question re: Stench and other personal area-effect attacks

[Devon]

I haven't discovered a Sage entry pertinent to this question, and my apologies if it has already been brought up in this forum.

Some creatures have an area-effect ability, centered on themselves -- for example, the troglodyte's Stench ability.

From the SRD:

Stench (Ex): When a troglodyte is angry or frightened, it secretes an oily, musklike chemical that nearly every form of animal life finds offensive. All creatures (except troglodytes) within 30 feet of the trog must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 13) or be overcome with nausea. This lasts for 10 rounds and deals 1d6 points of temporary Strength damage.

Should this ability be treated as an emanation (a save for each round of exposure, with effects stacking), or should an opponent save once per exposure to the effect?

- Devon

 

[Dr. Zoom]

The Trog Stench ability in the MM was errata'd to the following:

Stench (Ex): When a troglodyte is angry or frightened, it secretes an oily, musklike chemical that nearly every form of animal life finds offensive. All creatures (except troglodytes) within 30 feet of the trog must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 13) or suffer a -2 morale penalty on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, checks, and saving throws. The effect lasts 10 rounds. A character can only be affected once per 24 hours by the same trog, even if he saves.

So you make one saving throw for each trog's stench per 24 hours, and the effects will not stack (morale penalties do not stack with each other). If you are surrounded by 5 trogs, for example, you make 5 saving throws. If you fail any of them, you suffer the -2 morale penalty.

 

[Devon]

Excellent. I can't believe I missed that in the errata...

So if I made a creature that had, say, a personal area-effect ability (like causing sleep), I could either call it an emanation (save every round) or include the "only once per" clause used in the troglodyte errata, depending on the special effect and my own level of cruelty?

- Devon