Is Disintegrate a "Death Spell"

[Mr Fidgit]

just for the sake of arguement, these are all of the PH spells with the death descriptor

Circle of Death - Sor/Wiz 6
Death Knell - Clr 2, Death 2 (also Evil)
Destruction - Clr 7, Death 7
Finger of Death - Drd 8, Sor/Wiz 7
Power Word, Kill - Sor/Wiz 9, War 9
Slay Living - Clr 5, Death 5
Wail of the Banshee - Death 9, Sor/Wiz 9 (also Sonic)

 

[hong]

Dodge the ray. A high ranged touch attack helps against Disintegrate.

Alternatively, a threatening display with an iron pipe whenever the DM mentions a green ray may also help protecting your PC from disintegration...

Killing the wizard before he can get off more disintegrates also helps.

This is like a built-in guard against excessively powerful abilities: the more you draw attention to yourself, the less likely you are to survive. IME, smart wizards leave disintegrates, feebleminds, FoDs etc to be used as last-resort weapons, because of the risk of making the bad guys concentrate on you.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

I would guess an AMS should protect you against a disintegrate spell, but I think as many others as well, that disintegrate is no deathspell and deathward is useless against it.
I like disintegrate!!!

 

[clark411]

Things to protect you from Disintegrate:

Items
Ring of Counterspells with Disintegrate cast into it. (DMG)
Ring of Spellturning.
Any armor with the special ability Proof against Transmutation. (Magic of Faerun). As a note, it's a +6 bonus (ouch).
Party mage with dispels or Disintegrates himself on standby for counterspelling.
SR providing items

Spells + tactics
Wall of Force + Dimensional Anchor. (you cut off teleportation and the only viable escape route, he is forced to expend his disintegration on the Wall of Force or take his chances)
Constitution / Fort Sv raising items and 2nd level spell Endurance.
Displacement, Blur, Mislead, Mirror Image, Bigby's Interposing Hand, Blindness, Resistance, Antimagic field. (Displacement+Blindness = 75% miss chance, add mirror image for an additional 75% to 87.5% miss chance, add Bigby's+Shield for +17 AC vs touch attacks, and so on if you can)
Guidance, Entropic shield, Prayer, Spell Immunity.. Power Word Kill.
Find cover (make it if you have to with nearby chairs, chests, bards).
As a free action, point at the party fighter and wink at the enemy disintegrator each round.

 

[Taren Seeker]

Things to protect you from Disintegrate:
Displacement, Blur, Mislead, Mirror Image, Bigby's Interposing Hand, Blindness, Resistance, Antimagic field. (Displacement+Blindness = 75% miss chance, add mirror image for an additional 75% to 87.5% miss chance, add Bigby's+Shield for +17 AC vs touch attacks, and so on if you can)
Guidance, Entropic shield, Prayer, Spell Immunity.. Power Word Kill.

Concealment doesn't stack with itself, you just take the best one. For instance, if your target is already blind then it doesn't matter if you're blurred or displaced since he can't see you anyways.

Also, cover won't stack with itself either.

The rest of your ideas are good ones though. My recommendation is to get a decent touch AC and the best Fort save you can scrounge. It's best to have things like this active all of the time rather than rely on short term buffs. You never know when that green ray is going to come at you...

 

[Jalkain]

I don't believe spell turning will work, since it only protects against targeted spells, not area or effect spells.


Disintegrate

Transmutation
Level: Destruction 7, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: Ray
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Spell Resistance: Yes

 

[Sejs]

As has been stated above, nope. Death Ward doesn't stop disintegrate because the spell doesn't have the [Death] descriptor.

 

[the Jester]

just for the sake of arguement, these are all of the PH spells with the death descriptor

Circle of Death - Sor/Wiz 6
Death Knell - Clr 2, Death 2 (also Evil)
Destruction - Clr 7, Death 7
Finger of Death - Drd 8, Sor/Wiz 7
Power Word, Kill - Sor/Wiz 9, War 9
Slay Living - Clr 5, Death 5
Wail of the Banshee - Death 9, Sor/Wiz 9 (also Sonic)

Add to this list the death domain's death touch ability.

Although it isn't a spell.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Along the same line:

If you target a person with disintegrate, and he fails his save, what happens to all his items? Technically, the spell says creature OR object. It seems far too powerful if all items are automatically destroyed. Is this a case where, if the target fails his save, only one item is destroyed and the rest remain (I vaguely remember this rule from the DMG somewhere)?

 

[Dr_Rictus]

Yes. As usual, items are not affected by effects which target the character (unless, perhaps, he rolls a 1 on his save).