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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1073184" data-attributes="member: 3146">Last I checked, most spells don't kill an opponent with one failed save.Flaming Sphere. Nope.Glitterdust. NopeWeb. Nope.Fireball. Nope.Hold Person. Not really (especially not in 3.5--you get at least two saves--one of which may be against a coup de grace but that requires excellent timing and positioning and provokes an AoO).Phantasmal Killer. Nope. Two saves.Ice Storm. If it kills you, you weren't a challenge.Poison. It's quite unlikely. (even two failed saves won't kill most N/PCs unless they're dealt damage as well)Inflict X wounds. Again. . . probably not.Disintegrate. Not in 3.5 (even if you're a wizard, you stand a reasonable chance of surviving the damage as long as you're unhurt).Hold Monster. See Hold Person.Dominate Person/Monster. Nope. And you (generally) get a second save (with a bonus) if the caster tries to turn you against your party).Horrid Wilting. Nope. One save and then it deals damage. . . which you can probably survive if you're unhurt.Meteor Swarm. What save?Wierd. Nope. Two saves.Cloud Kill. Not much of a chance.Slow. Nope.So which spells can kill with one failed save?Slay Living. Destruction. Finger of Death. Circle of Death (HD limited). Undeath to Death (undead only, HD limited, always against a strong save). Symbol of Death (more properly a trap because of casting time and material components). Plane Shift (arguably this is an abuse of the spell). Wail of the Banshee.So, four wizard spells starting at 6th level. And four cleric spells starting a 5th level. And most of those spells are blocked by Death Ward. Hardly a large enough percentage to justify the conclusion that wizards generally kill their opponents on every failed save.Your focus on first level save/vs DC (a best case scenario for wizards' odds since few foes have good saves and almost no foes have SR) in the previous post makes the later focus on the consequences of a few high level spells (which almost never face the same odds of success) look almost disingenuous.</blockquote>

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