My players have both a Bone Oracle who runs with a couple of fairly powerful bloody skeletons and a Cleric who likes to cast Bless. The Bloody skeleton is destroyed if killed within the area of a Bless spell, so this could present a potential, and thus far overlooked, issue.
So, let's say that the Cleric casts Bless. The area of effect is a 50' burst centered on the cleric. A Bloody Skeleton killed in the area of a Bless spell is permanently destroyed. This is where I'm getting confused.
Does the area where Bless spell was initially cast stay blessed as long as the spell lasts? Does the Bless spell stay centered on the Cleric as long as the effect lasts?
Otherwise, if the area of the Bless spell dissipates after the cast, the opportunity to destroy a bloody skeleton with a Bless spell becomes an extremely narrow window.
Or maybe I'm overthinking it.
I hope that made sense.
|
It means the 50' burst from the casting of the spell are considered to be affected by Bless. All allies within that 50' are under the affect of Bless. The effect does not end until the duration ends. The reason it's a burst spell is because the effect does not move, but terrain stops the effect (like a wall).
So if those skeletons are killed within the 50' when the spell is up, they are permanently destroyed.
Though note depending on the exact nature of the problem, killing the minions will not solve the problem.
Interesting. This could present an interesting situation for our players during combat, as the cleric moves in to heal and brings the skeletons into range of the effect.
I'm running Kingmaker and they have both a huge chuul and bulette. The combination makes for some decently powerful undead and I know the player is going to be upset when I start enforcing this rule and he loses one of his toys. Or, they just run without Bless, which is a distinct possibility.
|
|
I'm not sure what's the problem.
Here is the ability:
Raise the Dead (Su): As a standard action, you can summon a single skeleton or zombie to serve you. The undead creature has a number of Hit Dice equal to your oracle level. It remains for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. At 7th level, you can summon a bloody skeleton or fast zombie. At 15th level, you can summon an advanced skeleton or zombie. You can use this ability once per day plus one additional time per day at 10th level.
He gets 1 per day at levels 1-9, and they last only rounds equal to his CHA modifier. That's what, like maybe 8 rounds at most, and that's at level 13 or so.
What's the problem again?
Bone Oracles get animate dead as a bonus spell at 6th level. He used animate dead to raise these creatures. Those, as far as I'm aware, is permanent.
|
|
Animate Dead does make them permanent, but skeletons are generally pretty weak. Creating a skeleton off of a powerful monster makes it weaker, other than the fact that it is undead and follows their creator's commands.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/skeleton
Bloody skeletons just mean they don't die easily, but unless these were powerful monsters, they still aren't that strong. Up to you to audit your players, but this doesn't seem that powerful. They just run interference, not any different from a druid's animal companion.
This is also an evil act, and the spell Animate Dead is an evil spell. So you can play with the consequences of that as a GM in a RP way. Undead panic normal people and animals quite a bit, and most good creatures will assume your party is evil (if they are evil, this is fine).
My concern isn't about how powerful or necessarily what creatures he has. While they are decently powerful (the chuul and brute have good stats, multiple attacks, and good damage for their role), that isn't my concern.
My concern was regarding how bless would interact with them since the Oracle prefers to run bloody skeletons in a group with the cleric that runs bless a lot of the time. That was the reason for my post. As the effect remains, which means within 50' and centered on the cleric, this will cause them to adjust their tactics.
In addition, our group has discussed the evil aspect of necromancy. We've actually come to an agreement that there are circumstances where it's evil and some where it's neutral. The chuul and bulette were not evil and they have been used in the name of good.
As one of the leaders of their kingdom, it hasn't come up, but I intend for their to be consequences, both RP and in their kingdom. Simply because our group has agreed that we are handling necromancy one way doesn't mean that the people of the world see it the same way. It will be interesting and provide some good roleplay moments.
Edit: That isn't to say that I don't appreciate the responses. I definitely do. As a DM who tries to be fair, I always appreciate the input of others, especially here on the Paizo forums.