Spellthief ACF: Cursed Blow

[Lui]

hi. i have a problem with the Cursed Blow ACF (dragon magazine 353).
it says that with a successfull snake attack, by expending a spell slot up to 4th level, a spellthief can impose a curse upon a subject, as a free action. the curse places a penalty to attack rolls, opposed checks and saving throws, equal to the level of the spell slot expended. (it lasts one round per spellthief level).
then it says that the subject is allowed a will save, with a successfull save reducing the penalty to -1 per level of the spell slot.

am I missing something?
wasn't it -1xLev in the first place?

[Greenish]

snake attack
Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?

But yeah, that might be just editing error, Dragon Magazine isn't always to well vetted.

[Lui]

yeah *sneak* attack sorry. any guess how this variant should work anyway?

[true_shinken]

yeah *sneak* attack sorry. any guess how this variant should work anyway?

-1 per spell level, no save.

EDIT: Also, the example uses a different duration.

[Lui]

yeah i noticed that too,"one minute regardless of the save" (I.E. 10 rounds instead of seven, as it should have been).
have you found the "no save at all" correction in some errata, or it's your own correction? it could work just fine, but it seems pretty good to impose such a penalty with no spell resistance or save. besides it makes the whole magazine description look rather silly. anyway let me know, and thank you very much in any case.

[true_shinken]

have you found the "no save at all" correction in some errata, or it's your own correction?

It's how the rule actually works as written. They basically get a save, but if they fail or succeed, they still take the same effect.
The only difference it does is against foes with mettle. Those goes would take no penalties if they succeeded their saves.

[Cog]

The only difference it does is against foes with mettle. Those goes would take no penalties if they succeeded their saves.
I'm not sure even that would make a difference. Most/all instances of mettle are phrased as "against an effect that would be lessened by a successful save" or similar; since the effect isn't lessened in this case, that style of mettle wouldn't kick in.

[Lui]

i agree. so do you all think the cursed blow doesn't allow a save?