Disrupt Undead

[Janos Audron]

"You direct a shockwave of positive energy."

So, this heals normal people right?

 

[kreynolds]

If by "normal" you mean creatures that posses a constitution score, unless the spell or creature description specifically states otherwise, then technically, yes, as funny as that is.

But, of course, the intent is very clear, so more than likely it's something along the lines of "the positive energy has been altered to perform a specific task and performs no others", or in short, "it's magic".

 

[Caliban]

"You direct a shockwave of positive energy."

So, this heals normal people right?

Fraid not. It has no effect on non-undead targets. (Although some report that it tickles, it has never been objectively verified.)


If the spell doesn't state that it heals damage, then it doesn't heal damage.

 

[Kraedin]

Not to be snarky, but, prove it. Turn undead doesn't heal the living in a radius, after all.

 

[Caliban]

Not to be snarky, but, prove it.

Who do you want to prove what?

 

[Kraedin]

Er, sorry, I was directing that at not-Sean. (You posted at the same time I did, I guess.)

Edit: OK, kreynolds has edited his post, so, never mind all of that.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Look over there! It's John Ascroft and his band!

 

[fba827]

"You direct a shockwave of positive energy."

So, this heals normal people right?

Ah - see.. it's raw positive energy. Arcane casters just grab the energy and shoot it.

Divine casters take the positive energy, concentrate and refined it (the way that only they can) and then release it..

subtle differences! It's what makes just a good cake a good cake (by putting it in italics, it is suddenly different )

Either that, or just say for the same reasons bard casters don't suffer arcane spell failure in light armor but they do in other armor (and are still arcane casters )

 

[Keith]

Ahoy hoy?
Bards what? I think they suffer the same spell failure chance in light armor as everyone else, don’t they? I actually like the idea of them not, but that is not my reading of the PHB, at least.
I’m with the “no healing” crowd on the actual question; explanation above sounds great to me. I don’t see any reason not to let a caster try it and find out by trial and error, though.

edit: Thanks for the 3.5 tip. Sounds like a nice bonus for the Bard. I thought we were talking about the current game.
Cheers

 

[Darklone]

Keith, he was refering to the 3.5 bard... who has no arcane spell failure anymore in light armour.

 

[Voadam]

"You direct a shockwave of positive energy."

So, this heals normal people right?

Not unless the creature has the special quality "healed by any application of positive energy" or something similar.

Healing spells have positive energy as one of their components but they also explicitly say they heal.

Positive energy has many uses, affecting undead (turning and disrupt undead) and healing being the primary two.