Ask Arkanis

[DM Arkanis]

Here's what I found about Darkvision:

Infravision was a type of vision that many non-human species had, in addition to "normal sight", in Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons prior to version 3.0 of the game. In 3.0 and later, the ability was removed from the game and replaced with darkvision. The primary reason for the change was that, given its name, infravision implied that the creature detected the infrared spectrum of light and this caused a variety of problems.
Like darkvision, infravision allows a creature to see in complete darkness, though not in or through darkness that is magical in origin up to a set distance.[citation needed]
Creatures able to use infravision are often able to shift between the normal spectrum of light and that of infravision at will. Some say that while making use of the infrared spectrum, their eyes glow red.
Creatures known to have infravision include: Halflings, Dwarves, Drow, Duergar, Svirfneblin, and Elves.

Ultravision: Another predecessor of Darkvision, in the Advanced editions of the game, loosely based on the premise of the ultraviolet spectrum, was essentially identical to Darkvision in all but name. This attribute was usually only reserved for those races that lived exclusively in the dark or underground, such as the Drow (Dark Elves).

Darkvision refers to the ability to see in the dark by allowing a creature to discern forms, as in normal daylight vision, only in shades of greys. It is similar to low-light vision, a trait more commonly found trait amongst some surface races. Underground creatures often have darkvision, including drow, illithids, and minotaurs.

[DM Arkanis]

I would like to know if there is a specific set of rules for the "Rite of Exorcism" somewhere in the D&D books? I have one that we have been using for years, but I would like to double check it to make sure it's correct please.

Thanks

I cannot find anything specifically referencing DnD or NWN with regards to specific rites that need to be performed. What I have found in researching exorcisms may help guide you in terms of how an exorcism could be performed.

Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus—to adjure) is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed. The practice is quite ancient and still part of the belief system of many religions. The person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a priest, or any individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills and the exorcist performs the rite in the name of their deity. A Distinction is made between a formal exorcism, which can only be conducted by a priest during a Baptism or with the permission of a senior member of the churches religion, and "prayers of deliverance" which can be said by anyone. In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, nor wholly responsible for their actions.
Exorcism is (1) the act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things, which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice; (2) the means employed for this purpose, especially the solemn and authoritative adjuration of the demon, in the name of their god. In short, it is a ritual performed by a priest to expel the devil from a person, place or thing.

IMHO in order to perform a successful exorcism In the game several conditions must be satisfied:

1. Is the person place or thing magically protected, interfered with, warded, guarded or otherwise under the influence of magic? There is a difference between an "evil" spell having an effect on a character and the character being possessed by an evil creature.
2. The success or failure of the exorcism will depend on how much is known about the possessing creature(s).
3. The relative strength of the exorcist's faith is juxtaposed against the relative strength of the possessing creature and/or that creatures deity. If the avatar of Bane possesses a character, odds are that a 10th level priest of Helm isn't going to be able to exorcise him. If the one who is casting out the demons is not experienced or grounded in faith and does not have sufficient spiritual protection it can be harmful for both the victim and the so called exorcist.

If players are going to RP their characters being possessed I would say there should not only be significant back-story and RP existing around this, but there should be some DM involvement. Certainly a character could PRETEND to be possessed but actual possession in terms of server plot/major events should be adjudicated by a DM and the exorcism rites/rituals performed with the consent of all players involved. Rules should also be established concerning possible consequences of the exorcism failing - permastrike on the possessed character, or on the unsuccessful exorcist? Loss of XP? Loss of items/gold? I would make sure everyone was on the same page with how things could play out before starting as well.

Ark

[mireigi]

Religion aside for a moment, to what lengths can a Good PC go in order to prevent a great evil from taking root in the world, before the PC is on longer considered Good?

For example, could a Good PC infiltrate an evil organisation where he/she may be required to harm and/or kill others to keep their cover, if the goal is to unravel the organisation from the inside or ensure the failure of some grand evil plan? Keeping in mind that any life than can be spared will be spared if possible without discovery.

Sort of like Teal'c and Bra'tac in Stargate SG:1 before they turned on the Goa'uld and joined the humans.

