This spell has SOME use in many situations, as noted by the penalties.
I don't believe that any reasonable/sane player is going to memorize/get this 2nd-3rd level spell so as to be able to "inflict" a -1 penalty on the enemy's rolls... after a failed fortitude saving throw too! (also ...saving throws are excluded from the penalty).
The -1 penalty was incorporated in the spell for two reasons:
1- The -1 penalty is actually supposed to count "against" the spell's power. Allied forces are gonna suffer this penalty, in case they want to engage the monster in melee.
2- The second reason is mostly about flavor... its about how an effect that hampers special senses is also gonna affect normal senses just a little as well. After i came up with the idea of those magical ultrasonic/infrasonic waves... i tried to imagine how being in such a field would be like, and how would it affect normal senses. The high pitched noise is not in my imagination. This is the actual effect such waves have to our hearing. So i concluded that the "ringing" combined with the heavy odor of sulfur could easily account for this -1 penalty.
Finally, there's no counter to this spell. There's no "True Seeing" or "See Invisibility" that negates it without also punishing the caster (again, the only thing I can think of is some form of silence spell).
Isn't there? What about Globe of Invulnerability Lesser? Dispel Magic? No need to go looking for costly 6th level spells like true seeing...
Don't forget than in case the spell isn't targeted on the monster (in which case the monster is allowed a save to negate the effect), the creature can always walk out the area of effect.
Further, you can cast this ON a creature. So that grimlock can't simply "step out of the area".
Yes, but in this case i should remind you that the Grimlock is entitled to a Will save so as to negate the effect.
I'm sorry, if this were cast on a creature that primarily used tremorsense/blindsense/etc as a means to find enemies this is effectively a death sentence.
Ok. explain me then how... Ghoul touch... an effectively 2nd lvl "save or die" spell is not a death sentence to a humanoid creature....
Or perhaps you think that a character faces less humanoids than creatures with ONLY* those special senses?
*(as in creatures without ordinary senses, creatures which are going to be effectively blinded under the effect of the spell)
Another "minor" detail: Ghoul touch might require the extra touch attack, but it turns the subject paralyzed/helpless, giving the opportunity to perform a coup-de-grace on the creature on the same round even. Being blinded is far from being helpless.
