Hey all,
I know the light and darkness spells can get a little wonky with interacting with each other.
Per the Sun Blade entry:
The Blade also has a special sunlight power. Once per day, the wielder can swing the Blade vigorously above his head while speaking a command word. The sun Blade then sheds a bright yellow radiance that acts like bright light and affects creatures susceptible to light as if it were natural sunlight. The radiance begins shining in a 10-foot radius around the sword wielder and extends outward at 5 feet per round for 10 rounds thereafter, to create a globe of light with a 60-foot radius. When the wielder stops swinging the sword, the radiance fades to a dim glow that persists for another minute before disappearing entirely.
Consider the situation where a Deeper Darkness spell is affecting a room, creating supernatural darkness. What would happen should the sword wielder decide to use this secondary effect? Would it create a zone where neither the Darkness or Light are present and thus it returns to ambient light?
(Also side note, the "swinging vigorously," would that count as a standard action? Or merely the user has to make swings while using it?)
Thanks!
CL 10th
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS:
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, , creator must be good; Cost 25,335 gp
This sword (and it's light effects) are based of the daylight spell.
Level bard 3, cleric/oracle 3, druid 3, inquisitor 3, magus 3, paladin 3, shaman 3, sorcerer/wizard 3
...
Daylight counters or dispels any darkness spell of equal or lower level, such as darkness.
Level antipaladin 3, cleric/oracle 3, inquisitor 3, shaman 3
...
Deeper darkness can be used to counter or dispel any light spell of equal or lower spell level.
Since Both the Daylight and Deeper-Darkness spells talk about counter-spelling each other I'd probably just rule that the affected area returns to ambient light for the overlapping duration.
The other way to play it would be to do opposed caster-level checks (the sword is 10th level & would have the minimum 15 casting-stat unless you made it yourself or something).
Activating an item is a standard action unless the item specifies otherwise.
Little bit of a derail here but I was reading the Sunblade rules just now and noticed I'm not sure how to apply the damage for Negative plain creatures and Undead.
Against Negative Energy Plane creatures or undead creatures, the sword deals double damage (and ×3 on a critical hit instead of the usual ×2).
Lets say my normal damage is 1d10+10
Double damage is obviously 2d10+20
For a crit my guess is 5d10+50 granted I can see it as 4d10+40 as per the multiplying damage rules.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks. :)
Little bit of a derail here but I was reading the Sunblade rules just now and noticed I'm not sure how to apply the damage for Negative plain creatures and Undead.
Against Negative Energy Plane creatures or undead creatures, the sword deals double damage (and ×3 on a critical hit instead of the usual ×2).Lets say my normal damage is 1d10+10
Double damage is obviously 2d10+20
For a crit my guess is 5d10+50 granted I can see it as 4d10+40 as per the multiplying damage rules.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks. :)
Two doublings equals a trippling so a crit on negative energy creatures would do 3d10 +30
I don't think that's right.
The weapon is already x3 vs undead on a crit so double damage should be x4.
So now that I think of it, it should be 4d10+40 and not 5d10+50.
Unless the times 3 overrides the doubling vs undead?
Edit: Ah I see now it is x3 they did the math for you. Nevermind.
Thanks. :)
I don't think that's right.
The weapon is already x3 vs undead on a crit so double damage should be x4.
So now that I think of it, it should be 4d10+40 and not 5d10+50.
Unless the times 3 overrides the doubling vs undead?
Edit: Ah I see now it is x3 they did the math for you. Nevermind.
Thanks. :)
My interpretation was the "double damage and critical" clause refers to strictly the weapon damage. Ie instead of the weapon normally dealing 1d10+4 due to enhancement and bastard sword base damage, it will instead do 2d10+8, or essentially an extra 1d10+4. I see the critical clause as an extension of that, ie that extra 1d10+4 makes it x3 weapon damage on a crit, without multiplying any other static bonuses.