Would such persons be considered Good by D&D terms?

[DM Arkanis]

I would like to know if there is a specific set of rules for the "Rite of Exorcism" somewhere in the D&D books? I have one that we have been using for years, but I would like to double check it to make sure it's correct please.

Thanks

I cannot find anything specifically referencing DnD or NWN with regards to specific rites that need to be performed. What I have found in researching exorcisms may help guide you in terms of how an exorcism could be performed.

Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus—to adjure) is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed. The practice is quite ancient and still part of the belief system of many religions. The person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a priest, or any individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills and the exorcist performs the rite in the name of their deity. A Distinction is made between a formal exorcism, which can only be conducted by a priest during a Baptism or with the permission of a senior member of the churches religion, and "prayers of deliverance" which can be said by anyone. In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, nor wholly responsible for their actions.
Exorcism is (1) the act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things, which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice; (2) the means employed for this purpose, especially the solemn and authoritative adjuration of the demon, in the name of their god. In short, it is a ritual performed by a priest to expel the devil from a person, place or thing.

IMHO in order to perform a successful exorcism In the game several conditions must be satisfied:

1. Is the person place or thing magically protected, interfered with, warded, guarded or otherwise under the influence of magic? There is a difference between an "evil" spell having an effect on a character and the character being possessed by an evil creature.
2. The success or failure of the exorcism will depend on how much is known about the possessing creature(s).
3. The relative strength of the exorcist's faith is juxtaposed against the relative strength of the possessing creature and/or that creatures deity. If the avatar of Bane possesses a character, odds are that a 10th level priest of Helm isn't going to be able to exorcise him. If the one who is casting out the demons is not experienced or grounded in faith and does not have sufficient spiritual protection it can be harmful for both the victim and the so called exorcist.

If players are going to RP their characters being possessed I would say there should not only be significant back-story and RP existing around this, but there should be some DM involvement. Certainly a character could PRETEND to be possessed but actual possession in terms of server plot/major events should be adjudicated by a DM and the exorcism rites/rituals performed with the consent of all players involved. Rules should also be established concerning possible consequences of the exorcism failing - permastrike on the possessed character, or on the unsuccessful exorcist? Loss of XP? Loss of items/gold? I would make sure everyone was on the same page with how things could play out before starting as well.

Ark

You can also check out http://webpublishing.lsrhs.net/S2013-7/rust/DD/BVD.pdf pages 23-24

[DM Arkanis]

Religion aside for a moment, to what lengths can a Good PC go in order to prevent a great evil from taking root in the world, before the PC is on longer considered Good?

For example, could a Good PC infiltrate an evil organisation where he/she may be required to harm and/or kill others to keep their cover, if the goal is to unravel the organisation from the inside or ensure the failure of some grand evil plan? Keeping in mind that any life than can be spared will be spared if possible without discovery.

Sort of like Teal'c and Bra'tac in Stargate SG:1 before they turned on the Goa'uld and joined the humans.

Would such persons be considered Good by D&D terms?

You don't know how much I love these kind of questions...

First of all I would say that it is a situationally based scenario - do the ends justify the means? In terms of killing it depends on your ethics: if the good aligned character is an ilfiltrator/spy and a "member" of an evil organization is being asked to kill a rival, evil aligned character in an opposing evil faction is one thing. It is different than being asked to break into a house and kill a widow who has three small dependent children who is not necessarily evilly aligned. We have the benefit in game of justifying killing based on KNOWING what their alignment is - good kills evil is rarely challenged; good killing neutral, or good, there had better be a good reason.

The ends justifying the means will also depend on the good aligned characters association with/belief in a diety. Some good dieties' would frown upon spying, let alone pretending to be a member of an evil group for this very reason. Others would encourage the infiltration should the reward/ends be of great benefit to the entire group. So it will depend on the characters' personal beliefs vs. those and the will of their god as well.

This is a tough one to give a blanket answer to based on DnD being the only other variable to the ends justifying the means debate.

