Heroes Feast vs Phantasmal Killer ?

[Rashak Mani]

He said and he might defend himself here if he wants too:

Its primarily an illusion... the fear itself being a product of that illusion. Something like a natural effect of that ilussion and not magical fear in itself.

He also said the spell has two saves... making it easy to resist would make the spell all but useless. Well at least against us... because every morning we have Heroes Feast. We wont face Drows without it !!

 

[AuraSeer]

Its primarily an illusion... the fear itself being a product of that illusion. Something like a natural effect of that ilussion and not magical fear in itself.

That's a decent argument, but it's not correct. PK has the [Fear] descriptor, which explicitly labels it as a magical fear effect. Immunity to fear protects against all spells with the [Fear] descriptor, full stop.

He also said the spell has two saves... making it easy to resist would make the spell all but useless. Well at least against us... because every morning we have Heroes Feast. We wont face Drows without it !!

I don't think the existence of Hero's Feast makes PK "easy to resist." You need to use a 6th-level slot, and an hour of preparation, to defend against a 4th-level spell. If you get caught in a dispel, you're not going to take time out of combat to eat another feast.

He's right on one point: Hero's Feast does make Phantasmal Killer all but useless. That's what it's for! It makes you immune to all magical fear effects. Hell, Death Ward (4th level) makes Power Word: Kill (9th level!) entirely useless. That's the whole point of having magical defenses in the first place.

If your DM lets attacks pierce your defensive spells whenever he feels like it-- ignoring what the rules say-- what's the point of having rules in the first place? He might as well have his NPCs automatically hit you with melee attacks. Having a high armor class makes weapons "all but useless," you know.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Eh, when you have a rope trick, you have all the time you need to eat.

Unless you're being hunted by a Glabrezu.

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

He might as well have his NPCs automatically hit you with melee attacks. Having a high armor class makes weapons "all but useless," you know.

Heh. Roll to hit... roll to confirm critical... roll critical damage...

... without once looking down at the dice...

-Hyp.

 

[Otterscrubber]

Does this mean Paladins are immune to phantasmal killers as well?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Does this mean Paladins are immune to phantasmal killers as well?

As Auraseer said :

"If you're immune to fear, you're completely unaffected by all spells with the [Fear] descriptor. (Paladins laugh at Phantasmal Killer.)"

-Hyp.

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

Just to add something -- True Seeing also makes Phantasmal Killer useless. So in addition to the two saves you get, there's lots of spells that make you immune to its effects. Overall, not as good of a spell as you'd think. But what more can you expect from a 4th level insta-kill spell?

 

[Hypersmurf]

The description of the spell seems more general thou... fear and hopelessness... since there is no such hopelessness spell...

Symbol.

-Hyp.