Question about power word kill / stun etc


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


Something I've always wondered: how are you supposed to know (other than metagaming) if a creature's HP are low enough for the spell to work on it.


You don't.


So.. should they just cast it and hope for the best? Personally it seems pretty unfair for them to lose a level 9 spell due to something that had no way of knowing about. If say, someone casts fireball on a fire giant then ya I'd say they deserve to have it wasted since they did something obviously stupid but that isn't the case here.


Best to soften em up first. Cold ice strike, quickened lightning bolt, or the like.


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Yqatuba wrote:
Personally it seems pretty unfair for them to lose a level 9 spell due to something that had no way of knowing about.

You mean like wasting a spell due to having no way of knowing whether the touch attack hits, or if the target makes its save? I call it "balancing factor".

Yes, that makes the PWK and PWS pretty weak against tough enemies, but considering we're talking about spells that take a target out of the fight without a save, tthat's working as intended!. It's also why PWB is by far the strongest of the bunch, because when you get it (13th level), you can use it against most enemies (average HP only raise above 200 at CR15). Meanwhile, when you get PWK, the average HP of tougher enemies is way above the threshold (average is ~250HP for CR17).

For the record, I'd wouldn't consider the character knowing the average values to be metagaming, as the spells themself are pure game mechanical anyway. As a GM, I try to give indication about how battered an enemy looks, all relative, of course. "Notably wounded" might mean ~50% HP, for isntance.


I believe blood reader is the only official way to determine somebody's HP. https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/slayer/slayer-talents/paizo -slayer-talents/blood-reader


Closest things I've seen especially using just the CRB are Status and Deathwatch neither of which lets you know explicitly the targets exact hp total.

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