Celestial Brilliance

[der_kluge]

This came up in my game Saturday night.

The party sorcerer cast Otiluke's Resilient Sphere on a vampire. Vampire failed the reflex save.

Then, the sorcerer cast Celestial Brilliance. CB is from Ghostwalk, or Exalted Deeds, not sure which (probably the latter), but it creates an area of light that damages undead (2d6) per round if they remain in the area. It's really quite powerful. I think it's either 4th or 5th level; not sure which.

But, the question arose - is the vampire in the sphere immune to the effects of the Celestial Brilliance? I ruled that it probably was since it was just light, and the sphere is clear. The SRD entry is a bit more vague here, but I'm fairly certain that the PHB describes it as clear. So, the sorcerer was able to just kill the vampire while it was trapped in the sphere.

Was I wrong? How would you have ruled it?

 

[Scion]

First of all, never allow celestial brilliance without some sort of modificiation. 1 day/ level is just insane, the amount of damage is incredible, along with its radius being very large.

Assuming that this somehow happened in a game I was running, I would simply rule that the force sphere negates the harmful effects of the spell.

All in all it was a good try though, it happened this once, but I would suggest talking with the folks and letting them know it wont be able to happen again. First of all, change that celestial brilliance spell to something a bit more reasonable (even just the light part of the spell makes it pretty powerful, without the damage!). You can reduce the duration greatly and keep the damage, or something similar.

Still, it worked once, let the players revel. But definately fix this problem, as it definately is one It is already easy enough to kill off those nasty creatures with various spells, no need to make it that easy!

 

[James McMurray]

IDHTBWM, but IIRC:

The sphere blocks line of effect. The light could penetrate it because its radiates beyond the spell's area, but the damaging portion of the spell requires line of effect to the target.

 

[Hypersmurf]

IDHTBWM, but IIRC:

The sphere blocks line of effect. The light could penetrate it because its radiates beyond the spell's area, but the damaging portion of the spell requires line of effect to the target.

You used to be able to Eyebite someone through a Wall of Force or ORS... but as far as I can tell, it's not a gaze attack in 3.5, so it now requires line of effect, not just line of sight.

-Hyp.

 

[Liquidsabre]

2d6 dmg per round? How long does the spell last? I though Vamps had fast heal 5, so shouldn't have been too much of a problem besides the hurting.

 

[DragonOfIntellect]

2d6 damage per round, lasting 1 day/level.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Though Otiluke's Resilient Sphere lasts only 1 min/lvl. The avg. dmg. is 6 HPs per round while the Vampire's heal is 5 HP per round. So that's an avg loss of 1 HP per round. Doesn't sound too scary, though at 10th lvl that's 10 minutes which comes out to 100 HPs worth of damage. Talking about a slow agonizing death, ick, even for an evil vampire I just might have my PCs of good alignment get a little sick/mental issues/begin the path towards alignment shift. Though is the damage just from the light? What if the Vamp hides under his dark cloak? (we'll say light doesn't penetrate to any appreciable degree) Wouldn't he be fine then?

As is though, that's 2 4th lvl or 1 4th and 1 5th lvl spells to kill a Vamp. Sounds alright to me and a decent tactic.

 

[CalrinAlshaw]

I don't know, just last week, my cleric prepped a Heal spell, with a weapon that allowed any character to use True Strike once a day. Plus my character had boots of speed on for that particular fight...

Cleric activated boots (free action) Activated True strike item and dropped it afterward (free action) move up to the vamp (it was within 40 feet), casted Heal defensively after the vampire had taken all actions for that round, succeeded on the touch attack that comes with all touch spells. Then the paladin whacked it next round, we found it's coffin, all stood around with wooden stakes, taking turns. It reformed WHAM staked in the heart, then we whacked it's head off, filled it's mouth with holy wafers, and threw both it's body AND the head in a river during full daylight while both were draped in fresh garlic cloves.

I know it might be overdoing it to do EVERY single thing....but it really never is when it comes to destroying powerful undead...

Calrin Alshaw

 

[allenw]

Though Otiluke's Resilient Sphere lasts only 1 min/lvl. The avg. dmg. is 6 HPs per round while the Vampire's heal is 5 HP per round. So that's an avg loss of 1 HP per round. Doesn't sound too scary, though at 10th lvl that's 10 minutes which comes out to 100 HPs worth of damage.

Actually, the average of 2d6 is 7, thus average damage = 2 per round, thus 10 minutes averages to 200 hp. I wouldn't let the damage penetrate a Wall of Force (or Resilient Sphere), though. And yes, Celestial Brilliance is the most broken Light spell in Brokedonia.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

And yes, Celestial Brilliance is the most broken Light spell in Brokedonia.

Which suggests very strongly that it was, indeed, found in the Book of Exalted Deeds.