[NegInfinity]

Religion aside for a moment, to what lengths can a Good PC go in order to prevent a great evil from taking root in the world, before the PC is on longer considered Good?

For example, could a Good PC infiltrate an evil organisation where he/she may be required to harm and/or kill others to keep their cover, if the goal is to unravel the organisation from the inside or ensure the failure of some grand evil plan? Keeping in mind that any life than can be spared will be spared if possible without discovery.

Sort of like Teal'c and Bra'tac in Stargate SG:1 before they turned on the Goa'uld and joined the humans.

Would such persons be considered Good by D&D terms?

I believe rules are rather strict on that matter. Evil commited in the name of good is still evil, no matter what. This is explicitly mentioned in book of exhalted deeds.

In the D&D universe, the fundamen-
tal answer is no, an evil act is an evil act
no matter what good result it may
achieve. A paladin who knowingly
commits an evil act in pursuit of any
end no matter how good still jeopard-
izes her paladinhood. Any exalted
character risks losing exalted feats or
other benefits of celestial favor if he com-
mits any act of evil for any reason. Whether
or not good ends can justify evil means, they certainly
cannot make evil means any less evil.

Book of exhalted deeds, page 9.

I believe in your example you will be strongly being shifted towards neutral, and may end up being good-borderline-neutral character. Or neutral-borderline-good.

Abandoning your oaths in process of doing that actually shifts balance in the name of evil, by the way. Because oaths are not a trading currency of sorts.

That is in D&D universe, of course.

[DM Arkanis]

Good answer.

Who decides if the act is evil or good?

[NegInfinity]

I would like to know if there is a specific set of rules for the "Rite of Exorcism" somewhere in the D&D books? I have one that we have been using for years, but I would like to double check it to make sure it's correct please.

Thanks

Exorcism is mentioned in Hordes of Abyss, on page 26. According to that book, there is a sacred PRC exorcist class mentioned in complete divine, page 56.

Banishment, dispel chaos (demon), dispel evil, can banish demon from posessed body.

Destroying body of posessor demon will free the host as well.

Protection from evil makes creature immune to posession, but does nothing once creature posessed.

Exorcism spell is mentioned on page 92 of "hordes of abyss".

DCs about knowledge of possession is mentioned on the same page.

Knowing that fiend's body is on the same plane is dc 40, for example.

[NegInfinity]

Good answer.

Who decides if the act is evil or good?

According to the book of vile darkness, in universe where "smite evil"/"smite good" exists, morality is absolute. (because calculating whether smite works in gray/relative morality universe is too complicated).

Meaning that act is fundamentally good or evil, although character may be confused about his or her motives and be mistaken. Evil tyrant may believe himself to be paragon of good. That was briefly mentioned in fiendish codex II, I believe.

What is considered evil is mentioned in book of vile darknes.
Evil is disregard of life, making others suffer, destroying hope, etc. This is from book of vile darkness.
Good is mercy, hope, redemption. That is from book of exhalted darknes.

Precise explanation can be found in book of vile darkness(mentioned it here)

Hidden: show

The Player’s Handbook says, “‘Evil’implies hurting,oppressing,and killing others.Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualm if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.”
....


INTENT AND CONTEXT
So, does the objective definition of evil imply that intent plays no part in determining what is good and what isn’ t? Only to a degree.

Consider the paladin Zophas.When climbing to the top of a hill of loose rocks to get away from some owlbears, he triggers a rockslide that buries the owlbears and continues down the hill,crushing a hut full of commoners.Is Zophas an evil murderer who must suddenly lose his lawful good alignment?No, although Zophas might still feel guilt and responsibility. He might attempt to right the inadvertent wrong as best he can.

But what if Zophas’ s friend Shurrin said,“Don’ t climb up there,Zophas!Y ou might start a rock slide that will crush the hut!”Zophas goes anyway.Now is it evil?Probably.Zophas was either carelessly endangering the commoners or so overconfident of his climbing prowess that he acted out of hubris.At this point,Zophas isn’ t exactly a murderer,but he should probably lose his paladin abilities until he receives an atonement spell or otherwise makes amends.

