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View Full Version : Rules Q&A Dispelling Permanency Question



Hachristo
2021-05-12, 09:40 PM
When you attempt to dispel magic a spell that is modified by the permanency spell, what does your dispel check oppose, the permanency spell or the spell made permanent?

I only ask this the caster level of the permanency caster and the spell made permanent caster can be different. Say a druid of 20th level casts greater magic fang on you, and a wizard of 9th level follows up with a cast of permanency. When someone tries to dispel this magic, do they have beat the dc for the permanency (20), or the greater magic fang (31)?

Beni-Kujaku
2021-05-13, 03:32 AM
When you attempt to dispel magic a spell that is modified by the permanency spell, what does your dispel check oppose, the permanency spell or the spell made permanent?

I only ask this the caster level of the permanency caster and the spell made permanent caster can be different. Say a druid of 20th level casts greater magic fang on you, and a wizard of 9th level follows up with a cast of permanency. When someone tries to dispel this magic, do they have beat the dc for the permanency (20), or the greater magic fang (31)?

If you try to dispel the spell itself, it is the caster level of the spell, not permanency (so, in your case, Greater Magic Fang). However, in the case of a personal spell (like comprehend languages, or detect magic), the dispeller must have a CL higher than the one from Permanency. It is normally the same CL for both, but in rare instances (the caster gained a level between casting the spell and casting permanency, or shenanigans like Share Spells from Pathfinder, or simply the spell is activated from a wand, which doesn't use the user's CL), the spell doesn't have the same caster level as the user, and Permanency specifically calls it out.

However, the duration of Permanency is "permanent", not instantaneous. So you could theoretically dispel Permanency instead of the permanencied spell. The spell would likely just resume its duration from where it left. Note that this is most probably RAW, but absolutely not RAI. With all the restrictions on dispelling, it is almost certain that you're not supposed to be able to dispel the permanency itself, bypassing all the restrictions.