Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CelestialBarbarian 04-15-05, 07:31 AM	I'm converting the astral deva racial class from Savage Species to 3.5. I have two questions: 1. I notice that the Savage Species racial class, among other errors, omits the astral deva's plane shift spell-like ability. A full-fledged astral deva can use plane shift at will. Do you think plane shift belongs under "deva powers" (of which the astral deva gets one use per day starting at 10th level) or "greater deva powers" (of which the deva gets one use per day starting at 15th level)? Why? (I'm leaning toward including plane shift under deva powers.) 2. The astral deva, like all angels in 3.5, gets a protective aura supernatural ability, which acts as both a magic circle against evil with +4 instead of +2 bonuses, and as a lesser globe of invulnerability. Does the protective aura prevent the functioning of the astral deva's spell-like abilities of 1st through 3rd level within its area of effect? Note that while the description of the protective aura says that it can be dispelled, it doesn't say that the angel can dismiss the protective aura. Does the astral deva have to take a standard action and a use of its dispel magic spell-like ability in order to use its spell-like abilities of aid and cure light wounds? (I have a feeling that the authors didn't imagine that an angel's protective aura wouldn't inhibit its own spell-like abilities.) Thanks!
okaynowa 04-15-05, 08:13 AM	Plane shift is a 5th level clerical spell, which means a typical human cleric would gain access to it at 9th level (9 HD). So, if you view the astral deva as comparable in power to a cleric, gaining the ability at 10th level doesn't seem out of place. A globe of invulnerability acts like a shield to block incoming spells. It does not interfere with outgoing magic, so a deva with its aura in place can still cast searing light on a foe outside the aura's radius (for example). It may prevent the deva from targeting other creatures also inside the sphere-- that's not clear to me. It seems like it should be a logical houserule to allow devas suppress their own auras at will.
CelestialBarbarian 04-15-05, 11:17 AM	Plane shift is a 5th level clerical spell, which means a typical human cleric would gain access to it at 9th level (9 HD). So, if you view the astral deva as comparable in power to a cleric, gaining the ability at 10th level doesn't seem out of place. A globe of invulnerability acts like a shield to block incoming spells. It does not interfere with outgoing magic, so a deva with its aura in place can still cast searing light on a foe outside the aura's radius (for example). It may prevent the deva from targeting other creatures also inside the sphere-- that's not clear to me. It seems like it should be a logical houserule to allow devas suppress their own auras at will. I have to say that the globe of invulnerability spells seem a bit strange to me. In the first version of the game that contained them (which I think was 1st Ed rather than original D&D) we played that incoming spells couldn't penetrate, but that the caster's own spells worked within the globe. Thus a caster could still haste himself, while the enemy's fireball had no effect. Now as the spell description reads, the caster could also cast haste on himself but the globe would suppress the haste, while the caster could actually target his own fireball on himself and take no damage, while creatures beyond the radius of the globe would get hit by the fireball. Is that how you understand the spell too? Thus under the current version, the astra deva would have to choose between using the protective aura or his aid spell-like ability on himself during a fight. I really wonder whether the authors had that sort of tradeoff in mind. I suspect that they didn't. What do you think? Thanks. :)