Black Blade of Disaster and Saving Throw [Archive] - Wizards Community

Black Blade of Disaster and Saving Throw [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Muktar
04-30-07, 02:32 PM In the spell compendium, the black blade of disaster spell says there is no saving throw and yet in the spell's description there is a saving throw. Which is correct?

What is the difference between the Sphere of Ultimate Destruction and the Black Blade of Disaster? They are both 9th lvl spells that mimic a floating Disintegrate yet the The Sphere has longer range and automatically hits.
tarkin
04-30-07, 03:02 PM No save. It is a to-hit touch attack.

If I recall correctly, the Black Blade only disintegrates on a critical. The rest of the time it does damage dice and can ignore many magical protections. It also attacks by itself (Standard action to change targets)

The Sphere on the other hand requires an MEA each round to attack, does significnatly more regular damage and has a normal crit. But if you bring someone down to 0 hp, then it disintegrates them.

-------------

Sphere is usually far more powerfull, but requires you to spend your MEA, while the Blade does not. Also the blade can ignore things that protect you from the Sphere.

Are looking for straight damage? Get the Sphere.

If you are looking for something a bit more subtle? Get the blade. It is more likley to hit and frees up your full round.
Muktar
04-30-07, 03:12 PM First, there is no attack roll on the sphere of ultimate destruction. Therefore, no chance of critical. Second, in the Spell Compendium it does not talk about needing to critical to deliver the disintegrate effect. Even if so, what is the normal damage of the wpn? It is not stated in the Spell Compendium.
tarkin
04-30-07, 03:17 PM I was talking about the blade of disaster when I discussed the damage and criticals.

The original Magic of Faerun one was what I was looking at, figuring that it would answer the question that the Spell compendium created.

It appears to be very different than what ended up in the Spell compendium, as in MoF, it was a to hit with special benefits, as I discussed above
Muktar
04-30-07, 05:46 PM I am pretty sure there is a huge typo in this spell now after comparing it to the one in the Magic of Faerun. Is there a FAQ on this somewhere? I could not find it in the errata, since there is no errata for the spell compendium.
Muktar
04-30-07, 10:16 PM I'm giving this a bump again. Unsure still how the spell works
Empiro
05-01-07, 02:42 AM I could be wrong, but isn't the text of a spell considered more primary than the heading? If so, then the spell allows a save.
TheGogmagog
05-01-07, 08:32 AM I could be wrong, but isn't the text of a spell considered more primary than the heading? If so, then the spell allows a save.
Agreed. The spell Black Blade of Disaster Does allow a Fortitude save to resist the disintegrate effect. The 'Saving Throw: None' entry might refer to the blade effect is not destroyed with a successful saving throw. Similar to summoned creatures, they don't blink out because someone made a save. At the same time a summoned poisonous creature doesn't negate the save to it's attack, or SA.

The Sphere on the other hand requires an MEA each round to attack, does significantly more regular damage and has a normal crit. But if you bring someone down to 0 hp, then it disintegrates them. But if you bring someone down to 0 hp, then it disintegrates them.The Sphere has no attack roll, therefore no crit. Also both spells do the same disintegrate effect. If you survive the 40d6 damage (and the massive damage effect) of either spell, you aren't reduced to dust.

With the blade you get a touch attack roll + chance to crit but once a target is destroyed it's a Standard action to redirect. The disintegrate effect occurs on every hit.
With the sphere you get auto hit, but no chance to crit, and requires a move action every round.

Unless you are fighting ONE major opponent with high fort who is likely to survive several rounds of disintegrate, IMHO the sphere is better.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Muktar 04-30-07, 02:32 PM	In the spell compendium, the black blade of disaster spell says there is no saving throw and yet in the spell's description there is a saving throw. Which is correct? What is the difference between the Sphere of Ultimate Destruction and the Black Blade of Disaster? They are both 9th lvl spells that mimic a floating Disintegrate yet the The Sphere has longer range and automatically hits.
tarkin 04-30-07, 03:02 PM	No save. It is a to-hit touch attack. If I recall correctly, the Black Blade only disintegrates on a critical. The rest of the time it does damage dice and can ignore many magical protections. It also attacks by itself (Standard action to change targets) The Sphere on the other hand requires an MEA each round to attack, does significnatly more regular damage and has a normal crit. But if you bring someone down to 0 hp, then it disintegrates them. ------------- Sphere is usually far more powerfull, but requires you to spend your MEA, while the Blade does not. Also the blade can ignore things that protect you from the Sphere. Are looking for straight damage? Get the Sphere. If you are looking for something a bit more subtle? Get the blade. It is more likley to hit and frees up your full round.
Muktar 04-30-07, 03:12 PM	First, there is no attack roll on the sphere of ultimate destruction. Therefore, no chance of critical. Second, in the Spell Compendium it does not talk about needing to critical to deliver the disintegrate effect. Even if so, what is the normal damage of the wpn? It is not stated in the Spell Compendium.
tarkin 04-30-07, 03:17 PM	I was talking about the blade of disaster when I discussed the damage and criticals. The original Magic of Faerun one was what I was looking at, figuring that it would answer the question that the Spell compendium created. It appears to be very different than what ended up in the Spell compendium, as in MoF, it was a to hit with special benefits, as I discussed above
Muktar 04-30-07, 05:46 PM	I am pretty sure there is a huge typo in this spell now after comparing it to the one in the Magic of Faerun. Is there a FAQ on this somewhere? I could not find it in the errata, since there is no errata for the spell compendium.
Muktar 04-30-07, 10:16 PM	I'm giving this a bump again. Unsure still how the spell works
Empiro 05-01-07, 02:42 AM	I could be wrong, but isn't the text of a spell considered more primary than the heading? If so, then the spell allows a save.
TheGogmagog 05-01-07, 08:32 AM	I could be wrong, but isn't the text of a spell considered more primary than the heading? If so, then the spell allows a save. Agreed. The spell Black Blade of Disaster Does allow a Fortitude save to resist the disintegrate effect. The 'Saving Throw: None' entry might refer to the blade effect is not destroyed with a successful saving throw. Similar to summoned creatures, they don't blink out because someone made a save. At the same time a summoned poisonous creature doesn't negate the save to it's attack, or SA. The Sphere on the other hand requires an MEA each round to attack, does significantly more regular damage and has a normal crit. But if you bring someone down to 0 hp, then it disintegrates them. But if you bring someone down to 0 hp, then it disintegrates them.The Sphere has no attack roll, therefore no crit. Also both spells do the same disintegrate effect. If you survive the 40d6 damage (and the massive damage effect) of either spell, you aren't reduced to dust. With the blade you get a touch attack roll + chance to crit but once a target is destroyed it's a Standard action to redirect. The disintegrate effect occurs on every hit. With the sphere you get auto hit, but no chance to crit, and requires a move action every round. Unless you are fighting ONE major opponent with high fort who is likely to survive several rounds of disintegrate, IMHO the sphere is better.