Church Inquisitors and Chain Spell

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! I have a few questions regarding the Church Inquisitor PrC from Complete Divine and the Chain Spell metamagic feat.

1. Regarding Pierce Illusions: I know the Inquisitor need only see an illusion or a disguise to get a Will save and Spot check respectively to see through. The ability describes:

Whenever an inquisitor sees an illusion or disguise spell of any sort, he immediately makes a Will save to see through it.

I understand this would pertain to many of the illusion spells out there that conceal one's appearance. However, what about Supernatural abilities of many creatures to alter their shape (such as a doppleganger). Would the Inquisitor gain the benefit of a will save to see through it? What about polymorph or shapechange which, to an extent "disguise" the true form of the caster into something else entirely?

2. Regarding Chain Spell: I understand how it works- You redirect a normally targeted spell into various opponents within the feat's description. Now, what happens when you are facing a single opponent with magical buffs from spells and magic items. Could someone cast a targeted dispel magic to remove his buffs and then chain that same dispel magic to target his magic items (thus suppressing them for 1d4 rounds)?

I was a bit skeptical if it would work, since my assumption is that the feat allows you to progress the spell through multiple opponents, hence the "chaining · aspect of the feat. However, if magic items worn on the same target are considered opponents themselves for the chain spell, then it does make the feat very useful indeed.

Thank you very much in advance.

[TuggyNE]

1. Regarding Pierce Illusions: I know the Inquisitor need only see an illusion or a disguise to get a Will save and Spot check respectively to see through. The ability describes:

Whenever an inquisitor sees an illusion or disguise spell of any sort, he immediately makes a Will save to see through it.

I understand this would pertain to many of the illusion spells out there that conceal one's appearance. However, what about Supernatural abilities of many creatures to alter their shape (such as a doppleganger). Would the Inquisitor gain the benefit of a will save to see through it? What about polymorph or shapechange which, to an extent "disguise" the true form of the caster into something else entirely?

True seeing packs in a number of mechanically unrelated benefits. This is not true seeing, and you don't get to bypass Su abilities, nor do you automatically bypass polymorph or similar, as those are physical changes (and have no Will save to disbelieve, in any case). The only question is whether the Inquisitor should have a chance to see through polymorph's subsidiary +10 to Disguise checks, but since it's a physical change (not illusionary) and does not offer a save, I'm inclined to think it doesn't work by RAW.


2. Regarding Chain Spell: I understand how it works- You redirect a normally targeted spell into various opponents within the feat's description. Now, what happens when you are facing a single opponent with magical buffs from spells and magic items. Could someone cast a targeted dispel magic to remove his buffs and then chain that same dispel magic to target his magic items (thus suppressing them for 1d4 rounds)?

I was a bit skeptical if it would work, since my assumption is that the feat allows you to progress the spell through multiple opponents, hence the "chaining · aspect of the feat. However, if magic items worn on the same target are considered opponents themselves for the chain spell, then it does make the feat very useful indeed.

I don't see why not, off the cuff, but I may be missing some fine point in the wording. (Assuming it refers to "targets", then yes, it should work.)

[Deophaun]

However, what about Supernatural abilities of many creatures to alter their shape (such as a doppleganger). Would the Inquisitor gain the benefit of a will save to see through it?
No, as the ability is specific to spells, not supernatural abilities.

What about polymorph or shapechange which, to an extent "disguise" the true form of the caster into something else entirely?
Don't see why not. Unless someone can point to a definition of a disguise spell, it's up for DM interpretation.

2. Regarding Chain Spell: I understand how it works- You redirect a normally targeted spell into various opponents...
And this is the source of your confusion. The feat doesn't mention "opponents," only "targets." Therefore, the only thing that matters is that your target is a legal target for the spell you're chaining. Since objects and creatures are legal targets for dispel magic, you can chain between them.

[AlanBruce]

Thank you for the quick responses. This makes infiltrator types easier to walk around unnoticed.

I had a feeling the chained dispel magic would work that way. Thank you for clarifying that up!