Elemental Bloodline vs. Madrid Bloodline - Wording of Bloodline Arcana

[Kilgore Trout73]

Hi -

Elemental Bloodline has the following wording for Bloodline Arcana:

Quote:

Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to match the type of your bloodline. This also changes the spell's type to match the type of your bloodline.

Marid has the following wording:

Quote:

Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to cold. This also changes the spell’s descriptors to match this energy type.

Emphasis mine.

So, does the Bloodline Aracana for Elemental change the descriptor as well? It doesn't explicitly state that it does, hence my question.

I ask because I'm building a sorcerer around the Rime Spell feat which states:

Quote:

Benefit: The frost of your cold spell clings to the target, impeding it for a short time. A rime spell causes creatures that takes cold damage from the spell to become entangled for a number of rounds equal to the original level of the spell.

This feat only affects spells with the cold descriptor.

So if Elemental doesn't change the descriptor, then going that route wouldn't allow me to use Rime Spell with those spells which go "cold", so to speak.

Thanks!

[DM_Blake]

Spells don't really have a "type". Damage has a "type". Monsters have a "type". But not spells.

The closest thing to a "spell type" I can find in the rules is where it says "Spells come in two types: Arcane and Divine". That is clearly not what is meant here.

So this seems to be a case where the authors used a basic English word rather than being more clear and using an actual game term. Perhaps they meant "descriptor". They probably did. But they didn't say that so now every GM must make his own ruling on what the wording really means.

Me, I'll assume it means "descriptor" and the wording should be more like the example you gave from the Marid bloodline.

This might not help you very much, though. If your bloodline type is a Water Elemental, your damage type is cold damage but your bloodline type is water. This means you would give spells the [water] descriptor, not the [cold] descriptor. You would need to be a Cold Elemental to give spells the [cold] descriptor, but there is no such elemental.

A lenient GM might let you give all energy spells a descriptor that matches your energy type rather than your bloodline type, but that requires a second GM ruling.

[Kilgore Trout73]

Ha!

Your very eloquent discourse is precisely why I posted the question in the first place!

I play in PFS so I always like to make sure the rule interpretation is barrel-tight.

I'm guessing there could be GM table variation if I tried to pull off the build in mind with an Elemental bloodline. Not so with the Marid (ha, just noticed I misspelled it in the subject line) bloodline - it clearly states the descriptor changes.

Wish that were so with Elemental as there are things I really like about that one!

[GM Bold Strider]

The Madrid Bloodline would just make you really good at fighting bovine and kicking small black and white balls across open fields.

[Kilgore Trout73]

Hahaha. That's funny man!

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

And eating ham. You never realize how much Spaniards love their ham until you've been there - a vaguely middle-finger-shaped relic of the Reconquista, maybe?