If Zophas can clearly see the danger of the rock slide but climbs up anyway because he wants to get away from the owlbears, that’ s clearly evil. In a world of black-and-white distinctions between good and evil, killing innocents to save yourself is an evil act. Sacrificing yourself for the good of others is a good act.It’ s a high standard,but that’ s
the way it is.

The foregoing text defines three levels of intent:accidental acts, reckless or negligent acts, and intentionally evil misdeeds.Sometimes,however,those categories are insufficient to determine evil intent.You are free to judge an act in the context of other actions.

A maniac puts poison in a town’ s water supply, believing (wrongly) that all of the people in the town are demons. Is that evil? Yes.A glabrezu convinces a good character that the townsfolk are all fiends that must be destroyed,so the character pours poison into the town’s water supply.Is that evil? Probably not—at least, not in the context of the rest of the character’ s actions and the circumstances involved. Still, good characters shouldn’ t commit even remotely questionable acts on a large scale unless they’re absolutely sure there’ s no other way to succeed. It’ s rarely a good idea to destroy a town of evil people,because there might be at least a few good people in the town as well.

But let’s make it even more complicated.Another character witnesses the good character about to put poison in the town’ s drinking water. Is it evil for the witness to kill the poisoning character in order to stop him?No.Again,the intent isn’t evil, and the context makes such an act preferable to the alternative. Standing by while a mass murder occurs—the
other choice the witness has—is far more evil than preventing the poisoning.

[mireigi]

The FR Wiki briefly mentions the Dark Curse as a possible origin of Undead, with a reference to the 1st edition of Lords of Darkness by Ed Greenwood.

The Dark Curse - This is where the evil forces simply create undead at random. This can happen to any creature, anywhere and at anytime.

How is this to be perceived? A dead creature that simply rises for no other reason than to exist as undead, or does it affect the living, randomly turning a living creature into an undead for no apparent reason?

If the latter, how quick would such a transformation happen, and how much of the creatures memories, thoughts, emotions, and morals would remain?

[NegInfinity]

Now. My question:

What does Act of using "Divine Might" look like? It is not a spell.

[thids]

@mireigi, Neginfinity and Arkanis

I wouldn't stick to book of exhalted deeds like it's the all knowing bible of some sort when it comes to Forgotten Realms. It was written for a generic D&D world, Forgotten Realms is somewhat different. In Forgotten Realms a lot depends on the deities the character worships, they are the ones who determine if something is acceptable or not. Finally to quote Champions of Valor (page 6):

While the D&D game views good and evil in a
more black-and-white sense than what exists in the real world, it
is clear that in Faerûn, these concepts are not so cut-and-dried.

[DM Arkanis]

The FR Wiki briefly mentions the Dark Curse as a possible origin of Undead, with a reference to the 1st edition of Lords of Darkness by Ed Greenwood.

The Dark Curse - This is where the evil forces simply create undead at random. This can happen to any creature, anywhere and at anytime.

How is this to be perceived? A dead creature that simply rises for no other reason than to exist as undead, or does it affect the living, randomly turning a living creature into an undead for no apparent reason?

If the latter, how quick would such a transformation happen, and how much of the creatures memories, thoughts, emotions, and morals would remain?

Specifically to the Dark Curse - "evil forces simply create undead at random" would not necessarily be the Zombie Apocalypse... Extremely powerful, necromantic-magic based characters can chaotically create undead in this scenario, but it does not mean they always do it or they raise one, then that one raises others. Randomly turning living creatures undead would involve killing them first - infect them, let them die, animate them, much along the popular zombie movie/TV show theme - Night of the Living Dead/Walking Dead where, once infected you start to die, then once you die you animate as undead. Transformation times would vary I would expect from individual to individual, and what remains of the vestige of the person after they become undead depends on what kind of undead being they become - skeleton or zombie, probably not much, Lich would remember everything...\

See this link - I found it interesting

http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/aboutundead.shtml

[DM Arkanis]

Now. My question:

What does Act of using "Divine Might" look like? It is not a spell.

