Hi! Just a quick question: does Magic Circle Against Evil actually work/do anything useful in ToEE? I'm on the 3rd battle of the Book of Heroes (the big battle with the two mages and zombies) and at the very start of the battle I cast MCAE on my mage (to prevent him being swarmed by all those evil zombies, ghasts and ghouls). The ghouls do not seem to be phased in the slightest and enter the circle. My rolls history shows no ghoul will save attempts. I assume MCAE is supposed to prevent evil aligned characters entering the circle, or at least make it difficult by forcing will saves? Or maybe I have misunderstood something?
Aren't most lesser undead neutral rather than evil? Aside from that, I do not believe the spell actually works. It is supposed to be protection from evil with a 5 foot radius. It definitely does not act like protection from evil.
The SRD says; This spell wards a creature from attacks by evil creatures, from mental control, and from summoned creatures. It creates a magical barrier around the subject at a distance of 10 foot. The barrier moves with the subject and has three major effects. First, the subject gains a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus on saves. Both these bonuses apply against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures. Second, the barrier blocks any attempt to possess the warded creature (by a magic jar attack, for example) or to exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment (charm) effects and enchantment (compulsion) effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as dominate person). The protection does not prevent such effects from targeting the protected creature, but it suppresses the effect for the duration of the protection from evil effect. If the protection from evil effect ends before the effect granting mental control does, the would-be controller would then be able to mentally command the controlled creature. Likewise, the barrier keeps out a possessing life force but does not expel one if it is in place before the spell is cast. This second effect works regardless of alignment. Third, the spell prevents bodily contact by summoned creatures. This causes the natural weapon attacks of such creatures to fail and the creatures to recoil if such attacks require touching the warded creature. Good summoned creatures are immune to this effect. The protection against contact by summoned creatures ends if the warded creature makes an attack against or tries to force the barrier against the blocked creature. Spell resistance can allow a creature to overcome this protection and touch the warded creature. And yes, any evil summon MUST make a will save to enter the circle.
this is a common mistake at the table too, in several groups peeps dont read it completely and think it prevents evil from not entering, if it was actually that way all evil aligned NPCs would just cast circle of protection from good and do whatever they wanted. I have players on both sides of the table read it slowly and even than their are arguments about the reach of certain summoned creatures. (the argument being if they are allowed to attack even though they are not entering)
Thanks for focusing me on the _actual_ description of the spell. As silo25 suggests, the problem was that I only really read the brief in-game description and filled in the blanks myself. I presumed the spell would prevent (evil) enemies from physically entering the visual circle and/or even attempting an attack (if they failed their save). After reading the description properly, that's clearly not the case. I hereby slap myself on my own wrists for my presumptuous ignorance! Cheers guys.
I have had many players still argue the "enter the circle" condition. It is to a point absurdly funny to me now
