Drow Jones's page

Remember monsters are not that dumb and will use it to their advantage as well. You cast AMF and take away some of my abilities. I back out and fly away... next time you do it I am ready for it (and readied an action or contingency spell worded that if you start casting AMF I do X). I fly away and drop rocks on your whole party(since you clustered up to perform this trick. Also not that most non-NPC monsters don't rely as heavily on gear and magic as PCs do. Most monsters that this can really stop are smart enough and ready enough to get away and come back later with a new plan.

I know that there are workarounds, but that's just what they are: *workarounds* for a single 6th level spell. This is what I meant with a drastic change in tactics for both players and DM. No other single ability or spell in the game requires jumping through hoops so much. In some situations the hoops are easy to jump through, and you can prepare for them, but they are there nevertheless.

Maybe the problem is me and my players combined with ready-made campaigns. The adventure writers never seem to take AMF into account. :/

Thanks for your time everyone. I think I'll keep the AMF effects banned from my games in Pathfinder too. (Except beholders, 'cause they're my special spherical friends. ;)

As for AMF being overpowered, I wouldn't really say so, after all, you must remember that it is a Personal spell, and only covers a 10 ft. radius. This would mean the spellcaster (who is obviously powerful enough to have 6th level spells) is now without said power. Many creatures with with supernatural abilities are still quite powerful without them, especially when facing a half-BAB creature with no particular abilities to speak of.

But they are usually facing the whole party huddling inside the AMF with the caster in the middle. With Use Magic Device, the caster might not be the party wizard in any case, or the caster might share it with familiar and now you got a double threat.

Unless the opponent has (ex) flight ability and (ex) ranged attack, or is a bad ass in melee, the combat is usually turned into a game of "trap the dude in AMF and gang up on him until dead". This works against most undead, several outsiders, monsters like mind flayers, etc...

I really don't like how this one spell becomes a center point for tactics for many fights for both players and the DM. No single spell should be that important. :(

Thanks for the answers Darrien. Are these your personal interpretations, or are you quoting an FAQ or do you base your answers on some previous discussion? You sound awfully like Sage answering my questions. ;)

Hello everyone,

I'm glad to say Pathfinder has solved basically all my pet peeves with 3.5. The only exception to this being Antimagic Field, which is largely unchanged. It's still horribly vague and potentially overpowered in some encounters/adventures.

Even 3.5 designers like Jesse Decker dislike the spell.

My questions:

1) Do (su) abilities work inside Antimagic Field if they are not targeted (i.e. regeneration, damage resistance, etc...)?

--> I ask this because the description mentions that the space is impervious to "to most magical effects, including spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities". In other words, they cannot enter or penetrate the field and the area inside it. The next sentence says that magic items and spells do not work inside the area, but supernatural abilities are not mentioned (neither are spell-like for that matter, but I guess one could argue that "spells" cover them).

The next paragraph talks about the field suppressing spells *and* magical effects. Magical effects include (su) abilities, as defined in the first paragraph, but spells are also magical effects and yet they are mentioned separately again for some reason. Magic items are not mentioned this time.

Later on in the description, when elementals, corporeal undead, and outsiders are discussed, the description says: "These creatures' spell-like or supernatural abilities may be temporarily nullified by the field." This implies that there are situations when they are not nullified, but there's no further explanation.

2)

If Antimagic Field is *impervious* to magical effects, does it block line of effect?

3)

When the following from the description happens:

"Should a creature be larger than the area enclosed by the barrier, any part of it that lies outside the barrier is unaffected by the field."

how do (su) abilities like regeneration work? Damage reduction? Can it cast spells outside the field? On itself?

4)

Can you kill a regenerating creature with normal damage when inside Antimagic Field? If it doesn't have regeneration inside, it should die normally, right?

5)

What happens to bonus hit points and spells granted by stat enhancing items when the items stop working? Max HPs are reduced (?), but do you lose current hit points too? Do you get both back when you exit the field? Are lost bonus spells determined randomly? Do you get them back when you exit the field or do you have to prepare them again? Do you need rest before preparing them again?

6)

How are attack and damage bonuses calculated when attacking in or out of Antimagic Filed with melee or ranged attacks? How overlapping bonuses of magical arrows and bows work in similar situations?

7)

Isn't the spell too powerful for a 6th level spell, especially as it cannot be removed and can only be blocked with a few wall spells (even disjunction is hardly certain)? Also, there is no other spell that can take away innate (su) abilities of a creature. It might sometimes be difficult to trap a creature in an Antimagic Field, but it gets no saving throw either. Everything magical is taken away automatically and most creatures turn into hit point piñatas for melee when that happens.

In my opinion, Antimagic Field creates very anti-climactic fights in party vs. a single supernatural baddie, especially if the antagonist is a spellcaster. I dislike that a single spell reduces these encounters to "how do I work around AMF tactics" every single time. When I look at main encounters in two campaigns I've run for 3.5 (Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and The City of Spider Queen), almost all key encounters and/or areas in these campaigns are changed drastically when Antimagic Field is introduced.

In the olden days when magic was more powerful than melee in general, I could see Antimagic Field being necessary. However, shouldn't Pathfinder revise or at least clarify this one trump card for all things even remotely magical? After all, many other magical absolutes were toned down (several immunity granting spells, save or die -effects, etc.). I hope Antimagic Field gets clarified and possibly a reduction in power.