[PF] How Would You Interpret This?

[kevin video]

It's an archetype of the inquisitor. The ability in question is called Purity of Hellfire, and it's regarding the alignment damage resistance.

At 1st level a purifier gains resistance to fire, and alignment based damage equal to her inquisitor class level, at 10th level this becomes immunity to fire and alignment based damage.

What exactly does that mean? If you're LE you have DR 1 through 9 against lawful evil creatures, but at 10th level you're immune to all damage dealt to you by lawful evil creatures?

[Agita]

"Alignment-based damage" sounds to me like any sort of damage that would penetrate alignment-based damage reduction. This means damage from spells with an appropriate alignment descriptor (ignoring for a moment that spells ignore DR anyway), anarchic/axiomatic/holy/unholy weapons, and natural attacks of a creature with the appropriate alignment subtype(s).

It also makes me want to shoot rubber bands at whoever wrote this ability.

[Roxoff]

Yeah, that makes sense.  When I read it I thought Alignment Based Damage is like having a Longsword +1/+3 vs Evil, it's the extra +3 damage against evil that's affected here - not the 1d8+STR bonus.

[kevin video]

Okay, but again, what exactly should this be doing? So if you're LE this defends you against other LE attacks (subtypes, spells, etc), or is it CG attacks? Or, is it that you ignore 1 point of DR/lawful or DR/evil up to 9th level, but at 10th and higher DR/lawful or DR/evil doesn't mean anything to you for the purposes of getting passed it? Or is it different alignments you get past?

[Agita]

Without any other information on the mechanics or flavor of the archetype (I don't see a Purifier archetype on the PFSRD), I'd interpret it as applying to all "alignment-based damage", so that you're resistant to both a holy sword and an unholy sword, regardless of alignment, since the quoted text doesn't otherwise qualify the ability.

[kevin video]

Without any other information on the mechanics or flavor of the archetype (I don't see a Purifier archetype on the PFSRD), I'd interpret it as applying to all "alignment-based damage", so that you're resistant to both a holy sword and an unholy sword, regardless of alignment, since the quoted text doesn't otherwise qualify the ability.

Yeah, unfortunately the ability is in the Secrets of the Inquisitor book. You specifically become an inquisitor of Asmodeus.

The only problem is that at 10th level and higher, you become immune. That's pretty powerful for something so low level.

[linklord231]

If I had to guess, I would say that "alignment based damage" is supposed to be things like the 'half divine' part of Flamestrike, or similar damage types like Profane or Unholy.  I have precisely nothing to back that up, it's just a gut reaction.

[kevin video]

If I had to guess, I would say that "alignment based damage" is supposed to be things like the 'half divine' part of Flamestrike, or similar damage types like Profane or Unholy.  I have precisely nothing to back that up, it's just a gut reaction.

I can see that, actually.

And the only reason I think that, is because of this write-up:

Purifier’s Hellfire Damage
Half the damage is fire damage, but the other half results directly from unholy power and is therefore not subject to being reduced by resistance to fire-based attacks.

So basically, a Purifier would be immune to Flame Strike at 10th level and higher? Wow that's strong.

[Gazzien]

If I had to guess, I would say that "alignment based damage" is supposed to be things like the 'half divine' part of Flamestrike, or similar damage types like Profane or Unholy.  I have precisely nothing to back that up, it's just a gut reaction.

I can see that, actually.

And the only reason I think that, is because of this write-up:

Purifier’s Hellfire Damage
Half the damage is fire damage, but the other half results directly from unholy power and is therefore not subject to being reduced by resistance to fire-based attacks.

So basically, a Purifier would be immune to Flame Strike at 10th level and higher? Wow that's strong.

I would read it as only being immune to the extra "divine" / holy / unholy damage (like the 2d6 on the sword) or whatever, but not the main part (the half fire, or the 1d8+STR, or whatever)

[Agita]

I don't think the Purifier's resistance would do anything to Flamestrike's 'divine' damage. The spell isn't aligned, and neither is the damage - a Good Cleric can use it just as readily as an Evil one. It's not holy or unholy, it's just 'divine power'.
It would, conversely, apply to Hellfire Ray (which has the [evil] descriptor), Holy Ice ([good] descriptor), a Paladin's attacks when using Smite Evil, and the natural attacks of a devil. That's my interpretation.

Without any other information on the mechanics or flavor of the archetype (I don't see a Purifier archetype on the PFSRD), I'd interpret it as applying to all "alignment-based damage", so that you're resistant to both a holy sword and an unholy sword, regardless of alignment, since the quoted text doesn't otherwise qualify the ability.

Yeah, unfortunately the ability is in the Secrets of the Inquisitor book. You specifically become an inquisitor of Asmodeus.

The only problem is that at 10th level and higher, you become immune. That's pretty powerful for something so low level.

Immunity to fire at level 10 is pretty good, yeah. The alignment part of it is fairly negligible, because 'aligned' damage is rare unless you're fighting lots of Outsiders - it's the reason why DR/[insert alignment] is one of the better types.

[kevin video]

Well there will be a LOT of outsiders, and a lot of lawful, chaotic, evil, and good subtype stuff being thrown about in this campaign.

So essentially what I'm being told is: from levels 1 through 9 you get Resist 1-9 against good/chaotic/lawful/evil subtype damage and spells, but at 10th level you gain immunity. This on top of the fire immunity. So, from 10th level and higher, you're essentially immune to all fire as well as spells like Blasphemy, Holy Word, Holy Smite, Unholy Blight, Order's Wrath, Chaos Hammer, Holy and Unholy Aura, the holy and unholy weapon property, and all spells changed with metamagic feats that make them good/chaotic/evil/lawful.

Celestials, demons, and devils don't necessarily do good or evil damage with their natural attacks. That's more so getting passed DR so I can probably ignore that.

[Agita]

Well there will be a LOT of outsiders, and a lot of lawful, chaotic, evil, and good subtype stuff being thrown about in this campaign.

So essentially what I'm being told is: from levels 1 through 9 you get Resist 1-9 against good/chaotic/lawful/evil subtype damage and spells, but at 10th level you gain immunity. This on top of the fire immunity. So, from 10th level and higher, you're essentially immune to all fire as well as spells like Blasphemy, Holy Word, Holy Smite, Unholy Blight, Order's Wrath, Chaos Hammer, Holy and Unholy Aura, the holy and unholy weapon property, and all spells changed with metamagic feats that make them good/chaotic/evil/lawful.

Celestials, demons, and devils don't necessarily do good or evil damage with their natural attacks. That's more so getting passed DR so I can probably ignore that.

False. The highlighted spells (emphasis mine) do not deal damage (or do not necessarily deal damage in the last case). The ability only makes you immune to damage. For the Holy Smite circle of spells, they have an effect on top of dealing damage, which this does not make you immune to.

And it sounds like this is a third party thing, so it's small wonder that the balance is wonky.

[kevin video]

Yeah, it's Third Party, but they're also people who do a lot of the supplements for Paizo. So they're part of the team, but they're doing their own thing as well.

So this is the response I finally got from the publisher, after harassing them on three different forums.

"What exactly does this mean with regards to the "alignment based damage"?"
Damage that is dealt based solely on your alignment, such as the damage dealt by a chaos hammer spell."
so the holy sword is going to still deal damage from it being a sword, and from the characters strength and from its enhancement bonuses, but the +2d6 will not deal damage to you

So it looks like we did actually figure it out before getting the confirmation.