One of the changes that has me slightly scratching my head in PF is comparing the two spells Finger of Death to Power Word, Kill.

What's got me bothered is that at 17th level, Finger of Death, a 7th level spell, seems generally better than Power Word, Kill in initial fact that Finger can kill something with up to 170 hp, whereas you can only kill up to something with 100 hp with Power Word. Granted, there's no save against Power Word, but it has two very large drawbacks combined into one - first, you have to know your opponent is under 100 hp (is there any spell or item that will reveal this information?) and second it either kills or does absolutely nothing. With Finger, even if the target makes its save, you deal some damage.

Quite honestly, I think 9 times out of 10 I'd rather have Finger. Is there a better way to hand the Power Word - perhaps dealing some effect even if the foe has more than 100 hp (a small amount of damage, 1d4 round stun, given Power Word, Kill back the ability to affect multiple foes, etc.) or is the tradeoff of guaranteed death via Power Word vs. the possibility of greater damage via Finger of Death appropriate as is? Personally, I don't think that two spells who are so similar in purpose (kill an enemy in a single fell swoop) that the lower level spell should seem more appealing that the higher level spell in any fashion. Its like making Polymorph seem more appealing than Shapechange.

I think my own personal change might be:

Power Word, Kill
School: Enchantment (Compulsion) [Death, Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 9
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Components:
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One or more creatures, no two which are more than 15 feet apart.
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
You utter a single word of power that instantly deals 100 hp of damage to a single creature if it would drop it to 0 hp or less. If you reduce a creature to 0 hp and would still have damage left over (round down to the nearest 5), you may apply that damage to another target within 15 feet of the target you just killed. You may continue to apply damage to other targets as long as you have remaining damage left over from the previous kill.

The big question I have is, would it be too much to have it deal the damage from Power Word, Kill[/b] even if it wouldn't kill the creature (thus allowing the wizard to, at worst, reduce an enemy by 100 hp in one fell blow - and at 18th level, most likely only d6 HD enemies are going to have less than 100 hp).

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