Divine magic is cast by drawing upon either positive or negative energy. Spell-like effects as a result would demonstrate some sort of light/noise for positive, and darkness/noise for negative. Smells have also been associated with some divine magic, as well as other physical reactions/discomforts/reliefs.

Since Divine Might is "You can channel energy to increase the damage you deal in combat." The extra damage would be in some form of manifestation that the semantics of the game can confer, that is: fire, cold, acid, electricity, sonic, and holy/unholy. The VFX-type effects for each of these can range in size, and duration.

A character with Divine Might as a feat who punches someone might evoke a loud bang, and a shimmering in the air (for example) or their sword would WHOOSH! through the air light-sabre style leaving a trail if light emotes before connecting with a CLANG! Since dieties' grant spells through the positive negative energy of their portfolio it would be natural to assume that the efffect is not spell like, it is a (small) manifestation of the dieties power and portfolio.

[NegInfinity]

@mireigi, Neginfinity and Arkanis

I wouldn't stick to book of exhalted deeds like it's the all knowing bible of some sort when it comes to Forgotten Realms. It was written for a generic D&D world, Forgotten Realms is somewhat different. In Forgotten Realms a lot depends on the deities the character worships, they are the ones who determine if something is acceptable or not. Finally to quote Champions of Valor (page 6):

In my opinion they aren't clear-cut for inhabitants of faerun. But not on fundamental scale. Also this is a quote from a single campaign. Unless you can find something more profound that overruless both player's handbook and book of exhalted deeds....

Your act can be good or evil, but character and the whole realm may have a wrong idea about it. Whole natiosn can be deluded into incorrect ideas.

As the book of vile darkness mentioned, you either have black and white morality OR you have smite evil and protection from alignment. Not both.

Because in gray morality world to determine whether a creature is subject to be affected by smite evil, you would need to pull up creature's biography, and judge creature's biography against dogma of your deity.

It gets even more fun when you use something like protection from evil, but the spell is cast by a wizard, in which case, it is no longer subject to morality of wizard's patron god, but is instead governed by morality of entity that controls weave. Fun, isn't it? You can take 5 people, let them smite evil same creature, and for half of them spell will not work for the difference in dogma. Meaning it is incredibly impractical.

If that interests you, there are entities in D&D worlds that operate outside of that morality. They are inhabitants of far realm, and certain abberations. FarRealm is classified as "incomprehensible". Amusingly even deities that originate from from far realm or predate the universe get slapped with alignment. (Mak Thuum Ngatha, The Great Mother, The Patient One, etc).

Now. My question:

What does Act of using "Divine Might" look like? It is not a spell.

Divine magic is cast by drawing upon either positive or negative energy. Spell-like effects as a result would demonstrate some sort of light/noise for positive, and darkness/noise for negative. Smells have also been associated with some divine magic, as well as other physical reactions/discomforts/reliefs.

Since Divine Might is "You can channel energy to increase the damage you deal in combat." The extra damage would be in some form of manifestation that the semantics of the game can confer, that is: fire, cold, acid, electricity, sonic, and holy/unholy. The VFX-type effects for each of these can range in size, and duration.

A character with Divine Might as a feat who punches someone might evoke a loud bang, and a shimmering in the air (for example) or their sword would WHOOSH! through the air light-sabre style leaving a trail if light emotes before connecting with a CLANG! Since dieties' grant spells through the positive negative energy of their portfolio it would be natural to assume that the efffect is not spell like, it is a (small) manifestation of the dieties power and portfolio.

It is an interesting idea, but divine might kinda deals divine damage, and very few deities have elemental/energe like powers in their portfolio. For example, let's imagine we have a cleirc of sharess. With divine might. What would power manfiest like?

Anyway, I was less interesting in "what happens when divine-might-powered hit connects", and more "what does character do when calling upon divine might". Or epic divine might. In our game it acts like a spell, meaning char does that weird gesture and future hits deal more damage. Is that what it is supposed to look like?

Also, interestingly, it looks like there are two versions of divine might:
http://dndtools.eu/feats/faiths-pantheo ... ight--663/
http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-warri ... ight--661/