Ultimate Mercy questions

[EUBanana]

So the paladin feat, Ultimate Mercy, allows a paladin to duplicate a raise dead spell. The raised suffers 2 permanent negative levels, and 1 temporary negative level that automatically clears after 24 hours if the paladin chooses not to use the 5000gp material component.

What happens if you use ultimate mercy on a level 1 character? Raise dead does not prohibit you from doing this, the permanent negative levels are converted to permanent constitution losses, 2 per negative level. But what about the temporary level?

Does the 1st level character

a) lose 4 points of constitution permanently and 2 points temporarily,

or

b) promptly die again, because the temporary negative level kills them?



And what about a 2nd level character? Permanent negative levels first or second? Do they lose 2 points of con permanently and 2 temporarily? Do they get drained to 1 and then die as a level 1 character may? Does the temporary level go first, so they lose 4 con permanently?

 

[ghearus]

When using Ultimate Mercy, the Paladin can choose to take a temporary negative level or pay the 5000gp casting cost of the spell. When the casting cost (either the negative level or the gold) is paid, the targeted creature is then raised per the Raise Dead spell, with a 1st level creature taking the 2 point con drain.

The important distinction is that the entire casting (10 lay on hands + gold or level) is paid by the Paladin.

Here is the text from the feat:
You can expend 10 uses of lay on hands to bring a single dead creature you touch back to life as a raise dead spell with a caster level equal to your paladin level. You must provide the material component for raise dead or choose to accept 1 temporary negative level; this level automatically goes away after 24 hours, never becomes a permanent negative level, and cannot be overcome in any way except by waiting for the duration to expire.

 

[EUBanana]

You can expend 10 uses of lay on hands to bring a single dead creature you touch back to life as a raise dead spell with a caster level equal to your paladin level. You must provide the material component for raise dead or choose to accept 1 temporary negative level; this level automatically goes away after 24 hours, never becomes a permanent negative level, and cannot be overcome in any way except by waiting for the duration to expire.

Ah, thank you! I misread, and thought the dead 'un got the temp level.

So the paladin takes the negative level.

Okay, thats cool (and a bit more balanced).