Look again...
rushlight said:
Going back to look at Dispel Magic, it says: "A dispelled spell ends as if its duration had expired." Also, it goes on to say that you can't dispel effects like reverting a pertrified character as, "The magic has departed leaving only perfectly normal stone in its wake". If Dispel Magic can counter any permanant spell, why have the spell Remove Blindness/Deafness? The spell Blindness/Deafness has a permanant duration. I don't believe you can use Dispel Magic to restore someone who was hit with Powerword Bilnd.
It seems obvious that Dispel Magic only affects spells with a set duration. Otherwise you could just cast Dispel Magic on your buddy who was just killed with a Powerword Kill spell...
Look again... Flesh to Stone is a spell of Instantaneous, not permanent duration (as is PW Kill).
An spell of instantaneous duration "goes off" and then the magic departs, leaving the effects (statue in flesh to stone, dead man in PW kill, big ol' singed area with fireball and so on).
A spell of permanent duration requires magic to maintain the effects (poly other implies that your natural form is still human or whatever, not donkey or troll) and it is only the persistence of the magic that keeps things from "reverting" to the way they were prior to the spell's casting.
Again, "permanent" spells can be dispelled. "Instantaneous" spells cannot (even if their
effects are long-lasting or permanent).
Think of it like a torch... if I burn a piece of paper in my torch, the paper burns and is gone (instantaneous) regardless of whether I put the torch out later. The effect (destruction of the paper) of my "torch" spell lasts long after the torch is gone.
If I am relying on my torch for light, and my torch goes out, the effect (the light) goes out with it. The effect lasts only as long as the torch does (permanent spells).
--The Sigil