Why was Darkness changed?

[Black Knight Irios]

The only effect of the [Darkness] descriptor is how it interacts with spells with the [Light] descriptor.

There possibly should be a rule that says "A spell with the Darkness descriptor can never increase the level of light in an area", or something similar... but there isn't.

So, as written, Darkness radiates shadowy illumination... which is a defined light level in the PHB.

I know that fact, but you have to admit that it sounds rather stupid, that you can "create" light(shadowy illumination) with a [Darkness] spell.
I think I'm going to house rule that, but maybe I don't...

Except Harm specifically uses the wording "causes the loss of all but 1d4 hit points[/i]. Gain is not permitted.

Whereas Darkness does not use 'darkens', 'reduces', 'decreases', or anything else. It 'radiates shadowy illumination'.

As I said it was a rather stupid assumption some friends brought up, maybe it was even from AD&D 2nd. Never mind.

 

[Plane Sailing]

...Except that there's no way to prevent Disintegration. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Whatever. Aside from boosting your saves, or boosting Spell Resistance (which is the case against any spell), there's NOTHING that can prevent against it.

OT, but you could get concealment (blur, displacement, mundane means), you could increase your touch AC, you could use Mirror Image, you may even be allowed to use spell turning (although I seem to remember hearing that spell turning might not be usable against rays? Not sure), Greater Spell Immunity, Rod of Absorbtion...

More defences against it than you might expect.