[Fluff] Creatures killed by Holy Word/Blasphemy

[Spore]

Hi playground,

we had a recent session where a half-fiend troll lord used his blasphemy against us. On 10th level this was a major debuff but our soldiers/civilians also heard it and died by the masses due to lack of HD. I am playing a bones oracle (Pathfinder for the confused) fluffed as priestess of the nordic dead goddess (portfolio of death, cold, water and so on) and the god is for dying on the battlefield.

My question is:

How does a priestess react to the dead of 10+ men after dealing with their killer? Is dieing to Blasphemy considered a valiant death? (It feels more like collateral damage, so how did nordic societies deal with death to say: siege engine kills, fires or any non-combat war deaths?)
Did Blasphemy in earlier generations of D&D have a flavor text regarding the lost soul, the type of words used (I recall something like unspeakable things being said during the spell)?
As in our homebrew setting, evil souls get destroyed by Smite Evil, would it be believable when good souls are destroyed by [evil] spells?

[Crake]

Hi playground,

we had a recent session where a half-fiend troll lord used his blasphemy against us. On 10th level this was a major debuff but our soldiers/civilians also heard it and died by the masses due to lack of HD. I am playing a bones oracle (Pathfinder for the confused) fluffed as priestess of the nordic dead goddess (portfolio of death, cold, water and so on) and the god is for dying on the battlefield.

My question is:

How does a priestess react to the dead of 10+ men after dealing with their killer? Is dieing to Blasphemy considered a valiant death? (It feels more like collateral damage, so how did nordic societies deal with death to say: siege engine kills, fires or any non-combat war deaths?)
Did Blasphemy in earlier generations of D&D have a flavor text regarding the lost soul, the type of words used (I recall something like unspeakable things being said during the spell)?
As in our homebrew setting, evil souls get destroyed by Smite Evil, would it be believable when good souls are destroyed by [evil] spells?

Hmm, destroying a soul is probably one of the most heinous acts of evil you could possibly ever commit. Even a soul can be redeemed, but by destroying a soul, you condemn the victim to a fate worse than death: oblivion. So you might wanna discuss that with your DM.

That said, smite evil (and it's other cousins, smite good, smite lawful and smite chaos) are their own separate abilities. Unless you were referring to the spell Holy Smite, then spells should do no such thing like destroying souls unless specifically stated, as that really messes with the balance of power amongst said spells. By destroying a soul you prevent any kind of resurrection, barring direct divine intervention, so giving this power to any spell greatly increases it's potential power, and should therefore also increase it's spell level.

[Grek]

I imagine that whether it would count as valiant or not depends very much on whether the soldiers died trying to fight the troll lord or trying to flee. Thematically, Unholy Blight is basically a weaker version of Blasphemy, so you might take the flavour text from that (a cold, cloying miasma of greasy darkness) and step it up to match. Maybe the caster speaks the name of an unholy evil and then a wave of darkness echoes from their mouth?

In 3.5, Blasphemy and the like aren't death effects, so there's no particular mechanical basis for saying that it would do something bad to souls. However, if Smite Evil destroys evil souls in your game, it would make sense for Holy Word to do the same. Whether or not the reverse works with Blasphemy and good souls depends on where your group stands on how the Good vs Evil conflict should work. Is Good triumphing once and for all over Evil something that might ever happen? Should Good and Evil be balanced in an eternal war? Something for your group to think about.

[Spore]

I imagine that whether it would count as valiant or not depends very much on whether the soldiers died trying to fight the troll lord or trying to flee.

Neither. They fought other trolls while we dealt with the chief. They just happened to stand too close.

[Grek]

Well, they died while fighting trolls. I think that should count.

[Earthwalker]

They died with axes in hand and courage in thier hearts. It was a good death. Even now they wait in Valhalla ready to fight again when Ragnorok comes.

[Spore]

They died with axes in hand and courage in thier hearts. It was a good death. Even now they wait in Valhalla ready to fight again when Ragnorok comes.

Sounds reasonable enough that I question myself onto why I asked in the first place. :)


Hmm, destroying a soul is probably one of the most heinous acts of evil you could possibly ever commit. Even a soul can be redeemed, but by destroying a soul, you condemn the victim to a fate worse than death: oblivion. So you might wanna discuss that with your DM.

Point taken. After thinking about it, I prefer the version: "Soul purified/corrupted for the afterlife/reinarnation" for evil/good spells and SNAs.