The Spectral Brand's Spectral Blades.

Tresset

I was experimenting with the dancing weapons summoned by the Spectral Brand scimitar and I noticed that they are killed by True Seeing. I am not sure what to make of this. I am pretty sure that it is intended behavior but a small part of me wonders if this is a bug...

That aside I just wanted to see what other peoples' opinions on this were. It certainly makes the things pretty much useless on, well, most things; seeing as most things either spam cast True Seeing or have a friend that spam casts True Seeing.

CrevsDaak

It has the value for the byte 0x275 = ILLUSIONARY - 7, that's causing this issue. Report it if you want
It should be 0x275 = SUMMONED - 6, the CRE file is SWORD68.

Edit: the description says: "Legend has it that the the souls of those who fall beneath this dark blade are forever enslaved, and can be summoned to fight invisibly at the side of the very one who defeated them." maybe it is a desired effect.

DreadKhan

Sounds like the summon should be considered improved invisible, thus revealed but not dispelled by trueseeing.

Tresset

Yeah, I knew it was the illusionary gender that was making it die from true seeing. I am not sure if it is a bug or not though. Spectral has two meanings definition wise. On one hand it means ghostly or pertaining to a ghost which implies a more undead and necromancy kinda thing. On the other hand it can also mean a phantasm or something that haunts the mind which implies more of an illusionary kinda thing. I am not sure what the intention is so I am not sure if it is a bug or not. I would, however, be more inclined to think it is a more undead/necromancy thing based on the description. Lore wise, an enslaved soul would definitely be a real thing (albeit an invisible and insubstantial one) as opposed to a tricky play of light or magic or a construct of the mind and, therefore, should not be killed by true seeing any more than a shadow, wraith, or ghost should.

I would definitely be interested in hearing @CamDawg‌'s perspective on this.

DreadKhan

In DnD, usually the word Phantasm refers to something illusionarily visible, and spectral in DnD refers typically to incorporeal or etheral stuff, esp undead. If it was a Phantasmal Brand, it should be disspelled by Trueseeing.

Curious for official word now!

Schneidend

This hardly makes it useless. Not even most of the wizards in the game will have time to cast True Sight if they're busy going through their normal rotations. And, if they are casting True Sight, that's time you can use to blast through their defenses with Ruby Rays and such.

CamDawg

This is a classic 'thers's-no-good-answer-here', which always makes me inclined to punt. Or run away once the rules lawyers arrive.

The only viable options for the sword's gender are illusion or summon. The former means true sight dispels it, the latter means it counts against the summoning cap and is killed instantly by a Death spell. Illusion seems slightly less dumb to me.