Does this prc exist

[noob]

I believe there was a prc who gave the ability to case deathwatch as a good aligned spell.
Does it exists?

[Morof Stonehands]

Slayer of Domiel (Book of Exalted Deeds) has deathwatch on their spell list, and require a lawful good alignment to enter.

[ZamielVanWeber]

To answer the question: no. There are good aligned classes, PRCs, and (by fluff) domains that give access to Deathwatch, but by RAW it is an evil spell and will affect your alignment in that direction.

[Falcon X]

Healer base class in the Minatures handbook has Deathwatch on her list, and Healers MUST be good. Seems like there is precedence for exceptions to the evil rule.

You can also get around it if you DM allows 3.0 spells in your game, seeing as Deathwatch in 3.0 wasn't explicitly evil.
What happened was that it was originally non-evil. Then Monte Cook wrote this phrase: "Tapping into evil power is an evil act in and of itself, no matter what the effects or the reason for using the power might be. By this definition, as a variant rule, the following spells from the Player's Handbook should be considered evil and have the evil descriptor: contagion, deathwatch, desecrate, doom, and trap the soul." -Monte Cook, Book Of Vile Darkness Chapter Six, page 77 So when they revised it to third edition, they just called it Evil by default.

[The Glyphstone]

The grammar, it burned...

[Ruethgar]

I think there is a metamagic feat to give it the Good descriptor making it essentially neutral.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Healer base class in the Minatures handbook has Deathwatch on her list, and Healers MUST be good. Seems like there is precedence for exceptions to the evil rule.

The Healer has no exception. IF they continue to cast it they lose their Healer class features since their alignment leaves good. Making it evil is dumb; nowhere does it even imply it uses evil energy and how on Oerth is checking someone's health evil? I guess Heal checks rip your alignment to shreds.

[Falcon X]

I think it all depends on what deity you are under. The problem is that, like with necromancy, almost all deities who have it in their portfolio are evil. Monte Cook usually uses the word "power" to mean "deity" as a byproduct of him writing Planescape. Thus my quote above is making the assumption that you are tapping into an evil deity to use Deathwatch.
So, look for the exceptions. Wee Jas, for example, is a famous Neutral goddess who grants death domain spells. Follow her and you can be whatever alignment you want. She knows all the secrets of the universe and knows what spells are really "evil".

[Âmesang]

Lawful neutral. She isn't too keen on Chaos (aside from her boy-toy, Norebo), but she does have slightly more lawful evil clerics than lawful good (DRAGON #350, p.20).

Also am I the only one reminded of the Player's Handbook illustration of Jozen, cleric of Pelor, casting symbol of pain? An evil-aligned spell? If I remember correctly that wasn't the only example of Jozen doing something like that, which I think gave Pelor the nickname "the Burning Sun" or some such thing.

[Falcon X]

Also, has anyone bothered to read the spell descriptor:

Using the foul sight granted by the powers of unlife... By definition, this spell is granted by unlife.

Now, BoVD gives the following criteria for why a spell is evil, it is evil if any of these are fulfilled:

-They cause undue suffering or negative emotion
-They call upon evil Gods or energies
-They create, summon or improve undead or other evil monsters
-They harm souls
-They involve unsavory practises such as cannibalism or drug abuse. Thus, because of what it draws from, it earns the evil descriptor.

However, I would personally say that if it draws from a non-evil deity, than the source of power changes to neutral.

[darksolitaire]

Slayer of Domiel instantly falls when they cast their Deathwatch spell. But Domiel still lets them prepare it. This effectively makes him the Celestial Paragon of Trolling.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Straight wizard does this. It grants bonus metamagic feats, so just take Consecrate Spell, and you've got a [Good] deathwatch.

[Falcon X]

Lawful neutral. She isn't too keen on Chaos (aside from her boy-toy, Norebo), but she does have slightly more lawful evil clerics than lawful good (DRAGON #350, p.20).

Also am I the only one reminded of the Player's Handbook illustration of Jozen, cleric of Pelor, casting symbol of pain? An evil-aligned spell? If I remember correctly that wasn't the only example of Jozen doing something like that, which I think gave Pelor the nickname "the Burning Sun" or some such thing.
I really appreciate that you know enough about Wee-Jas to know about her boy-toy. Very nice :)

I believe she carries a lot more weight around the evil community because of her "Vanity" domain. Of course, with Wee-Jas, vanity means something closer to Meritocratic or Narcissistic. Basically, if you deserve to be regarded highly, than it should be displayed and highlighted.
So, she attracts a lot of narcissists and evil necromancers who like to pretend they aren't as evil as they are (which is funny, because law isn't generally the delusional alignment. But sometimes is...).

