if it is just a phrasing error.

It would seem to contravene the game's implied general design principles that law and evil are more powerful than chaos and good.

 

[Nim]

Given the apparent focus on making everything generally symmetrical along the axes of law/chaos and good/evil, I would be very interested in hearing from a designer if this was intended in the rules or if it is just a phrasing error.

It would seem to contravene the game's implied general design principles that law and evil are more powerful than chaos and good.

I'm curious about that, too. It seems odd, though, since simply cutting and pasting would have had them all the same. Makes it seem as though they did it on purpose. I'm just not sure WHY.

 

[Scion]

Because Good is Dumb.

 

[CrusadeDave]

If he is trisomatic, yes.

Mother: Draconic X, Giant X
Father: Fiendish Y, Giant X
Son: XXY (D,G,F)

He would have all the genetic material of a HF/HD/Fire Giant

If he were human, he would suffer from mental retardation and small, non-sperm-producing testes, but maybe it doesnt work that way in those species.

While true, there are easier ways to explain this phenomenon: Chromosome 1: 1 Giant and 1 Human Chromosome. Chromosome 2: 1 Fiendish and 1 Human Chromosome. Chromosome 3: 1 Giant and 1 Fiendish Chromosome. Etc...

 

[Brother MacLaren]

I'm curious about that, too. It seems odd, though, since simply cutting and pasting would have had them all the same. Makes it seem as though they did it on purpose. I'm just not sure WHY.

Problems with version control? One section using a prior wording? I don't know. But it is definitely odd.

With the "Protection From X" spells, it is clear that they chose a shorthand version of the wording to save space and created an unintended side effect (I think Protection From Evil keeps out neutral *and* evil summoned creatures, whereas everything else keeps out only the opposed alignment -- due to a poor choice of wording)

 

[Hannibal Barca]

Broken. My 6 man party was between levels 12-14 and was blasphemied by the BBEV (Half-Fiend Harpy Assassin at the end of the campaign. Five memebers were paralyzed. The only one not paralyzed had the Vow of Poverty feat that gave hime Freedom of Movement. Luckily he saved our bacon, otherwise four party members would have died (one of the paralyzed characters had a contingent teleport spell that whisked him to safety).

 

[Hypersmurf]

With the "Protection From X" spells, it is clear that they chose a shorthand version of the wording to save space and created an unintended side effect (I think Protection From Evil keeps out neutral *and* evil summoned creatures, whereas everything else keeps out only the opposed alignment -- due to a poor choice of wording)

I've always thought a more exact reading gave the following:

Protection from Evil: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE
Protection from Chaos: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE, CG
Protection from Law: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE, LG
Protection from Good: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE, LG, NG, CG

-Hyp.

 

[Shallown]

The easiest solution is to say the Giant has already used this ability. Its a once a day as a 1/2 fiend (I think)

And yes Blasphemy is too nasty and needs som overhauling.

later

 

[Veril]

Blasphemy (and the other 3 similar alignment related spells) is pretty broken when used by something with lots of HD and you use the HD as caster level. Either use the CR as caster level, or substitute a different spell effect of 7th level - Mass Inflict Serious Wounds, is a nice easy one - but in this case I'd say no save or SR allowed. It's a nice little chunk of damage, but not a party killer

 

[Borlon]

I've always thought a more exact reading gave the following:

Protection from Evil: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE
Protection from Chaos: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE, CG
Protection from Law: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE, LG
Protection from Good: LN, N, CN, LE, N, CE, LG, NG, CG

-Hyp.

I suppose the second "N" is supposed to be a "NE" since they are among the evil alignments. If so, then your list is equivalent to the following protections against summoned creatures:

Protection from Evil: non-good alignments.
Protection from Chaos: as Protection from Evil, plus chaotic alignments.
Protection from Law: as Protection from Evil, plus lawful alignments.
Protection from Good: as Protection from Evil, plus good alignments (i.e. everything).

(Checks SRD).

Yep. Protection from Evil: summoned creatures can't touch the caster, but good creatures are immune to the effect. (Thus non-good summoned creatures affected.) For all the rest, Protection from Foo says "as protection from evil,... and foo summoned creatures cannot touch the subject."

Cool.