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It's more like committing an evil act opens you up to the possibility of being corrupted by the Dark Powers. Powers checks aren't really about harming your own soul. Any spell that uses NE (or for that matter is from the necromancy school and not defensive) should probably cause a powers check when used, unless used for the most altruistic reasons. Most of the time negative energy heals the undead and harms the living, with the opposite for positive energy.
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I'm not sure if you can label positive and negative energy as strictly good and evil, but at worst it's pretty close. PS Is positive energy associated with good and negative energy associated with evil? I know it seems a silly question, but would using something like waves of fatigue or ray of fatigue require a powers check? I don't think the ability harms the soul, but I'd like more opinions before I go and rule on this. That's not to say that the Dark Powers won't muck with the mind control. That being said it might be best just to chuck the 5% powers check out and simply look at intent as well as result. On a side note even using enchantment spells doesn't require a power check unless a crime or something that requires a powers check in and of itself. I swear it said something along the lines of using the spells of Evocation to do nothing but harm thus needing a powers check. I thought it was under altered magic, but I can't find it. I'm sure there's debuff enchantment spells that wouldn't be considered mind controlling in other books, but that's neither here nor there right now. If there's one thing I've learned from playing table top gaming is that blanket rulings never work well. When a sorcerer/wizard learns an evocation/necromantic/enchantment spell they have a 5% chance of going evil. I thought it was under altered magic, but there is definite mention in the weaknesses of the Wizard/sorcerer. It's in the Ravenloft Player's handbook 3.5 book. I don't understand why using attack magic would be evil. But wouldn't swinging a sword, or firing a bow by that logic? Yes they're much more destructive overall, but no more evil than swinging a normal longsword. But they also require a dark powers check each time they're cast. Now we get to the least useful, but probably the school I understand the least in the regard about triggering dark powers checks. False Life, hide from undead, and spells like that I understand. Not sure so much about using negative energy to fatigue an opponent causes harm to the soul in that case completely understand. Raising the dead and harming the soul is a foul deed. Buff enchantment spells probably wouldn't suffer a DP check of course. Something I can see as evil quite easily. I feel like I need to understand what spells provoke a dark powers check and why.Įnchantment controls the mind and bends the will of the target.