Suffocation (spell) clarification

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/spells/suffocation.html
^ Link to the spell in question

I was wondering what happens to a player's HP if he fails the first save but survived the next couple. Does the character stay at 0 HP until he gets healed or does a night's rest get that HP back? I understand that getting all air extracted from your lungs doesn't spell happy times, but I find it odd that a high level character would have to get bombarded with healing spells to get his breath back.

stay at 0 HP

He is at 0 HP, just as if he took damage sufficient to lower him to 0.

Alright, thank you!

Is it just me, but is Suffocation a more powerful spell than Power Word Kill? 1 saving throw fail will drop a 200hp monster to zero. Power word kill would have no effect at all.

But Power Word Kill has no saving throw.

powerword kill can also affect some things that dont need to breath but most things that need to breath are affected by power word kill

it does if you have 102hp or more.

but power word kill has no save. it's do you have 100 hp or less? you die. also PWK counts current HP, not total HP, so you can wait until after your barbarian friend has hit the monster a few times before PWK. the lack of a save is what makes PWK strong

but power word kill has no save. it's do you have 100 hp or less? you die. also PWK counts current HP, not total HP, so you can wait until after your barbarian friend has hit the monster a few times before PWK. the lack of a save is what makes PWK strong

until you realize its countered by a 4h level spell or some basic creature immunities

Suffocation has several advantages:

1-. Not only downs everything that fails the first saving throw from full to zero, but also adds the Unconscious status (by general rule, creatures at zero get the Disabled status, but stay conscious). This also makes the target immediately Helpless against many other effects.

2-. On a second failed throw, creature moves to Dying status, so even if she saves the third and final roll she'l have to normally stabilize afterwards.

3-. Suffocation also prevents most regeneration-like abilities from kicking in and healing the damage done for the three rounds it stays on.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/spells/suffocation.html

^ Link to the spell in question

I was wondering what happens to a player's HP if he fails the first save but survived the next couple. Does the character stay at 0 HP until he gets healed or does a night's rest get that HP back? I understand that getting all air extracted from your lungs doesn't spell happy times, but I find it odd that a high level character would have to get bombarded with healing spells to get his breath back.

Fortitude save makes Suffocation rather iffy, especially against equal or higher level opponents. Plus, lots of things are immune. The result of the target successfully saving being a staggered effect, is the strong point of the spell. Most targets won't fail their save, but staggering a boss or high level opponent as a standard action is strong, especially with no saves.

As for your question, falling unconscious and being reduced to 0 hp requires 2 failed saves (initial failure, and one other). Killing someone requires 4 failed fortitude saves (1 Initial save, 1 for zero HP+Unconscious, 1 for negative one HP+Dying, 1 for death). So actually killing someone with this spell requires them to roll really poorly, or just have a terrible fortitude save bonus - you may do damage, but you won't likely kill most opponents with this spell. Getting knocked to 0 HP is hardly a bad effect here, when compared to just 2 more failed saves...

Though, spells like suffocation, are a very good reason for players to consider getting SR for their character.

I agree with Murdock on save progression. Extend Spell makes this a Cool Guys Don't Watch Explosions killer if they fail the first save, though. Just walk away.

The save is the killer. You need a "weak to fort" target to have a reason to attempt to cast the spell.

The save is the killer. You need a "weak to fort" target to have a reason to attempt to cast the spell.

As mentioned, the staggered effect is strong. If your pretty sure the target isn't immune, staggering them as a standard action is very useful and should not be underestimated. Passing their saves still staggers them, so it's a good spell to have in combat.

The save is the killer. You need a "weak to fort" target to have a reason to attempt to cast the spell.

Persistent Metamagic is made for this sort of thing. Only a +2 level adjustment which when mixed with Magical Knack becomes +1. or a Staff of the Master becomes +0 (also a variety of other ways to do the same).

James Risner wrote:

The save is the killer. You need a "weak to fort" target to have a reason to attempt to cast the spell.

Persistent Metamagic is made for this sort of thing. Only a +2 level adjustment which when mixed with Magical Knack becomes +1. or a Staff of the Master becomes +0 (also a variety of other ways to do the same).

They errata'd that away for Staff of the Master a few months ago, now you can only reduce metamagic spent on the staff's own spells. Suffocation is not among them.

Oh. I didn't know about that.
They fixed the broken Staff at last.
One of my players is going to be very unhappy.