I saw this interpretation in a previous thread and thought it was significantly more reasonable than full on double damage including static bonuses ie crit on hit for every undead. Even with this ruling it's still a powerful weapon IMO.
Activating an item is a standard action unless the item specifies otherwise.
When it mentions how the light continues to expand each round, does that mean the user must continue to use a standard action on subsequent rounds to swing the sword above its head and cause the light to expand outwards? Or does it do so naturally without an extra action?
Multiplying Damage
Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results.Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage. So if you are asked to double the damage twice, the end result is three times the normal damage.
Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage are never multiplied.
I think you multiply all you static damage. ie: str, power attack etc.
Multiplying Damage
Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results.Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage. So if you are asked to double the damage twice, the end result is three times the normal damage.
Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage are never multiplied.
I think you multiply all you static damage. ie: str, power attack etc.
You also multiply the weapon's normal damage. So, for example, a 1d8+3 mace would become a 2d8+6 mace if doubled, a 3d8+9 if doubled twice (tripled), a 4d8+12 mace if doubled thrice, and so forth. What's not doubled are extra dice like from Sneak Attack. So if I get +2d6 of Sneak Attack as well, I would only get (2d8+6)+2d6 if I doubled my damage.
So the 1d10 sword would do 2d10 if doubled, 3d10 if tripled, 4d10 if quadrupled, and so forth. The static damage bonus would also multiply. But Sneak Attack would not increase.
Multiplying Damage
Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results.Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage. So if you are asked to double the damage twice, the end result is three times the normal damage.
Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage are never multiplied.
I think you multiply all you static damage. ie: str, power attack etc.
You also multiply the weapon's normal damage. So, for example, a 1d8+3 mace would become a 2d8+6 mace if doubled, a 3d8+9 if doubled twice (tripled), a 4d8+12 mace if doubled thrice, and so forth. What's not doubled are extra dice like from Sneak Attack. So if I get +2d6 of Sneak Attack as well, I would only get (2d8+6)+2d6 if I doubled my damage.
So the 1d10 sword would do 2d10 if doubled, 3d10 if tripled, 4d10 if quadrupled, and so forth. The static damage bonus would also multiply. But Sneak Attack would not increase.
Yeah I know that. I mentioned that above when I first asked, just missed it in my last example. :)
Activating an item is a standard action unless the item specifies otherwise.When it mentions how the light continues to expand each round, does that mean the user must continue to use a standard action on subsequent rounds to swing the sword above its head and cause the light to expand outwards? Or does it do so naturally without an extra action?Unfortunately, I think you have to keep up the "swinging vigorously." When you stop, it fades to a dim glow.
It would be cooler and more useful if it was only an action to start and standard melee with the sword would count as "swinging" for it to stay active, but I don't think the wording supports it.
There doesn't actually seem to be a time limit to it - you've got light as long as you swing, if I'm reading it correctly.
So are you speculating that it's a full round action to keep swinging?
I just realised that I misread what you wrote in the prior message.
I now see that you meant swinging it at someones face to count as swinging. More useful for sure but less thematic.
I do agree it has no time limit.
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2q0nm?Sunblade-vs-Undead
...is the thread I was mentioning. Doesn't seem to be a distinctly clear impression of what the double damage and crit wording really means. Feel free to browse at your perusal and hopefully come to an agreement with your players or GM :)
LOTS OF STUFFNote that that counterspelling/dispelling section in those spells isn't their normal interaction, but when they are cast specifically to counterspell or dispel the other.
It's not entirely clear, but I would treat this as Daylight for the purposes of interacting with Darkness spells -Daylight brought into an area of magical darkness (or vice versa) is temporarily negated, so that the otherwise prevailing light conditions exist in the overlapping areas of effect.Both the light and the darkness spell cancel out in the area they're both active in.
Which is essentially the same as the conclusion you reached, but from a different direction.
Nice. I thought I remembered it acting like that, but my brief search didn't come up with anything. Either way we now have a RAW answer for the OP's original question, so thanks.