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Got to thinking about this series of spells when a blasphemy brought our party dangerously close to TPK territory...
1. When spoken, do you consider them to spoken in any tongue? Celestial, Infernal, etc. only? Or in some strange language that is even higher/lower/off-to-the-side than those?
2. If the words of the language used are deciperable, is the actually meaning of what is being said understandable as well, or is it something so divine that it is both unknowable and powerful enough to affect the world around the speaker?
3. And finally, if what is being spoken can be understood, what is being said?
When I ran the encounter mentioned above, I ran with the idea that they could be understood, but what was said just felt flat and I wish I had been more vague. But if one were to try and take that approach and make it convincing, effective, and evocative, how would you approach it in terms of the Golarion setting?
What hidden, sacred/profane truths could be uttered to utterly rock the world of those listening? What deity specific(or target specific) words would carry that kind of power? Something explicit or something with a thick layer of mystery over it? Like say, a Holy Word used against devils: "Ihys has faith in you."
Just looking for something more meaningful and dramatic than "Sarenrae has poopy pants." *
*Not the example I actually used, but it still amounted to little more than an overly vile "your mom" insult
I'd say that it is not celestial (or whatever). It's a unique word (well, 4 of them. Let's assume that I speak about 1 spell and the others are similar) charged with raw divine power.
Either that divine power is required to lend the deadly potency, or it's required for you to remember/know and be able to speak the word.
For holy word, you need the spell to purify your heart so you can utter the word.
For blasphemy, it's the other way around - you need to get in tune with pure evil.
Dictum is the perfect word. Mere mortals are just not perfect, so they cannot utter it. The spell enables you to repeat the word with the exact pronunciation.
Word of chaos is never the same word twice. Only the spell grants you insight into the seeming randomness to stumble upon the right word.