Rebuke (replacement for Holy Word and Blasphemy)

[Alias]

This spell I wrote up a few moments ago to more fully fill the hole created by pulling Holy Word and Blasphemy out of the game. Those two spells by their very names have a hero/villain light, and I want spellcasters of all alignments to be able to be villains or heroes as necessary.

To understand the spell requires this bit of setting knowledge. The setting has 5 alignments, and characters can have any number of alignments - even cognitively dissonant ones. The limitation that this spell places, that the character have only 1 alignment to use it, is somewhat difficult to meet unless the player takes some care (though they don't have to be a paladin).

When considering balance keep in mind that any given character will have only one of these modes. Druids can use the Aboran version of this spell. The Valra and Sodra modes match up almost exactly with Holy Word and Blasphemy respectively.

Rebuke
Evocation (Invocation) [sonic]
Level: Clr 7, Drd 7
Components: V
Range: 40'
Area: Creatures which have any other alignment than yours in a 40' radius spread centered on you.
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will partial

You must be have only one alignment to cast this spell. You issue words of rebuke in the name of your divine patron that harm your foes.
Rebuke itself is actually five spells, one for each alignment, and the alignment of the rebuke determines its effect. You can only use the form of rebuke that matches your alignment. Rebuke replaces blasphemy and holy word in the core rules - what constitutes these terms is in the ear of the listener and the speaker.

When you are on your home plane outsiders within range of rebuke are banished unless they are from the plane of your alignment. This effect occurs whether they hear the rebuke or not. Creatures banished this way cannot return for at least 24 hours. This effect allows a will save to negate with a -4 penalty.

Rebuke inflicts up to four statuses on the creatures who hear it which have alignments differing from yours. A successful will save negates or reduces these statuses, but for each alignment they have directly opposed to yours the save has a -2 penalty (-4 if they have both your opposed alignments). The effects are cumulative and based on relative hit dice as follows:

HD -- Effect
Equal to caster level -- Minor
Up to caster level -1 -- Major
Up to caster level -5 -- Severe
Up to caster level -10 -- Deadly

Creatures whose hit dice exceed yours are unaffected by rebuke. For those affected the effects are as follows:

Abora
Minor: The creature is stunned for 1 round but defends itself normally.
Major: The creature is staggered for for 2d6 rounds, save for half.
Severe: The creature is paralyzed for 1d10 minutes, save to reduce to 1 round
Deadly: The creature is destroyed if undead or a construct (even a golem), living creatures are permanently polymorphed into a squirrel or similar harmless varmit. Save negates.

Balcra
Minor: The creature is dazed for 1 round but defends itself normally. Save negates
Major: The creature is fascinated for up to 2d6 rounds, save for half.
Severe: The creature is paralyzed for 1d10 minutes, save to reduce to 1 round
Deadly: The creature is feebleminded. Save negates, but the creature is dealt 3d6 damage + 1 point / caster level (max +25)

Shunra
Minor: The creature is dazed for 1 round but defends itself normally. Save negates
Major: The creature is shaken for 2d6 rounds, save for half.
Severe: The creature is confused for 1d10 minutes, save to reduce to 1 round
Deadly: The creature is petrified. Save negates, but the creature is dealt 3d8 damage + 1 point / caster level (max +25)

Sodra
Minor: The creature is dazed for 1 round but defends itself normally. Save negates
Major: The creature is weakened, its strength score dropping by 2d6 points for 2d4 rounds, save for half of each.
Severe: The creature is paralyzed for 1d10 minutes, save to reduce to 1 round
Deadly: The creature is killed if living, Undead and constructs are unaffected. Save negates, but the creature is dealt 3d8 damage + 1 point / caster level (max +25)

Valra
Minor: The creature is deafened 1d4 rounds, save negates
Major: The creature is blinded 2d4 rounds, save for half
Severe: The creature is paralyzed for 1d10 minutes, save to reduce to 1 round
Deadly: The creature is killed, or destroyed if undead. Constructs are unaffected. Save negates, but the creature is dealt 3d6 damage + 1 point / caster level (max +25)

[toapat]

did you remove Dictum, Word of Chaos, and the TN version?

also i think a better name would be along the lines of "Origin Utterance"

[Alias]

did you remove Dictum, Word of Chaos, and the TN version?

also i think a better name would be along the lines of "Origin Utterance"

Yes, they'll be removed to (forgot about them). Rebuke is a cleaner name.


re·buke [ri-byook] verb
to express sharp, stern disapproval of; reprove; reprimand.

noun
sharp, stern disapproval; reproof; reprimand.

It is sufficiently alignment neutral while having a good flavor with the spell's effect across all five alignments. To rebuke is to reprimand with a word - and here we have magical words that can stun, hurt or kill.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Spell seems to check out to me. I also really like turning them into one spell, although I wonder what this would do with multiple alignments like Lawful Good. Do you pick an effect?


also i think a better name would be along the lines of "Origin Utterance"

Nah. Rebuke is clean, evocative, and yet generic enough that it works perfectly for this spell. :smallbiggrin:

[4th number]

What are your five alignments? We've just got the names-- what do they mean?

[JiyaCamerl]

Rebuke is definitely clean and innovative. It fits perfectly in the sentence and the generic lingual.

[Alias]

What are your five alignments? We've just got the names-- what do they mean?

