Now what exactly constitutes an ally? If you had a slave who was fighting with you, could you designate them as an ally? What if you meet up with another group of adventures, and go to help them out... since they are "allies" could you designate them even if they know nothing about you except that you are helping them? I dunno.. to me it seems that "ally" could have many different definitions.. I guess to avoid this a little I would rule that if the person would want to not have this happen to them, they are temporary considered not an ally for purposes of the Secret.
I dunno, looking for other people's thoughts.
p.s. Man I hope we eventually see more secrets. I realize most people dont play Black Robes, but sheesh.. those things are like picking the best of the worse.
Note that for the purposes of this definition of ally, creatures under the effects of intimidation from the Black Robe could be considered allies. This encourages the wizard to scare the living daylights out of people, make them do what he wants, and then use them as convenient targets for his Magic of Betrayal.
It isn't supposed to be a nice secret, as you say. None of them are. Black Robes exemplify the nature of evil in Dragonlance, and turn upon each other when given the opportunity.
There are a limited number of secrets per Order. The idea is that by the time you reach 10th level in the prestige class, you know all of the secrets. If you added more secrets, you'd never be able to know them all. If you're starving for more secrets, take up another prestige class (like loremaster) that offers bonus feats and special abilities. The dark dwarf savant is a good example of a prestige class that possesses additional secrets of black magic, although it's limited to evil dwarves.
Cheers,
Cam
2. To unite or connect in a personal relationship, as in friendship or marriage
Using the definition of Ally, I would say that you could justify using the slave as an ally for the purpose of damage. I would, however, also say that those you are associated in a helpful or helping scenario would not be able to dissasociate themselves from you for the purpose of avoiding damage.
Now onto the Secrets. Now I understand they were made so that every WoHS of that Robe would have the same secrets and you can "collect" them all. But I guess it wouldnt be so bad if two of the Black Robes secrets didnt just *suck*. I'm sorry, its no diss, but its true.
Magic of Pain is just useless. Actually thats not true.. if you have an odd number in your Con, you could lose that one point and gain a 1st level spell. But uh, thats about its only use. What wizard would lose 2+ Con, including HP from this in order to get a spell or two? Heck at least with Magic of Pain I could decide right at the time. This Secret makes you choose it at the beginning of the day.. I certainly wouldnt lose hp's to gain a second level spell or some such. Not with a d4. When you are low level, you need all the HP you can get, its just never worth it to take it. When you are high level, you have plenty of slots for a 1-2 level spell, or you can just make a scroll. And there's *no way* you are going to give up enough Con points in order to get a high level spell. I'm sorry, but thats useless. I'm actually curious if anyone has even seen anyone take it. I dont care if it was an enemy, I just would love to see someone say they used it. Personally I think you are making the wizard *worse* by taking it. If you need to make the wizard easier to be killed by your PC's, there you go.
Next is Magic of Pain. Now it doesnt look like such a bad thing at first glance. While taking HP damage to yourself is never preferred, there are times where it might be needed. If you look at the "bonus" you get from it though, its practically identical to Magic of Fear. A small difference would be that Magic of Fear will give a -2 to saves, while this secret gives a -2 to skills. I'll choose Magic of Fear. Magic of Pain does give you more of a range I guess.. if you want to look at it that way. Also it requires a different check, which may be better or worse. I guess you could just use whichever secret depending on what situation you are in. But with Magic of Pain, you take 1d6 damage. A wizard needs to be conserving their HP as much as possible, and a -2 to a few things for one round just doesnt seem worth it to take damage. And thats only if they fail. Magic of Fear doesnt have any detrimental thing... so again I'd choose that one. The two are way too similar for my tastes and its a shame because I dont find much reason to take this one either.
*sigh* now I'm sure someone may come along and say "Well your evil.. you dont deserve the best things", which may or may not be true depending on your personal opinion. Personally I just want the Black Robes on par with the two other orders. I dont want them to be "better" or whatever, and I accept the fact that their secrets can have negative repurcussions(sp?), but then make the Secrets' benefits equal this out. I would hate for evil classes, races, spells, secrets, feats, whatever get the shaft because "well evil is bad". I do realize I'm in the minority of having evil PC's, but just because not everyone has Black Robes it doesnt mean their Secrets need to be subpar.
This is the main reason why I want to see other Secrets. Also though, I love diversity and always want more choices. Many hours is spent by my group combing through books for spells, feats, PrC's, etc. I just like lots of options and the customization that comes from it. I know lots of people dont like this aspect and thats fine. I just hoped to see more, but from the few comments I can glean that it wont happen. Eh it happens *shrug*. Just giving my 2 cents
