Holy Word too powerful?

[Count Arioch the 28t]

5 karma beads is all it takes. By an odd dimple in 3.5 rules, a karma bead by itself is free. All it takes is a feat, and you could make literally thousands, if the DM is an idiot and allows that loophole to stand. Imagine a 13th level cleric decked out in karma beads killing Ao.

It's "technically" legal, but I think, in the spirit of the rules, you should disallow it.

However, an orange Ioun stone only costs 15,000 and 600 exp to make, well worth it. And they stack. (That is more in line with the rules, plus there is some risk in it, but really, if all it took was 80,000 gp and 3,000 exp to make it so you could slay all foes of your CR or lower, and I knew of that info, damn straght I'd be saving my pennies right now. However, that doesn't work in real life, so it's going away on loose women and cheap booze.)

 

[DarkMaster]

It's great for clearing a room of mooks, that's for sure. Also if a BBEG uses it on PCs who are at least 5 levels lower than he is -- but then a 13th level caster against 8th level PCs is probably going to wipe the floor with them regardless. I think blasphemy is worse.

Hong, I am surprised a spell above the third that you didn't modify to fits your campaing

 

[Scion]

By an odd dimple in 3.5 rules, a karma bead by itself is free.

Notice that when making the strands you make a lesser, a strand, or a greater strand of prayer beads. If you 'later' remove them then it is worth less. But it does not say you may create individual beads for the reduced price.

 

[WizarDru]

According to the SRD, it lists the item as "Each strand includes two or more special beads, each with a different magic power."

So no, you couldn't make a single bead. It also doesn't actually specify that you can craft one without those beads, merely how much the item is worth if it's missing some of the standard set. The Bead of Karma allows you to cast divine spells at Caster Level +4 once a day for 10 minutes.

Either way, that's not a condemnation of Holy Word, that's a discussion about the Strand of Prayer Beads. And I think it's pretty clear that the effects of multiple Beads of Karma don't stack.

 

[CrimsonTemplar]

Do I think it's overpowering, no. Do I think it's easily able to break certian types of encounters - oh yeah. I was running an LG mod the other night and when the party is supposed to be jumped by roughly a dozen lvl 8 fighters it came down to how much damage can I inflict before the Cleric goes. An interesting side note, the players informed me that they have a standard practice of on their first action - they order their horses and animal companions to run away before the Cleric casts Holy Word or Dictum.

 

[Otterscrubber]

This spell is definitely good for clearing a room full of mooks, and also a few super mooks as the case may be. Although usually in my campaigns there are rarely shortages of enemy mooks to deal with so this isn't exactly what I would consider an overpowering spell. Clerics are not sorcerers, they won't have 7 of these memorized, smart BBEG will know these limitations and plan accordingly.

Overall it has some great strengths when used properly, but also some limitations in its applications. Exactly what I would expect from a 7th level spell.

 

[Quasqueton]

My group (6x ~7th level) recently encountered a half-fiend treant with blasphemy. Three of the PCs got caught in the area of effect and were paralyzed for minutes. The other three PCs managed to pull out their fallen comrades through a combination of tenacity, guts, tactics, and luck.

They've already started formulating battle tactics for confronting this treant again. Silence and freedom of movement should prove good counters to this spell.

Quasqueton

 

[Hypersmurf]

Any nongood creature within the area that hears the holy word suffers the following ill effects.

Interesting.

Holy Word and Word of Chaos are defeated by deafness. If you can't hear the word, you aren't affected.

Blasphemy and Dictum are not. Any non-evil/non-lawful creature within the area (not "within the area, that hears the blasphemy/dictum") is affected.

-Hyp.

 

[Lamoni]

I don't think that it is overpowerful in most cases... but the cleric in our party has been preparing for it. She has the good domain and a strand of prayer beads. The next stop in a town will result in the orange ioun stone. Right now we are level 12. At level 13 where you can paralyze any non good creature with 14 or less HD and kill anything with 9 or fewer HD seems like it might be overpowered... we'll see how it works in game. The thing is, the prayer beads really only allow for one super spell a day even if the cleric can select multiple copies of the spell.

 

[Lamoni]

Interesting.

Holy Word and Word of Chaos are defeated by deafness. If you can't hear the word, you aren't affected.

Blasphemy and Dictum are not. Any non-evil/non-lawful creature within the area (not "within the area, that hears the blasphemy/dictum") is affected.

-Hyp.

However, since Blasphemy is still a sonic spell, wouldn't it still be rendered ineffective with a silence spell?

The SRD says under the Silence spell "This spell provides a defense against sonic or language-based attacks."

I would consider blasphemy a sonic attack. Is this wrong?

It still is interesting how Holy word can be countered by being deaf, or simply wearing ear plugs though. Or your opponents could fear an attack from holy word and all yell at the top of their lungs while fighting (it is pretty hard to hear anything that way)