Each of the five alignments represents a philosophy that is sympathetic to two others and antithetic to two others. Think of each alignment as occupying a point on a pentagram. Starting from Abora and moving clockwise on the pentagram... Abora, Shunra, Sodra, Balcra, Valra.

Abora is the philosophy of nature, life, eternity, preservation. While all the other four philosophies would like to change the world to suit their worldview, Abora is pretty much happy with how it is and wants to keep it that way. At its best Abora is wise, introspective and calming. At its worst it is bestial, unthinking. Abora's conflict with Sodra is eternity vs. mortality -- Sodra is not interested in the least in maintaining continual cycles at the expense of itself (or rather, those who hold its philosophy). Abora's conflict with Balcra is nature vs. nuture. Abora believes individuals are born with their ability and potential, Balcra holds that all individuals are a clean slate. Abora is sympathetic to Valra because of a shared interest in community and life. Abora is linked to Shunra by instinct and impulse.

Shunra is the philosophy of passion, creativity, emotion and energy. It is the act now think later philosophy. It is heavily associated with the elements of fire and earth, but destructive magical energies come easily to adherents, and most arcane battle spells are Shunran. At its best Shunra is loving, simple (but not stupid), and straightforward. At its worst it is thoughtlessly destructive and its impulse leads to actions it later regrets. Shunra's conflict with Balcra is action vs. inaction and elementals fire and earth vs. water and air. Shunra's conflict with Valra is chaos vs. law, which is perhaps the most recognizable of the conflicts and the only one shared with the old alignment system. Shunra is sympathetic to Sodra because together they seek freedom for themselves and family.

Sodra is the philosophy of mortality, individuality, and the self. It is the most selfish alignment and the one given to the most infighting since it embraces rather than shunning strife. Sodra desires that all individuals have the opportunity to thrive or fail by their own merits unhindered by society. Its magic is oriented towards this and includes spells which grant personal power for those willing to pay the cost - such as the magics of undeath. At it's best Sodra is driven, ambitious, and inspired. At its worst that very ambitious leads it to deplorable and hideous actions for self promotion. Sodra's conflict with Valra is self vs. community, capitalism vs. socialism. Sodra is sympathetic to Balcra because both have a love of knowledge and secrets and a penchant for artifice (though for different reasons).

Balcra is the philosophy of thought, order, introspection. It is the most pondering alignment with its head in the clouds and often dreaming of how things could be improved upon. It is also associated with air and water, elements which are often used to conduct communication. At it's best it is intelligent, insightful, and well prepared. At its worst Balcra is plodding, hesitant, cold and distant. Balcra is sympathetic to Valra because each have a love or law, orders and rules.

Valra is last, the philosophy of civilization, structure, law, society, religion. While popular, this is the philosophy of 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.' It rejects the concept of rights for an individual in the face of the needs of the common good. It is the philosophy most given to throw around the labels of good and evil - typically labeling Sodra and Shunra as evil and itself as good. In truth Valra can be grossly tyrannical to suit its ends.


This alignment system doesn't use the concepts of good and evil, but typically an alignment labels as good the values it cherishes, and as evil the values cherished by the opposition alignments. This however begins to break down where individuals are concerned. Unlike the classic alignment system, this one is inclusive. Nothing mechanically stops a character from having a Valra/Shunra alignment. Now, whether they use the tools of chaos to bring about order, or follow an ordered plan to overthrow the government and bring rise to chaos will vary.

In Dusk, detecting alignments is by no means a friend or foe identification system. Most merchants are Sodran aligned, and they shouldn't be on the target list of most adventurers. Many an evil tyrant has been Valran aligned.

Characters begin play with one alignment. If they act according to the goals of a different alignment for long enough (or drastically enough) they will pick up an additional alignment. This includes the simple act of casting spells - since spells are themselves aligned. If a character is constantly using Shunran spells eventually they'll pick up the extra alignment.

Only the paladin class calls a character to have only one alignment. Barbarians and bards must be Shunran, Druids and rangers must be Aboran, and monks must be Valran but none of these classes must stay on that alignment - they merely must start there (and multiclassing to them requires the character to pick up the alignment in question).

When a character is affected by an effect that cares about alignment he counts all his alignments. Consider someone who is Valra/Balcra aligned - an alignment typical of barristers and bureaucrats. If a spell says all non-Valran then he won't be affected - he has a Valran alignment. If a spell says it affects Balcran targets, then he'll be affected even though he's also Valran.

There is no direct penalty for having multiple alignments beyond increased exposure to alignment sensitive spells and restriction from a handful of spells like rebuke which require their caster to be purely motivated. Rebuke is ever so slightly stronger than holy word, dictim, blasphemy and word of chaos as a reward to maintaining a pure alignment - note that, against certain foes, it imposes a -4 penalty on its saves that was not imposed by the original spell. This is a buff to the original effect.

[Silva Stormrage]

While I agree that the name fits just pointing out that another spell has the name as well. http://dndtools.eu/spells/oriental-adventures--96/rebuke--2038/

Probably not an issue though.

[Alias]

While I agree that the name fits just pointing out that another spell has the name as well. http://dndtools.eu/spells/oriental-adventures--96/rebuke--2038/

Probably not an issue though.

I will check for name conflicts with the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's Guide, Advanced Race Guide and Ultimate Magic. I couldn't care less if there's a name collision with any other book out there, especially one that old.