Paladin Divine spirit ACF query

[supermonkeyjoe]

I was reading the Divine spirit paladin alternate class feature here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070209a), I absolutely love it but can't figure out the final ability Spirit of the Fallen:


Spirit of the Fallen: While you or any of your allies are adjacent to this spirit, it grants fast healing 10 to those characters. If an affected character's hit points drop to 0 or fewer while within 30 feet of this spirit, it revives that character at the start of his next turn, allowing him to take his action as normal. The character heals an amount of damage equal to twice your paladin level, though if his hit points are still at -10 or below, he still dies. The spirit can use its revive ability once per round.

A spirit of the fallen cannot revive creatures whose bodies have been destroyed (such as by a disintegrate spell), nor can it reverse the effects of bodily changes, such as from flesh to stone or baleful polymorph, or other effects that slay a character without dealing damage.

My problem is with the line "If an affected character's hit points drop to 0 or fewer while within 30 feet of this spirit, it revives that character at the start of his next turn"
Just what constitutes an affected character? One who was affected by the fast healing 10? but that only affects PCs within 10' but the revive ability is PCs within 30'? Badly worded ability or am I being dense?

[Diarmuid]

Wow....I assumed you might have mis-transcribed that but no...it's really just worded that poorly.

You might want to check wizards' site and see if they have an errata for that book.

[Lateral]

Dungeonscape, while having awesome flavor and decent balance, is pretty horribly worded in many places and unclear in others. :smallfrown:

[Zaq]

Were I GMing that, I'd rule that "affected character" basically means "valid allied target," but that's pure interpretation and not RAW.

[Diarmuid]

I guess one way to potentially read it would be that a character could start their turn adjacent, thus gaining the fast healing...and then move away from the spirit. As long as they stayed with 30' and took dmg dropping them below 0 before their next turn, and the spirit was still within 30' of the fallen PC on the Paladin's turn, then the revive would kick in?

[Draz74]

Dictionary:

adj.
simulated in order to impress

e.g. He spoke with an affected English accent.


So I'd say a literal reading of the RAW is that it only works on characters who were roleplayed in an over-the-top, flamboyant manner in order to impress. :smallamused:

[thesilentx]

I think what it is trying to say is, you're character is revived by healing an amount of damage equal to twice your paladin level.
Example: Pal is a 20th level paladin who has summoned a Spirit of the Fallen 20 feet away from him. A Balor hits Pal for xxxx damage, dropping his HP to -50. The Spirit of the Fallen will attempt to revive Pal by healing him for 40 (2 x paladin level) bringing his HP total to -10. Pal still dies, and the forces of hell are unleashed upon the world. If the Balor had struck him and left his HP at -30, the Spirit of the Fallen would have healed him for 40, bringing his HP total to 10.

Again, this is just my theory/interpretation of the ACF.

Edit:Sorry, did not see the last post date, thought I was in "Latest Posts"

[Astralia123]

I guess one way to interpret this is that the author misused the word "adjacent". Maybe he meant "near".


EDIT: My miss. I did not notice this thread is that old. Didn't your guys read about the forum rules?

[LibraryOgre]

The Mod Wonder: Appropriately, this thread was turned by a Paladin.