D&D 5E Suggestion: Broken?

[UngeheuerLich]

it is proper and resonable to suggest to an adversary that they go away or foojooble off instead of fight you.

Aboleths are minion masters who prefer to avoid direct combat in any event. Retreating to its lair is emmenintly reasonable, and there was nothing in the suggestion that indicated it couldn't let its minions do its dirty work for it.

Id totally allow it in this case, and would likely baulk at a DM that made the arguments youre making here.

Well... no point in arguing then... if you take spell descriptions just as suggestions...

Don’t quote posts with improper language without editing them, please.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

To be fair, If one of the PCs told him to f-off, it'd be perfectly reasonable for the Aboleth to leave them alone even without the aid of a spell.

"Ok, dude is hostile. I'll just enslave him later."

 

[MarkB]

If I was talking to someone and they told me to f-off, I'd assume they didn't want to talk to me anymore. It wouldn't suggest anything else like, where to go or what to do. Or maybe the F-off was because of the direction of the conversation. Foojooble off, I don't want to talk about it anymore. So, maybe he meant change the subject? It doesn't always mean 'go away'.

"Did you hear that Bob ate a whole Scorpion Pepper? He was sweating from his eyes!"
"Foojooble off!" (Translation: No Way, really?!)

"So, it sounds like you're having a bad day, do you want to talk about it?"
"Foojooble off!" (translation: No.)
Response: "Ok... So how about those Stanley Cup Playoffs,..."

So, to me, I'd have to weigh what was going on in the conversation. It certainly doesn't automatically mean walk away and leave them alone.

Which is why it's always better to make your suggestions more clear. A player shouldn't be surprised if a DM interprets it different from what the player expects when they aren't being clear.

So you're saying that it depends upon context. But the aboleth has context. It's seen these guys' hopes and dreams, it's just attacked them, and they're communicating with it through the total clarity of telepathy. It's not going to have much doubt what they want it to do.

Please don’t quote posts with inappropriate language unedited.

 

[jgsugden]

If you're seriously expecting to get to any general consensus on how this spell should operate with this crowd, you're crazy. THis may be the most subjective spell in the game.

Ask your DM. Accept their ruling. End of subject.

 

[77IM]

Happy Medium:

If the DM and player can't agree as to whether the phrasing and suggestion are "reasonable" or not... give the victim advantage on their saving throw. Done!

 

[Maxperson]

If the suggested action is unreasonable sure. Something like go find a devil and sell your soul is most likely unreasonable. The unreasonableness for me is not about the why, it’s about the action itself.

For me the player getting the wording right is part of the spell itself, not something for me to do for them. It's not like old school wish where I'm going to look for ways to twist it, but if the player can't be bothered to work out a reasonable suggestion, it's going to fail.

That means that if they are fighting something at the base of a mountain a blanket suggestion to go climb to the top of the mountain will fail, but one that suggests going to the top of the mountain to avoid/remove X danger or the like would be reasonable.

 

[FrogReaver]

For me the player getting the wording right is part of the spell itself, not something for me to do for them. It's not like old school wish where I'm going to look for ways to twist it, but if the player can't be bothered to work out a reasonable suggestion, it's going to fail.

That means that if they are fighting something at the base of a mountain a blanket suggestion to go climb to the top of the mountain will fail, but one that suggests going to the top of the mountain to avoid/remove X danger or the like would be reasonable.

No offense meant but I think that’s silly.

 

[Maxperson]

No offense meant but I think that’s silly.

No worries. To each his own.

Magic is powerful enough without me making it more powerful.

 

[Flamestrike]

My response as DM would be "What specifically are you suggesting that the aboleth do?"

I mean, all questions of balance and reasonableness aside, "F*** off" is far too vague. But I assume that an experienced spellcaster would know such a command was too vague, and wouldn't burn the spell power on an obviously ineffective command.

It's like if a player announces they are throwing daggers at a dragon flying 100 feet above them, I'm going to point out that the dragon is way out of range; I'm not going to say "Okay, it's out of range so you lose your daggers and waste your round." The character would realize that the dragon was too far to hit even if the player missed that detail.

You start talking to me at a bar.

I tell you in no uncertain terms to naughty word off.

Whats 'vague' about my suggestion to you?

 

[77IM]

You start talking to me at a bar.

I tell you in no uncertain terms to naughty word off.

Whats 'vague' about my suggestion to you?

Were the PCs talking to the aboleth at a bar?