Reducing an ability below one

[Fenix_of_Doom]

In this thread I argued with Kaelik that a ray of clumsiness/ray of exhaustion would never reduce your dex below one. I'm not quite convinced by Kaelik so I'd like to bring this to the attention of other forum goers.

My argument is basicly: ray of clumsiness says it can reduce dex below one and thus it can never be reduced to 0 with the assistance of this spell.

Kaelik arguement: it does work if you cast ray of clumsiness first so that dex=1 and then cast ray of exhaustion it would reduce your dex to 0 because the effects stack.

Note: you can use Ray of Enfeeblement/ray of exhaustion for a core example of exactly the same thing.

[JackMage666]

Well, it appears to be an untyped penalty, so they would theoretically stack. However, they would be regained after 1/minute CL, since none of it is damage, just a penalty. It seems solid, since Exhaustion can bring you below 1 (and that's what Ray of Exhaustion simulates.) This is using Ray of Enfeeblement, let me check Ray of Clumsiness....

Which is essentially the same as Enfeeblement...

It looks solid, provided they are done in that order, since it's untyped.

[Demented]

Potato, potato.
In DnD, you can't even get DMs to count the same. There is no right answer, only a procession of succeedingly valid proposals.

Now, you could argue that "The Subject's Dexterity score cannot drop below 1." is an absolute property of the spell... Thus opening up the possibility that you'd want to cast that on someone if it was absolutely essential that they maintain a dexterity score. It's inane, but literal. But more inane than the alternative?