DC and Temporary Wisdom Mod

[sumeragislut]

I've a question regarding the DC of a spell in regards to temporary increases in Wisdom specific to spells with indefinite duration.

I've a Cleric with a Wisdom score of 18 (mod being 4). The normal Spell DC for a Glyph of Warding in the case of this character would be 17 (10+wisdom mod+spell level). However, if at the time the Cleric intended to lay a Glyph of Warding spell upon an object, the Cleric first cast Owl's Wisdom upon himself (which would bump his Wisdom up to 22, the the mod up to 6), would the Spell DC for the Glyph of Warding be set permanently at 19 regardless of that fact that the wisdom mod employed in determining the DC is temporary?

 

[Henry]

I would say yes, and to my knowledge I haven't ever seen a rule that stipulates the DC changes between the time the spell is cast and the time it goes off.

Look at it another way: A high-wisdom cleric casts a glyph of warding spell, but then he dies. For all intents and purposes, he no longer has a WIS score. Does the spell DC change when the Glyph is triggered 200 years later? Scratch that: I just looked up Death, and it doesn't explicitly say your ability scores are all 0, only that your hit points are -10.

Instead, you could infer it from the line in the SRD: You make all pertinent decisions about a spell (range, target, area, effect, version, and so forth) when the spell comes into effect. In other words, everything from target to save DC is set when the spell is cast.

 

[Legildur]

In short, yes. But......

Glyph of Warding has a 10 minute casting time. Owl's Wisdom has a 1 min/level duration. So I figure that the Cleric would need to be at least 11th level to complete the spell in the required time (or use the Extend Spell feat at 6th level).

 

[Hypersmurf]

Look at it another way: A high-wisdom cleric casts a glyph of warding spell, but then he dies. For all intents and purposes, he no longer has a WIS score. Does the spell DC change when the Glyph is triggered 200 years later? Scratch that: I just looked up Death, and it doesn't explicitly say your ability scores are all 0, only that your hit points are -10.

No, you're right. A creature is "a living or otherwise active being". A dead person is neither living nor otherwise active; he is thus not a creature (he may be a dead creature, but that is not a creature, just as a natural armor bonus is not an armor bonus). Anything with a Wisdom score greater than zero is a creature; since the dead cleric is not a creature, he does not have a Wisdom score greater than zero.

-Hyp.