Blasphemy

[Trainz]

Greetings,

Some time ago I discussed Blasphemy with Hypersmurf.

Now it seems that any beast that has Blasphemy at will (i.e. Balor) will automatically destroy a party if there is also another creature (even a KOBOLD) with the fiend, unless:

- Party has more levels than the Balor's caster level. In that case, Blasphemy is totally useless and Balor becomes MUCH more killable. Basically, making a Balor an all-or-nothing critter. Not good.

- Party has anti-magic sphere, in which case it can do very little to hurt the fiend

- Party is deaf

- Party has spell resistance. Even then, a successful block from SR will only block blasphemy for that one round.

What really infuriates me is that Blasphemy's opposite spell, Holy-Word, is MUCH weaker than Blasphemy.

Nuff' said, discuss please.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

- Even without Blasphemy the balor is far from easy.

- Stay away from the balor or spread up, so he cannot get you all with his blasphemy

- Be evil

- Remember that the balor is a CR 20 critter and the most powerful type of tanar'ri

- Use silence (every cleric should have it

- Mind blank should defend you against daze

- Remember that they still defend themselves.

- IMO no monster would use such a tactic.

But it is true that Blasphemy is stronger than its sister spells, daze is nice.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Some time ago I discussed Blasphemy with Hypersmurf.

In 3.0, it wasn't an issue - the Daze etc effects only affected creatures native to the caster's home plane. An evil cleric could only cast a few Blasphemies in a day, and a Balor couldn't affect most PCs with it anyway.

In 3.5, they've removed that condition from the spell.

Go 3.5! Hooray for the new balance!

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

- Party is deaf

Doesn't work any more.

Being deaf doesn't stop sonic effects, unless the description specifically says so. Blasphemy used to say "creatures who hear the Blasphemy"; now it says "creatures in the area of the Blasphemy".

So being deaf won't save you from becoming dazed.

-Hyp.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Re: Re: Blasphemy

Go 3.5! Hooray for the new balance!

Why Hypersmurf! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were being sarcastic!

 

[Bagpuss]

What really infuriates me is that Blasphemy's opposite spell, Holy-Word, is MUCH weaker than Blasphemy.

Nuff' said, discuss please.

Why is Holy-Word much weaker? Is the implication that you couldn't use it because the party is unlikely to be all Good aligned? As other than the alignment issue the spells appear identical.

 

[Someone]

Behold the Blasphemous Kobold of Doom!

Kobold cleric 13/hierophant 5. Evil domain, 5 spell power, bead of karma= caster level 28; can kill anyone with 18 hd or less. And it´s CR 15!

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Re: Re: Blasphemy

Holy Word is weaker than Blasphemy because Deafened is a very weak condition that imposes very very few penalties. Dazed, on the other hand, is a very significant detriment.

Why is Holy-Word much weaker? Is the implication that you couldn't use it because the party is unlikely to be all Good aligned? As other than the alignment issue the spells appear identical.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Re: Re: Blasphemy

Why is Holy-Word much weaker? Is the implication that you couldn't use it because the party is unlikely to be all Good aligned? As other than the alignment issue the spells appear identical.

Any nongood creature within the area that hears the holy word suffers the following ill effects.
HD Effect
Equal to caster level Deafened
Up to caster level –1 Blinded, deafened
Up to caster level –5 Paralyzed, blinded, deafened
Up to caster level –10 Killed, paralyzed, blinded, deafened


Any nonevil creature within the area of a blasphemy spell suffers the following ill effects.
HD Effect
Equal to caster level Dazed
Up to caster level –1 Weakened, dazed
Up to caster level –5 Paralyzed, weakened, dazed
Up to caster level –10 Killed, paralyzed, weakened, dazed


Dazed is potentially a far nastier consequence than Deafened, especially when it affects the entire party with no save.

If the Balor is alone, he can keep everyone Dazed until their Buffs expire, then beat them up... and they get no opportunity to move out of the area, set up any counter-plans, etc, because they're Dazed every round. If he isn't alone, then he just keeps them Dazed while his (evil-aligned) minions do the beating - even more of a death sentence for the PCs.

Compare Holy Word. Does the Raging Evil Barbarian really care whether or not he can hear you screaming as he hacks you into little pieces?

-Hyp.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Re: Behold the Blasphemous Kobold of Doom!

Kobold cleric 13/hierophant 5. Evil domain, 5 spell power, bead of karma= caster level 28; can kill anyone with 18 hd or less. And it´s CR 15!

It would rather seem he is CR 18.