Goodman Games

Are Word of Command and Lotus Stare effectively death spells?

For Word of Command, on a 12+, with a failed save (albeit at +4), it appears that the spell's target can be told to kill itself (If the command is completely contrary to a creature’s natural instinct, it receives a +4 bonus to its Will save to resist; for example, commanding a desert lizard to “swim” or any command of “suicide.”).

For Lotus Stare, on a 16+, with a failed Will save, it appears that the spell's target can be told to kill itself (The commands can be of any type, even those that are self-destructive.).

Am I interpreting these correctly, or is there something that I am missing?

Thanks for the help.

I think you are interpreting those correctly. Whether they are "death spells" is pretty circumstantial...

Low-level success for Word of Command only lasts 1+ rounds, and the target may not be able to complete the command before they snap out of it. The "self-destructive" element in Lotus Stare doesn't have to be destruction of the self, but could mean an ice creature approaching a fire in the process of some other task. Lower results for Lotus Stare state that physical harm will break the hypnosis.

But really, beyond the rules on the page, I'd think it'd be far more interesting to do something novel and creative with those spells than to just have a target kill themselves.

Personally, I find the single-word instruction of "Suicide!" to be pretty vague; it's not often used as a verb on it's own. I know the book specifically points it out, but still, I'd give any target a chance to be merely confused by the Command...

And going further, while Word of Command is set up as directly channeling the will of the Cleric's deity, Lotus Stare might hinge on the target being able to understand the language of the Cleric...

I like to use "sleep" or "yield" or maybe.. "dance" or "flee" for the word of command. Suicide seems so boring.

Last night, "Justify" was used.

I'm curious to know the context of using "Justify" and what that ended up doing.

Raven_Crowking wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:53 am Last night, "Justify" was used.

andalite5 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:55 pm I'm curious to know the context of using "Justify" and what that ended up doing.

Me too! Did it work? And what was it?
[insert big-ears emoji here]

serendipitous wrote: ↑Sat May 29, 2021 11:18 am

Raven_Crowking wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:53 am Last night, "Justify" was used.

andalite5 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:55 pm I'm curious to know the context of using "Justify" and what that ended up doing.

Me too! Did it work? And what was it?
[insert big-ears emoji here]

It made an opponent explain its actions.

It was actually a pretty brilliant idea on the part of the player.