Hello everybody!
First of all, Please let me wish you all a Merry Christmas! What I read in the forum has been of great help during the course of the Adventure Path I'm currently running.
Tomorrow we have a new gaming session and the party will face Ike Iverson after a though battle against the minions in the Great Hall.
I won't be short...
The party is currently leaded by a 12th aasimar male cleric of Heironeous with access to Sanctified spells (from Book of Exalted Deeds) and with the Purify Spell feat. The character, despite his great wisdom, lacks in intelligence and often his tactics in battle are not the best ever seen in the Flanaess.
So comes the first request for help:
During the encounter against the Zombie Gray Renders the cleric could easily cast an Hammer of Righteousness targeting one of the Grey Render Zombies.
Reading the entries in the Undead Type (Monster Manual Glossary) it says:
- Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effects also works on object or is harmless)
Hammer of Righteousness is a Force Effect and requires a Fortitude save, however the damage dealt is Positive Energy.
Then the question is: does the spell cause damage to undead creatures?
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The second help I need is related to the Purify Spell feat (again from Book of Exalted Deeds). At the cost of one spell slot, this feat grants the Good descriptor to a spell and increases the die damage by one step when the spell is aimed at evil outsiders.
So comes the second question: can the Purify Spell be applied to a spell that already has the Good descriptor? If so, can the increased damage be applied to a spell that already deals increased damage to an evil creature?
I try to clarify this point making an example of what may happen: the above mentioned cleric casts a Purified Hammer of Righteousness against the Bone Devil (evil outsider), succeding in the Spell Resistance check. The Osyluth fails his Saving Throw. The damage dealt by the Hammer would be 12d8 (instead of 12d6, because the Bone Devil is an evil creature). Applying the Purify Spell feat, the damage would become an incredible 24d6 damage (instead of 12d8, because the Bone Devil is an evil outsider) suffered by the astonished (and probably agonizing) Osyluth.
Or perhaps I am missing something...
Thanks again,
Cristiano a.k.a. Klysandral
P.S. Please forgive all the errors you may find, but I'm not mother tongue...
Regarding your first problem...
...this is a case where logic prevails over the literal, written rules. Obviously, HoR is a spell that should lay some severe smack down on undead. This seems a clear case where, despite the fortitude save, it most certainly SHOULD affect undead. The literal rules say it wouldn't, but common sense should prevail.
Regarding your second problem...
...I'd say disallow a "double-dip", or situation where you're applying the metamagic feat to a spell that already acts as if under such an effect. The best example I can think of would be trying to cast a Chained Chain Lightning. A spell that has a given metamagic effect "built in" shouldn't be able to benefit from that same metamagic effect over again.
Again, the rules say otherwise, but this is how *I* would rule as DM.