| Hunttar |
So I have a couple questions that came up during a gaming session that I am looking to get an official answer on. My cleric of Desna used Greater Planar Ally to temporarily gain the services of an Azata Ghaele for our party. The questions concerns the Ghaele’s Holy Aura ability.
In the creature’s stat block it lists it having: Aura Holy Aura And then lower after that it lists Spell Like Abilities: (CL 13th) Constant - Holy Aura.
In our back and forth debate by email, one of our players said:
A creature's aura is not the spell. If you are in the radius of the aura, you are under its effects; there is no maximum number of creatures effected. Once you leave the aura, you no longer have any effects from the buff, as it does not persist outside the aura. So, he (the Ghaele) can effect limitless amounts of creatures within his aura radius, but once they step outside of it (or he turns into light form), they no longer have the buff. If they step back in, they have it.
So the first question I had was:
Does the AURA work or if you will; affect the real world when the Ghaele is Incorporeal in his light form?
My contention is that his Aura will work. The Light form in its description says other than the form being of Light it is the same as the Bralani Azata’s Wind Form. When you read the Bralani Wind Form it specifically states it can use its Spell Like Abilities in both his Wind and Physical form.
The description goes on to further describe the Wind Form as being like Wind Walk, which itself goes on to say it is like Gaseous Form. Both of which give a type of an Incorporeal form… and Incorporeal has its own entry. All 4 entries are consistent and to me definitively state that Spell Like Abilities can be used and also affect beings that are Incorporeal. So in my mind its clear, when the Ghaele is in his Light Form his Spell Like Ability AURA of Holy Aura affects the real world.
Question two is the Aura Holy Aura as per the Cleric spell, which all the same number of targets and duration? Or do Auras work a little differently than spells, so their effects do not persist, but end immediately when you leave the area of effect of the Aura?
My contention of what an AURA is and means is: A Spell Like Ability that is Constant or Always On. And that it DOES function as the spell. On the Official Paizo PRD web site in the Ghaele stat block immediately after Aura it says Holy Aura as a hyper link. And when you click on it, it directs you to the spell description which says it affects up to 1/ per caster level and has a duration of 1 round/ per Caster Level. Then below that in the Ghaele stat block under Spell Like Abilities it says Holy Aura is at Caster Level 13.
So I read it as the Ghaele can affect 13 creatures… Not Unlimited or as Many Creatures as are in the area of affect as my friend said.
I also read it as the effect continues to persist 13 Rounds once you leave the AURA as listed in the Spell Duration and DOES not end immediately as my friend said as well.
I believe the Ghaele’s ability is like a Ghast’s Stench ability. Once you walk into the area of that ability, you are affected. And even if it moves away or you move out of the Stench, you are still affected for the duration of the effect of the Stench.
I also found several other examples of monsters in their stat block that had AURAs; that when they referred to an existing spell of the same name the links all directed to the actual spell description. I did not find any that said anything like: This Aura is similar to the spell (fill in the blank) but is only in effect while creatures remain within the area of affect and end immediately once you leave the area… Or any other words similar to that.
I also couldn’t find any specific section of any published rules describing an Aura to be something different than the spell. I would think if Auras were different then there should probably be some kind of general description or mechanic that you can look up… Like if a creature has say the Rend or Pounce ability you can go and specifically look up their description.
I also stated that when I went to Hero Lab and looked at the character sheet I made up for my Ghaele; there it lists in the description the same as for the spell… The Duration and Number affected as 1/ per caster level.
So for all these reasons I believe AURA to mean a Spell Like Ability that is Constant or always on. So once you move into the area of effect of that Spell or Spell like ability you apply its power as per its description and so Holy Aura should persist for 13 rounds after you leave the Ghaele’s aura.
So on those two points of contention, I would like to find out which of the interpretations on the two questions is correct.