Skill nuking spells

[BobVosh]

What spells are there that destroy skills? I oddly haven't been able to find any really. Beyond like doom.

[MerlinTheWizard]

There aren't many that specifically go after a particular skill. Usually spells that hinder skills are debuffs that incur a specific condition, such as fatigued, shaken, dazzled, etc. Taking that into account, some spells can cause a condition that is designed to destroy a specific skill, such as blindness or deafness. Ability score nukes count too, such as Ray of Enfeeblement or Poison. I guess there may be a spell or power that allows you to specifically target a skill of your choosing and nuke it, but I haven't heard of it.

[NNescio]

What spells are there that destroy skills? I oddly haven't been able to find any really. Beyond like doom.

Glitterdust or anything that causes blindness. Spot checks automatically fail, for obvious reasons, and there's a hefty -4 penalty to most skills keyed to Str/Dex.

Ability-drain/Ability-damage spells.

Enervation or negative levels in general.

Web or anything else that entangles opponents. -4 Dex.

Ray of Exhaustion or anything that inflicts the fatigued/exhausted condition.

Bestow Curse.

Fear or anything that causes fear.

Most things that causes status effects in general.

Edit:


There aren't many that specifically go after a particular skill. Usually spells that hinder skills are debuffs that incur a specific condition, such as fatigued, shaken, dazzled, etc. Taking that into account, some spells can cause a condition that is designed to destroy a specific skill, such as blindness or deafness. Ability score nukes count too, such as Ray of Enfeeblement or Poison. I guess there may be a spell or power that allows you to specifically target a skill of your choosing and nuke it, but I haven't heard of it.

It's well within the power of Bestow Curse.


You place a curse on the subject. Choose one of the following three effects.

* -6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
* -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.
* Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.

You may also invent your own curse, but it should be no more powerful than those described above.

So, a -4 penalty to a single specific skill should be possible.

[Jack Zander]

So, a -4 penalty to a single specific skill should be possible.

I'd say it should be more than -4. If you can give someone a -4 to all checks, the a penalty to a specific skill should be greater to compensate.

[Zaq]

Reversed Universal Aptitude gives a –5 to all skill checks for a few rounds, no save. But that's an Utterance, not a spell, so it has its own issues.

[NNescio]

I'd say it should be more than -4. If you can give someone a -4 to all checks, the a penalty to a specific skill should be greater to compensate.

True, but it's kinda hard to balance so I just went with a guaranteed example.

Personally, I'll say that a -8 penalty should still be within the spell's power, but at this point I'm just eyeballing it.

[Jack Zander]

True, but it's kinda hard to balance so I just went with a guaranteed example.

Personally, I'll say that a -8 penalty should still be within the spell's power, but at this point I'm just eyeballing it.

Of course it is completely up to DM's call. I'd give it a -10 just to be more even.

[BobVosh]

Bleh dead internet amongst other issues. Thank you for the posts, let me be more exact. I don't care if it nukes a single skill or all of them. I just want to hurt them hard. The true namer's utterance actually sounds ideal though. Is it possible to make truenamer's stuff into traps? I somehow doubt it.

Does greater bestow curse have the same skills nukes/better ones? My SpC is in my friends house so I can't check. :smalleek:

[NNescio]

Bleh dead internet amongst other issues. Thank you for the posts, let me be more exact. I don't care if it nukes a single skill or all of them. I just want to hurt them hard. The true namer's utterance actually sounds ideal though. Is it possible to make truenamer's stuff into traps? I somehow doubt it.

Does greater bestow curse have the same skills nukes/better ones? My SpC is in my friends house so I can't check. :smalleek:

It's similar. For the second clause, instead of reading:


* -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.

...It reads:


* -8 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks.

Like vanilla Bestow Curse, it also cannot be dispelled. In addition, neither do Break Enchantment or Limited Wish work.

[Fizban]

Mordenkainen's Buzzing Bee, in Spell Compendium. Slaps a hefty -10 penalty on the target's concentration checks with no save, and counts as it's own distraction to boot. Great way to foul up casters until at least 5th level or so.

[mint]

Since you are asking about traps I assume you are the DM here?
It has been a while since I used Truenaming, the equivalence to spell levels is not as transparent as with other magic systems. It may take a little longer but you should be able to adapt it.
To me, the flavour of Truenaming would lend itself in a way most rad to traps, so you know, being worth precious little notwithstanding, you have my blessing.

[Thurbane]

What about that spell that causes you to roll checks twice and take the worst result...Unluck? If it's built into a trap, you don't need to worry about the XP drain.

[BobVosh]

Since you are asking about traps I assume you are the DM here?
It has been a while since I used Truenaming, the equivalence to spell levels is not as transparent as with other magic systems. It may take a little longer but you should be able to adapt it.
To me, the flavour of Truenaming would lend itself in a way most rad to traps, so you know, being worth precious little notwithstanding, you have my blessing.

I am the DM. So equivalent spell levels built into the system seems good enough.


Mordenkainen's Buzzing Bee, in Spell Compendium. Slaps a hefty -10 penalty on the target's concentration checks with no save, and counts as it's own distraction to boot. Great way to foul up casters until at least 5th level or so.

Hah, sounds fun. Even at high levels it is useful.

What about that spell that causes you to roll checks twice and take the worst result...Unluck? If it's built into a trap, you don't need to worry about the XP drain.

A bestow or true name and this sounds good. What is unluck in?

[Thurbane]

A bestow or true name and this sounds good. What is unluck in?
PHB2 from memory.