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View Full Version : Rules Q&A Symbol of Death: Do creatures who save diminish the effects?



Urm le Fou
2019-04-29, 07:17 AM
Once triggered, starting from the symbol, it bursts out, affecting anyone in range. It skips creatures with too many hit points to affect.
If someone who can be affected, is affected, they die, and their HP are subtracted from the remaining effect.
The spell continues until it runs out of HP (or duration).

My question is, what happens if someone makes their saving throw? As written, it seems to me that the spell had no effect on that character, and the burst continues, undiminished, for the next potential victim.

My party claims that the successful save diminishes the spell: so a PC with 80HP who saves, subtracts 80HP from the effect available for the next lucky PC. Basically, they are saying that for a large party, someone is going to fail their saving throw, and someone is going to die, which to too powerful for even an 8th level spell.

I claim that is rather the point---it's right there in the name.

MisterKaws
2019-04-29, 07:34 AM
As written, if you save against it, you're treated as being immune to it, so it wouldn't deduct from the total point count.

As a DM, I'd rule it spends energy trying to affect someone and has its power spent.

Elkad
2019-04-29, 03:01 PM
It stays active until it kills enough people.

If you want to disable it, send in the rainbow giraffes (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1116.html).