Geas/Quest VS Lesser Geas

[Grayson01]

Okay the penelties for not performing the actions of a lesser Geas is -2 to all abl. scores per day up to -8 while not preforming Geas/quest is 3d6 damage each day and fort save or sicken.

It sounds to me that the penelties for Lesser Geas is a lot worse then Geas/Quest, if given the choice I would much rather take the damage each day.

Does anyone else agree?

[XionUnborn01]

I'm not sure how 3d6 damage is any better barring someone being immune to ability damage but not penalties.

It's a minimum of -3 per day, and if you're banking on being a caster to offset it, it can easily drop your stats by 10 each day.

[A_S]

I always assumed it meant HP damage, although I see how it's a bit unclear the way it's written.

[Telok]

Geas inflicts an average of 11 damage and a Fort save (sickened) once a day to which bonuses against enchantments and mind-affecting apply.

Lesser Geas applies a -2 penalty to all stats that cannot be removed with Restoration or Heal. This reduces HP by 1 per HD (if they have a Con score) and potentially cuts off spell access.

PCs with more than 9 HD would rather be afflicted with Geas as it's highly likely that they can just ignore it and deal with the effects. Of course since Lesser Geas has a 7 HD limit they're safe from the more dangerous spell.

[icefractal]

Lesser Geas is also much better in that it actually compels the target to obey the request. They take the ability score penalty if they're externally prevented from doing it, but they can't just choose not to.

Geas is ... kind of a joke, actually. For someone with 8+ HD, that amount of damage is pretty pathetic - even in the worst case, you'd heal most of it by sleeping. And even without a way to remove sickened, it's less of a penalty than -8 to everything.


Now in Pathfinder, they changed it - it works like Lesser Geas now, but improved (-3/day, max -12), and like Lesser Geas it actually forces you to follow it unless externally prevented. And it has no save!

So - definitely worth it now, no question. Insanely powerful? Yeah, kinda. It means that with careful wording, anybody you can knock out is now your minion for at least a day/level.

[Bronk]

Geas does compel you to action... the spell says it works similarly to the lesser version except that the penalties are different and it doesn't have a duration.

The only difference is a slight change in the wording to the penalty. The Lesser version says you take the penalty if you are prevented from following the geas, while the higher level version just says you take the damage if you don't follow the geas. Still, since it is based off of the lesser version, the only way you can't follow it is if you are also prevented.

Either way, it's good to have friends.