Question about Sunlight Powerlessness

[MatCauthon]

My GM and I were talking about the Deck of Wonders since Christmas just passed and he's going to let us all draw from it during our next session. This spawned a discussion of Dark Wraiths and Sunlight powerlessness.

My question is this: Would "Shield of the Dawnflower" proc Sunlight Powerlessness?

The wiki entry for Sunlight Powerlessness claims the following: "If the creature is in sunlight (but not in an area of daylight or similar spells), it cannot attack and is staggered.

The wiki entry for Shield of the Dawnflower reads: "You create a disk of sunlight on one arm ... The shield provides illumination as if it were a continual flame spell..."

My GM's argument is no, it can't be artificial sunlight.

My argument is yes. Shield of the dawnflower says it creates illumination like that of continual flame, which is not sunlight. *But* it says you wear a disk of "sunlight" on your arm, not "daylight" or "artificial sunlight". And sunlight powerlessness says if it is in sunlight, not "illumination created directly from the sun."

What're your thoughts?

[ohako]

daylight or similar spells I think is your issue. continual flame is a spell similar to daylight, in that it makes light.

There are very very few spells or effects that can create sunlight that would work in this case. One of them that I know about is the pallavi of Nirvana's blossoming, which is a bardic masterpiece that an 11th level bard with max ranks in Perform (dance) could pull off. So that might give you a sense of how rare such powers are.

[Claxon]

"You create a disk of sunlight" is merely part of the description, it has no mechanical relevance here. Functionally it works like continual flame. It becomes even more clear when you look at the Greater version of the spell, which says it functions as Daylight (which specifically is noted not to affect Sunlight Powerlessness creatures).

So I agree with your GM, it will do nothing (beyond the normal stated abilities of the spell).