Would the spell 'Deafness/Blindness' protect the target against a banshee's Wail?
I did read this in the Wail description:
Banshee wails are supernaturally powerful, and penetrate the effect of any spell of 3rd level or lower that creates silence.
Deafness/Blindness is a level 2/3 spell, but it doesn't create silence, it deafens, right? So that should work?
No. Sonic spells depend on sound vibrations, not the ability to hear. Deafness generally doesn't protect against sonic spells unless they're also language-dependent or it's explicitly stated deafness helps.
Therefore, deafness wouldn't do anything against wail of the banshee.
Mashallah wrote: No. Sonic spells depend on sound vibrations, not the ability to hear. Deafness generally doesn't protect against sonic spells unless they're also language-dependent or it's explicitly stated deafness helps.
Therefore, deafness wouldn't do anything against wail of the banshee.
Apologies for a necro, but this is something I saw abd having some recent experience with a bandage, thought it relevant to share my thoughts.
Wail of the Banshee spell explicitly states that the target must hear the spell to be affected. I'd argue that, as the damage dealing aspect relies on the ability to hear, so should the rest of the ability itself. Otherwise there's less point to having, say, a Deaf curse Oracle against a banshee. Additionally, the Blindness-Deafness spell counteracts the wail of the banshee wail ability because, despite being a second level shiel it does not create silence, it inflicts a condition separate from Silence. So the wail should not be able to penetrate.
You're correct. Wail of the banshee only affects creatures who hear it.
blahpers wrote: You're correct. Wail of the banshee only affects creatures who hear it. With that taken into consideration, and the fact that the banshee's Wail ability says in the description that it functions as Wail of the Banshee cast at 14th level, so logically a person who is deaf, especially a Deaf cursed Oracle should be immune. Especially since said curse is arguably greater than a 3rd level silence spell since thre only way to overcome it is with the aptly named Overcome Curse hierophant path ability, available starting at mythic 6. That, and Deaf as a condition is distinct from Silence.
Belthas Starblade wrote: blahpers wrote: You're correct. Wail of the banshee only affects creatures who hear it. With that taken into consideration, and the fact that the banshee's Wail ability says in the description that it functions as Wail of the Banshee cast at 14th level, so logically a person who is deaf, especially a Deaf cursed Oracle should be immune. Especially since said curse is arguably greater than a 3rd level silence spell since thre only way to overcome it is with the aptly named Overcome Curse hierophant path ability, available starting at mythic 6. That, and Deaf as a condition is distinct from Silence. This is not the same thing.
The banshee's wail (Su) ability is not the same thing as the wail of the banshee spell. The function of the banshee's ability is completely spelled out in its description--the only thing it inherits from the spell is the amount of damage dealt. As such, since the banshee's ability is specified as a sonic effect and does not state that only hearing creatures are affected, any creature subject to sonic effects is affected, including deaf creatures such as an oracle with the deaf curse.
That said, expect table variation.
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