Book of Exalted Deeds - Ravages?

[krazykid]

We are also have a monk with VoP & golden ice in the party.
What works for us is:

1) DC 14 for save that will not scale as levels increase
2) We do not allow the effect to stack

This makes the feat workable - at low levels it is powerful but acceptable and now the monk has hit 4th things are normalising. In a few levels it will be a distant memory in terms of effectiveness.

 

[Desmien]

Dr C,

You are about to enter that place known to DMs as the Place of Sincere Regret.

I would refer you to page 35 of Exalted Deeds. The ability damage done by ravages affects undead and evil elementals unlike normal poisons. A Fortitude save is implied but, to the best of my knowledge, not explicitly stated.

As ability damage, multiple attacks do indeed stack just as any other form of damage stacks whether from repeated blows (hit point damage) or additional doses of poison (ability damage) etc...; it is not a penalty.

In addition to the listed damage, page 35 states that the ravage does ADDITIONAL ability damage based on the Charisma bonus of the victim. Yes, the higher a creature's Charisma, the MORE ability damage it takes.

Personally, I would immediately discuss with the player that you will not be allowing the additional damage based on the victim's Charisma score as this is just a piece of Erroneous Design (BoED: Book of Erroneous Design). This is far too powerful for a feat particularly when it can be gained as bonus feat.

I would also insist on using the listed DC (14) and not the normal formula for poison of half the character's level or hit dice plus Con bonus. And then fudge every saving throw for any opponents that the character tries to infect with "holy urine".

The rest of the VoP works out OK in actual play but this feat is just bad, bad, bad design.

Honestly I think it would be situational. For instance if the target is a zombie or something that would have very low charisma. The additional damage would be minimal. Also in part the DM would make the charisma attribute of some enemy NPC and few would have a high charisma while being evil. Usually a bard or sorcerer since you're not going to be coming across many paladins who are susceptible to the affect

 

[dave2008]

Honestly I think it would be situational. For instance if the target is a zombie or something that would have very low charisma. The additional damage would be minimal. Also in part the DM would make the charisma attribute of some enemy NPC and few would have a high charisma while being evil. Usually a bard or sorcerer since you're not going to be coming across many paladins who are susceptible to the affect

Just so that you are aware - you responded to a post that was 17 years old.

 

[Azuresun]

And with their first post too.

(edit--you can tell it's really old because people are claiming monks need a nerf)