Death and spell duration

[A_dark]

Say that a mage has cast a Ward in a province and he gets killed while the ward is still in place and it is going to last for some time before its duration expires.

Would the mage's death cancel out the spell or would the spell remain in place till the duration expires?

Thanks for the help

[geeman]

At 07:51 AM 9/23/2004 +0200, A_dark wrote:



>Say that a mage has cast a Ward in a province and he gets killed while the

>ward is still in place and it is going to last for some time before its

>duration expires.Would the mage`s death cancel out the spell or would the

>spell remain in place till the duration expires?Thanks for the help



From a gaming standpoint, I don`t think there`s a lot of game mechanical

justification for the realm spell to end. Generally, spell effects

continue after the person who cast them is incapacitated or killed. D&D

spell effects don`t usually vanish when the caster dies.



From a more thematic POV, however, I could see arguing that realm spells

are a little different, that the energy they are based on is the focus of

an individual _through whom_ the spell is cast rather than independent of

him/er after the spell is in effect. Besides, it`s something of a fantasy

fiction standby that massive spell effects end when the caster

dies. Hence, crumbling castles, animated skeleton armies falling into

disorganized bones, the mind-controlled populace suddenly "awakening" and

things like that, so I`d be more inclined to having the realm spell end if

the caster dies unless it was particularly maintained somehow.



Gary

[Osprey]

As Geeman said, in D&D most lasting spell effects continue after the caster dies, until their normal duration expires.

Personally, I would treat realm spells the same, with the exception of those spells that require the continual presence of the caster, such as Legion of Dead. In doing a revision, I'd be inclined to place the same restriction on Summon Monstrous Units and Summon Nature's Army - the caster must personally lead the units and give them commands, otherwise the units stand around waiting for orders. But that's me.

Whil true, there is a great dramatic effect to realm spells disintegrating when the caster is slain, there's also a great story element possible with the lasting magical legacies of long-dead mages and the things they left behind.

There's also the simple congruency of the D&D metaphysics (however poorly-devised we may consider them to be). If things work a certain way for personal spells, I would expect them to work similarly but on a larger scale for realm spells unless there's a good reason to the contrary.

In the example of warded provinces, I would expect the wards to remain for their duration even if the casting wizard was slain.

HOWEVER: keep in mind that once the caster is slain, they can no longer spend RP to oppose a Dispel Realm Magic spell being cast to end the effects, so slaying a caster still serves to make any existing realm spell still in existence more vulnerable to dispelling.

Osprey

[RaspK_FOG]

Sovereign Stone (even the d20 version) is the only gaming setting that has any magical effects that may end when the caster dies.

[A_dark]

Stronghold also dissipates upon death, unless mage permanent with a Permanency spell...