[edit] You could also have a cleric from the same school as a Sun Soul Ninja/Monk. Their whole point is finding the light in the dark, or turning the dark to the light. It would make sense flavor-wise.

[Âmesang]

My longest-running character is a chaotic evil Suel sorceress, so in researching the Suel Imperium eventually Wee Jas was going to turn up. :smalltongue: Funnily enough said character is so vain, conceited, and self-centered that under the worship line of her character sheet I wrote "herself."

Then again, I also wrote "a duck" for her weight…

EDIT: I know some folk look down on the DRAGON, but I found the Wee Jas article in issue #350 to be a fun read, anyway.

[Thurbane]

To answer the question: no. There are good aligned classes, PRCs, and (by fluff) domains that give access to Deathwatch, but by RAW it is an evil spell and will affect your alignment in that direction.

Unless you're Hellbred...

[Malimar]

Also am I the only one reminded of the Player's Handbook illustration of Jozen, cleric of Pelor, casting symbol of pain? An evil-aligned spell? If I remember correctly that wasn't the only example of Jozen doing something like that, which I think gave Pelor the nickname "the Burning Sun" or some such thing.

The Burning Hate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?443306-quot-Pelor-the-Burning-Hate-quot-(from-Wizards-forum)).


Unless you're Hellbred...

So many people think Evil Exception is so much broader than it really is that I had to go check.

Evil Exception (Ex): Regardless of alignment or class restrictions, a hellbred can cast spells with the evil descriptor and never gains negative levels while wielding evil magic items, such as unholy weapons or demon armor. This ability does not shield a hellbred from losing access to class features if he violates a class’s code of conduct. For example, using a +1 unholy longsword to slay orcs would not violate a hellbred paladin’s code of conduct, though using the weapon to kill another paladin would.
And you're right! This is one of the two things Evil Exception actually does! (It's vaguely worded enough that there's some potential wibbliness about situations where casting an evil spell is against a class's code of conduct, but never mind that.)

[Necroticplague]

Also, has anyone bothered to read the spell descriptor:
By definition, this spell is granted by unlife.

Now, BoVD gives the following criteria for why a spell is evil, it is evil if any of these are fulfilled:
Thus, because of what it draws from, it earns the evil descriptor.

However, I would personally say that if it draws from a non-evil deity, than the source of power changes to neutral.

That doesn't really make it evil. let's go through that list, line-by-line.

1.HAHAHAHA, no. It's a self buff, which has the main use of effective triage. it can't be used to cause pain to anyone on it's own.
2. Depends on whether you think 'unlife' is inherently evil. That's a whole different can of worms you'd have to open up. Suffice to say, debatable.
3. Nope, only thing this spell does to undead is tell you a bit about them, it certainly doesn't do any of those 3 things.
4. Nope, doesn't effect the soul at all.
5. Nothing unsavory going on here. Just enhancing your own vision.

[tadkins]

I would just houserule the evil descriptor from Deathwatch. It makes absolutely no sense.

[torrasque666]

Am I the only one who noticed that it said that's a variant rule?

[Inevitability]

Am I the only one who noticed that it said that's a variant rule?

It was a variant rule, then 3.5 happened and it became official.

As a last resort, you can always try to create your own version of deathwatch, except it doesn't use evil power and has the [Good] descriptor. If I remember correctly, it'd cost you a thousand GP.

[The Glyphstone]

Casting non-evil Deathwatch on a budget:

1) Are they moving? If yes, Goto 2. If not, they are [Dead].
2) Splash holy water on them. If they do not react, Goto 3. If they melt and/or burn, they are [Undead].
3) Stab them. If they scream and bleed, Goto 4. If they don't bleed, they are [Neither Alive Nor Undead].
4) If you want them to be Dead, Goto 3. If you want them to be alive, apologize and cast a Cure spell on them.

[SangoProduction]

Casting non-evil Deathwatch on a budget:

1) Are they moving? If yes, Goto 2. If not, they are [Dead].
2) Splash holy water on them. If they do not react, Goto 3. If they melt and/or burn, they are [Undead].
3) Stab them. If they scream and bleed, Goto 4. If they don't bleed, they are [Neither Alive Nor Undead].
4) If you want them to be Dead, Goto 3. If you want them to be alive, apologize and cast a Cure spell on them.

What if they react by yelling at you, rather than melting and/or burning?

[noob]

1) Are they moving? If yes, Goto 2. If not, they are [Dead].
2) Splash holy water on them. If they do not react, Goto 3. If they melt and/or burn, they are [Undead].
3) Stab them. If they scream and bleed, Goto 4. If they don't bleed, they are [Neither Alive Nor Undead].
4) If you want them to be Dead, Goto 3. If you want them to be alive, apologize and cast a Cure spell on them.
And what about nilbogs?