On reading the spell, it has a Saving Throw of "Will partial (see text)." The spell then reads "Each round the target must save or deal 1d8 + Str Mod damage to itself.... if the creature saves, it is instead frozen with sorrow, can take no actions, and takes -2 to AC" (paraphrasing slightly)
My questions:
I think one could interpret this to mean the following, which seems too good to me: the spell automatically hits the target, and the target has absolutely no chance of saving and being completely unaffected, so as soon as you cast the spell successfully, the target is affected and must now roll a save on it's turn, every round, for 1 round/level (so like 9 rounds, because it's a level 4 spell). If the target PASSES it's save, it can't take any actions, including move actions, free actions, etc (even if it is attacked) and get's -2 to AC. If it FAILS, it must deal 1d8 + Str Mod damage to itself (presumably costing it a standard action, though it never explicitly defines what kind of action this self flagellation actually is). The spell doesn't say anything else about what it does when it fails the save, so presumably it can still take a move action if it wants to (which it could NOT do if it had PASSED the save!).
Is that really how this spell is supposed to work?
It seems to me the more reasonable way to run this spell would be to state that as long as the target keeps failing saves, it keeps spending it's round sitting still and hitting itself (no move action taken, spends standard action hitting itself one time, regardless of how many attacks it normally gets), then as soon as the target passes a save, the target is frozen with self pity for that round, and then the spell ends and the affected target can act normally on subsequent rounds. In essence, it hits itself until it shakes off the spell, spends that last round doing nothing, then finally get's out of the spell entirely after that. It doesn't say this in the spell description tho, I just think this sounds more like what they were going for. On the other hand, maybe they feel that only scrub minions ever fail will saves and as such no big baddy is ever going to fall for this, I don't know.
On reading the spell, it has a Saving Throw of "Will partial (see text)." The spell then reads "Each round the target must save or deal 1d8 + Str Mod damage to itself.... if the creature saves, it is instead frozen with sorrow, can take no actions, and takes -2 to AC" (paraphrasing slightly)
My questions:
I think one could interpret this to mean the following, which seems too good to me: the spell automatically hits the target, and the target has absolutely no chance of saving and being completely unaffected, so as soon as you cast the spell successfully, the target is affected and must now roll a save on it's turn, every round, for 1 round/level (so like 9 rounds, because it's a level 4 spell). If the target PASSES it's save, it can't take any actions, including move actions, free actions, etc (even if it is attacked) and get's -2 to AC. If it FAILS, it must deal 1d8 + Str Mod damage to itself (presumably costing it a standard action, though it never explicitly defines what kind of action this self flagellation actually is). The spell doesn't say anything else about what it does when it fails the save, so presumably it can still take a move action if it wants to (which it could NOT do if it had PASSED the save!).
Is that really how this spell is supposed to work?
It seems to me the more reasonable way to run this spell would be to state that as long as the target keeps failing saves, it keeps spending it's round sitting still and hitting itself (no move action taken, spends standard action hitting itself one time, regardless of how many attacks it normally gets), then as soon as the target passes a save, the target is frozen with self pity for that round, and then the spell ends and the affected target can act normally on subsequent rounds. In essence, it hits itself until it shakes off the spell, spends that last round doing nothing, then finally get's out of the spell entirely after that. It doesn't say this in the spell description tho, I just think this sounds more like what they were...
There is unofficial erata for this spell. It is just way too strong as written. Look Here: