Any way to prevent Death Spell from instantly killing summons?
RedWizard
Member Posts: 242
Not even Death Ward?
It sure is annoying to have ALL your summons instantly explode with no save/sr/NOTHING at all from a single spell, especially when resummoning mid battle is pretty much not viable at all and if you are playing SCSII every mage and their mother spams it like no tomorrow the moment they see even a simple summoned xvart helping you.
It sure is annoying to have ALL your summons instantly explode with no save/sr/NOTHING at all from a single spell, especially when resummoning mid battle is pretty much not viable at all and if you are playing SCSII every mage and their mother spams it like no tomorrow the moment they see even a simple summoned xvart helping you.
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Yes, that's the only way. The Death Spell kills summoned critters using opcode 177, which applies an .eff file called DESTSELF to all critters whose gender is "Summoned" (all summoned critters use that gender). This strikes as a level 6 spell, so a Protection from Magic scroll will block it, as the scroll grants spell level immunity from 1-9.
The DESTSELF.eff file instantly kills the target without a saving throw, bypassing magic resistance. It uses opcode 168 (Remove creature) instead of the slay opcode (55) or the vorpal strike opcode (13), and nothing in the game is immune to opcode 168.
If you gate in demons or summon Devas or Planetars, however, those will not die to Death Spell (unless I suppose they get level drained down to level 8), as they do not have the "Summoned" gender type.
Or, you could bait the enemy's Death Spells with cheaper summons like Summon Monster I or the Wand of Monster Summoning. When they run out of Death Spells, you can summon the critters you want, and they will be safe.
Note that Yuan-ti Mages in SCS each have a casting, so groups of them can cast the spell many times.
Animal Summoning I and Monster Summoning I are there for it.