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I was reading the PF Breath of Life Spell in the PF Core rulebook last night and its wording I feels needs clarification.
First off: The beginning description states: Unlike other spells that heal damage, breath of life can bring recently slain creatures back to life. If cast upon a creature that has died within 1 round, apply the healing from this spell to the creature. So far this is all well and dandy.
It then goes on to say: If the healed creature's hit point total is at a negative amount less than its Constitution score, it comes back to life and stabilizes at it's new hit point total. If the creature's hit point total is at a negative amount equal or greater than its Constitution score the creature remains dead
Now if the slain creature is touched within 1 round it recovers - fine. Now the problem comes in the first statement where it specifically uses the word slain. To me a slain creature is one that has a negative hit point amount equal or greater than its Constitution, otherwise it is simply unconscious and dying.
What it fails to say is that. "After 1 round breath of life acts under the second statement, i.e. it can be used, but at that point it cannot restore slain creatures to life".
Now this is my reading of it at present and the question is:
Providing the character is administered breath of life in the round it goes down it can be revived from being slain. After all this is a fifth level Cleric spell and in the same power ranking as Raise Dead. Does the description need further clarification or am I missing something?
EDIT: For HTML errors
if cast on a dead creature (one who has negative HP lower then his con score) with in 1 round of the character having been reduced to that amount, the spell will work on them... add the HP and check the new total, if it is still a negative number greater then the con score they remain dead, if it is a negative number less then the con score they are alive and stabilized. the spell has no effect on a creature that has been dead for more then a single round.
For example, Arlo the Elf Fighter has a constitution of 15, he is the victim of a frost giants critical hit and is reduced to -30 hp in a single whack, and thus slain. The next round Chandra the Cleric casts breath of life, she rolls very poorly (all 1s) and being 9th level she heals a a total of 14 points of damage, leaving poor Arlo with -16 HP, still greater then his con so he stays dead... if she had not rolled minimum he would have been brought back to life, if the new HP total was still negative Arlo would be unconscious but stable, if the new HP total was positive Arlo would be conscious and able to act (though still prone and likely at the giants feet, not a good situation to be in to be sure) in either case if Arlo is brought back to life he suffers from a temporary negative level for 1 day.
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if cast on a dead creature (one who has negative HP lower then his con score) with in 1 round of the character having been reduced to that amount, the spell will work on them... add the HP and check the new total, if it is still a negative number greater then the con score they remain dead, if it is a negative number less then the con score they are alive and stabilized. the spell has no effect on a creature that has been dead for more then a single round.
For example, Arlo the Elf Fighter has a constitution of 15, he is the victim of a frost giants critical hit and is reduced to -30 hp in a single whack, and thus slain. The next round Chandra the Cleric casts breath of life, she rolls very poorly (all 1s) and being 9th level she heals a a total of 14 points of damage, leaving poor Arlo with -16 HP, still greater then his con so he stays dead... if she had not rolled minimum he would have been brought back to life, if the new HP total was still negative Arlo would be unconscious but stable, if the new HP total was positive Arlo would be conscious and able to act (though still prone and likely at the giants feet, not a good situation to be in to be sure) in either case if Arlo is brought back to life he suffers from a temporary negative level for 1 day.
Thanks for the clarification. I overlooked the healed word in the second sentence. Very stupid of me, I was reading late last night. I try to get a handle on spells as much as I can to be familiar before gaming. This is to prevent long arguments with my players who think I am ruling unfairly. I do try to be fair in my games and though my players are not superb mathematicians (see the Stone Shape discussion), they are exceedingly literate and bright and I feel badly when I rule unfairly against them in a game. Many thanks
And the spell should apply it's healing to anybody alive in the first place, it states the amount it heals first off, and the additional effect and it's conditions for working are stated after that. The same healing should also be usable to damage undead like any other cure spell. I haven't figured out what to do if a creature was somehow killed AND turned into undead all within the last round :-)