Post/Author/DateTime	Post
luke1976 10-03-04, 11:05 AM	One of my player states that Horrid Wilting is a Necromancy spell, so the damage is negative energy, hence he is protected by Death Ward. While I am more inclined to think that the Horrid Wilting is not negative energy because it has got something to do with evaporation of water. What do you guys think? For that matter, does the Death Ward spell protects against *ALL* spells from Necromancy just because the damage-causing spells from this school are either death, energy drain or negative energy in nature?
Warmage-in-Onley 10-03-04, 11:27 AM	Death Ward does not prevent damage from Horrid Wilting. The confusion here is the "immune to... any negative energy effects (such as from inflict spells or chill touch)". Both inflict and chill touch spells "channel negative energy" which results in hit point damage. Horrid Wilting does not channel negative energy that deals hot point damage, it "evaporates moisture" which results in hit point damage. Be careful, the school of a spell or effect does not necessarily dictate the type of damage the spell or effect deals.
kSquared 10-03-04, 12:07 PM	For that matter, does the Death Ward spell protects against *ALL* spells from Necromancy just because the damage-causing spells from this school are either death, energy drain or negative energy in nature? No. In general, every negative energy spell is a Necromancy spell, but not the other way around. Horrid wilting is one such case.
Heron_Marked_Blade 10-03-04, 12:07 PM	Warmage-in-Onley is correct. Horrid Wilting (as the name suggests) deals damage by evaporating moisture from the target, and therefore is not negated by Death Ward.
Sphyre 10-03-04, 12:25 PM	Deathward blocks things with the [Death] Decriptor, or have magical effects that are similar to [Death] Effects. It also protects against anything that explicitly says that it's caused through negative energy and energy drain.
tarkin 10-03-04, 12:34 PM	The words "death spells", in Death Ward means spells with a [Death] in their list of descriptors. Just as Resistance to Fire only protects against spells with [Fire] in their descriptors, Death Ward protects against spells with [death] in their descriptors (See Death Knell just above it.)
Bloodtide_the_Red 10-03-04, 12:42 PM	I'd say that Death Ward does protect vs. Horrid Wilting. It gets tricky, but here goes..... Horrid Wilting 'just evaporates moisture', that's not evil or negetaive enery like or damaging or draining. At least if we are talking about evaporating a bucket of water. Wait though, Horrid Wilting only effects living creatures, and does damage. So why is it necromacy? If it's just 'evaporating water', they why is it not Transmuation. Changing water to gas(evaporation) is pure Transmuation(change from one form to another). Yet it's still necromancy. So is it in the wrong school? How is a necromancy spell? 'Evaporating water ' is not, by-the-book, manipulating the power of death, unlife or life force'. Does not realy fit.....unless it uses negative energy. In any case though, if you let Horrid Wilting bypass Death Ward, your doing an injustice. When you take the classic good cleric type who puts up his defences vs the evil necromancer/undead....they have a great cheat with this spell. It can be buffed up with all their necromancy stuff....but goes right through Death Ward that blocks that stuff... Again you can do the crazy 'make the spell just about any school'. You could 'conjure' intense heat to 'evaporate water' or enchant it, for example. BT
Craque 10-03-04, 01:56 PM	It's probably necromancy because, while not directly related to death/undeath, it's a very nasty way of killing things, might also be necromancy because of balance reasons, necro is an offensive capable school and it has no DD spell at high levels without Horrid Wilting. In any case though, if you let Horrid Wilting bypass Death Ward, your doing an injustice. When you take the classic good cleric type who puts up his defences vs the evil necromancer/undead....they have a great cheat with this spell. It can be buffed up with all their necromancy stuff....but goes right through Death Ward that blocks that stuff... I would say the good cleric is the one getting a great cheat. If we say that no spells from the necromancy school bypass Death Ward, the cleric, for the cost of a single 4th level spell, becomes effectively immune to the most powerful attacks/spells of the evil necromancer/undead no matter what level they are.
Aricandor 10-03-04, 02:23 PM	No, death ward does NOT protect you from horrid wilting, since it doesn't have neither the [Death] descriptor, deals negative energy damage nor is causing any form of energy drain. Additionally, death ward does not make you immune to everything from the necromancy school. Just the parts of it that have [Death] descriptor, inflicts negative energy damage or causes energy drain. Simple.
Sphyre 10-03-04, 08:28 PM	I'd say that Death Ward does protect vs. Horrid Wilting. It gets tricky, but here goes..... For the very fact that you word it that way shows that it's out of the spell's bounds. Of course you can twist any "rules" to imply anything. You could say that someone with a BAB +3 is more talented at attacking an enemy than someone with BAB +0, so you should get more attacks than the person with BAB +0, but that by no means, is in the rules. In any case though, if you let Horrid Wilting bypass Death Ward, your doing an injustice. Hooo boy... opened a can of worms there. It says explicitly in it's spell description "Death ward does not protect against other sorts of attacks, such as hit point loss... even if those attacks might be lethal"
Sacrusha 10-04-04, 07:15 AM	Specialized Immunity Abjuration Level: Dru 9, Clr 9, Sor/Wiz 7 Components: V, S, M Casting Time: 1 action Range: Personal Target: You Duration: Until expended or 1 min./level. When casting this spell, chose one school of magic, but not abjuration or universal. For the duration of the spell, you have infinite spell resistance against spells from that school. This effect, however, is not unlimited, only 30 spell levels are affected by it. Spells from other schools, or spells that do not allow spell resistance, do not count against this limit. If your chosen school is divination, you are also protected as by nondetection spell, cast by yourself at the caster level of specialized immunity. As an additional effect of this spell, the moment you cast this spell, each ongoing spell from the chosen school currently in effect on you is dispelled immediately, and you cannot cast spells from that school as long as the specialized immunity lasts. Spells from the chosen school do not even count as being on your class list for the duration of the spell, and use magic device checks to activate items from the chosen school suffer a penalty equal to your caster level. Only one casting of specialized immunity can be active on a person at any time. If specialized immunity is cast while it is already in effect, the older casting is dispelled. Material Component: Any arcane scroll which holds a spell of the chosen school. There you've got your immunity against the necromancy school, including, but not limited to: Cure minor wounds, cure light wounds, cure medium wounds, cure seriuos wounds, heal, and astral projection.