It was brought up in game yesterday. Assume a piece of land in a forest, every plant in a 80' diameter circle is withered. The dead underfolliage is broken here and there by a dead squirel or bird or some other normal animal. Even the insects have died... What caused that carnage?
A holy word. Yes, you read right. A holy word. Targets all non-good creatures in the area.
It was used against some specters that ganged a character and an annis hag. The funny thing is that specters can't be blinded, deafened or paralyzed since they are undead.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia My DMGuild work!
The ordinary plants shouldn't have been affected, as they're considered objects, not creatures. But you're right: by the rules-as-written, that spell's awfully hard on the wildlife.
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
Rotipher of the FoS wrote:The ordinary plants shouldn't have been affected, as they're considered objects, not creatures.
Rotipher's right; the flora should be fine (unless, of course, it was a grove of treants and assassin vines.) Just because something's alive doesn't make it a creature.
[i]"I too have begun to wonder about the legendary wisdom of our guardian angel and his pet rock."
~ Evee Beiderbecke[/i]
Are you sure? Even things that are not alive are creatures. I.e Undead and constructs. I think I have seen rules about how many hit dice trees have for the purpose of determining if they're burned with a fireball or broken by a lighting bolt... or was it to determine their HD if they're awakened?
But really, I don't think anyone anywhere plays Holy word as written. It is an evil act to kill neutrals after all. I changed it to "evil and neutral creatures that are actively trying to harm you" meaning that if you're ambushed in a city street and cast holy word near the evil old cobbler (commoner 1) that's just mean and selfish you don't get him killed.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia My DMGuild work!
I think that is a little far fetched too, but in Ravenloft, sometimes even the best of intentions are corrupted
Make it a one time cool effect, and it is fun. But I wouldn't make it all the time. Why did the Holy Word caster destroy all the life? What secret this person has? and similar introspective idea / adv hook
Joël
"A full set of (game) rules is so massively complicated that the only time they were all bound together in a single volume, they underwent gravitational collapse and became a black hole" (Adams)
The spell specifically says "living creatures are killed". http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/holyWord.htm
Plants aren't creatures, they're plants and thus unaffected.
From a rules perspective this is also true: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm
"Plant Type
This type comprises vegetable creatures. Note that regular plants, such as one finds growing in gardens and fields, lack Wisdom and Charisma scores (see Nonabilities) and are not creatures, but objects, even though they are alive. "
But, yeah, the animals and critters would snuff it. But I doubt many will be around once a battle starts.
alhoon wrote:Are you sure? Even things that are not alive are creatures. I.e Undead and constructs. I think I have seen rules about how many hit dice trees have for the purpose of determining if they're burned with a fireball or broken by a lighting bolt... or was it to determine their HD if they're awakened?
All objects have hit points, just like creatures do. Once an object is animated (awaken, animate objects, the treant's special ability), it becomes a creature - complete with statistics like HD, BAB, etc. - but it's not a creature until the animation occurs.
Hmm... possible way to destroy (or neutralize for some given amount of time) an evil artifact for canny players? Just cast animate objects and then holy word...
[i]"I too have begun to wonder about the legendary wisdom of our guardian angel and his pet rock."
~ Evee Beiderbecke[/i]
Why should (most of) the divine powers care about animals let alone plants (whether creatures or not)?
Christianity has no place in its Heaven for plants, animals, or even unbaptised children. So to Hell with them, the children at least.
Evidently every religion opposed to evil need not be equally uninterested in the environment. But there is certainly a precedent for a belief in the master species alone worthy of salvation.
cure wrote:Christianity has no place in its Heaven for plants, animals, or even unbaptised children. So to Hell with them, the children at least.
Not true, although this is, perhaps, not the right place to be arguing Christian theology.
WRT game terms, I think I would say that anything with an Intelligence less than 3 and no evil/good inherent in its makeup (i.e., not fiendish/celestial, not animated by negative/positive energy) would be immune to Holy Word and its cognates, since in some sense the "conversation is going over its head".
Garudos Celestar wrote:Hmm... possible way to destroy (or neutralize for some given amount of time) an evil artifact for canny players? Just cast animate objects and then holy word...
Animate Objects only affects nonmagical materials, IIRC.
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
alhoon wrote: "evil and neutral creatures that are actively trying to harm you" .
I guess there's two ways to see this.
Either you change it like you did or..
Well like any spell that damages living beings in an area.. you gotta watch where you spread the holy word just like any fireball. It's just THAT holy.
Yes, you read right. A holy word. Targets all non-good creatures in the area. 
