"X is immune to Destruction"

[Detective Costeau]

So, is there any rhyme or reason to some creatures just shrugging off the 7th level Cleric spell Destruction? The spell description doesn't list any kind of enemies that are immune, and there doesn't seem to be any consistent pattern to what creatures the spell just flat does not work on.

[Raggle Fraggles]

The only thing that logic would dictate is if the enemy didn't have a corporeal form. Like spectres. Or if they were just immune to death magic, as Destruction is in the Necromancy school.

Other than that, this entire adventure path says "Screw logic" anyway, so idk. I was reaching with those examples lol

[Detective Costeau]

I suppose that could be it, but if the spell is meant to not work on anything incorporeal, it'd be nice if that was actually explained to the player. The spell's description doesn't list any limit to what it can work on, and when it doesn't work you get no explanation why.

[Raggle Fraggles]

Yeah, weird the tooltip doesn't mention it. Yeah, you could say a player is supposed to assume that Destruction needs something physically there to destroy, but tooltips exist for a reason lol.

On that note, there's a spell in the Transmutation school that does exactly the same thing as Destruction, but the tooltips also don't mention the immunties either.

[Stink Bug]

Don’t know about ingame, but in the SRD the destruction spell has the Death descriptor, which makes it subject to “death spell” immunities.

[BCGaius]

School necromancy [death]; Level cleric/oracle 7, shaman 8, witch 8; Domain death 7, repose 7; Subdomain entropy 7; Mystery reaper 7

CASTING

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (holy or unholy symbol costing 500 gp)

EFFECT

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Fortitude partial; Spell Resistance yes


DESCRIPTION

This spell instantly delivers 10 points of damage per caster level. If the spell slays the target, it consumes the remains utterly in holy (or unholy) fire (but not its equipment or possessions). If the target’s Fortitude saving throw succeeds, it instead takes 10d6 points of damage. The only way to restore life to a character who has failed to save against this spell (and was slain) is to use true resurrection, a carefully worded wish spell followed by resurrection, or miracle.

---

As mentioned, it is technically a death effect, so undead creatures are technically immune to it. That is a very pedantic GM ruling though, as while Destruction is definitely a "save or die" kind of spell that generally wouldn't affect undead (a la Finger of Death, Wail of the Banshee, etc), it has always been a Cleric spell more along the lines of Flame Strike, i.e., a divine smite delivered by the gods unto the heathen, heretic, and unclean. The spell even specifically references aligned fire annihilating the target, so many GMs (myself included) would be inclined to allow it against an undead target -- as this is consistent with most of a Cleric's arsenal, which is generally intended to be very efficient against undead.

But you have to understand the kind of GM Owlcat's games are. They aren't "rule of cool," or "yeah that makes sense / seems fun, let's do it" kind of GMs. They are "go ♥♥♥♥ yourself, player" GMs. They are only interested in how hard you can rules lawyer the system to the breaking point, and understand no other metric for playing D&D.

To be successful in Kingmaker and especially WotR, you have to play by those rules.

[Gorwe]

Originally posted by Stink Bug:

Don’t know about ingame, but in the SRD the destruction spell has the Death descriptor, which makes it subject to “death spell” immunities.

Yes, pay attention to these. Often so many questions and disputes can be resolved by reading carefully.

[Gorwe]

Originally posted by BCGaius:

School necromancy [death]; Level cleric/oracle 7, shaman 8, witch 8; Domain death 7, repose 7; Subdomain entropy 7; Mystery reaper 7

CASTING

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (holy or unholy symbol costing 500 gp)

EFFECT

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Fortitude partial; Spell Resistance yes


DESCRIPTION

This spell instantly delivers 10 points of damage per caster level. If the spell slays the target, it consumes the remains utterly in holy (or unholy) fire (but not its equipment or possessions). If the target’s Fortitude saving throw succeeds, it instead takes 10d6 points of damage. The only way to restore life to a character who has failed to save against this spell (and was slain) is to use true resurrection, a carefully worded wish spell followed by resurrection, or miracle.

---

As mentioned, it is technically a death effect, so undead creatures are technically immune to it. That is a very pedantic GM ruling though, as while Destruction is definitely a "save or die" kind of spell that generally wouldn't affect undead (a la Finger of Death, Wail of the Banshee, etc), it has always been a Cleric spell more along the lines of Flame Strike, i.e., a divine smite delivered by the gods unto the heathen, heretic, and unclean. The spell even specifically references aligned fire annihilating the target, so many GMs (myself included) would be inclined to allow to it against an undead target -- as this is consistent with most of a Cleric's arsenal, which is generally intended to be very efficient against undead.

But you have to understand the kind of GM Owlcat's games are. They aren't "rule of cool," or "yeah that makes sense / seems fun, let's do it" kind of GMs. They are "go ♥♥♥♥ yourself, player" GMs. They are only interested in how hard you can rules lawyer the system to the breaking point, and understand no other metric for playing D&D.

To be successful in Kingmaker and especially WotR, you have to play by those rules.

Well, if this is their mindset(which it most seemingly is), I'd love to see how they'd tackle a Hell based adventure. Somehow I believe it'd fit like a hand and a glove.