rowing a boat isn't a TINY sound
The implication to me is that we are just barely using the oars to guide the boat as it drifts in to shore. That is why "your oar slaps the water" is such a big deal. You didn't mean to do that.
It can reach 50 dB. They should be able to pick it up 25 meters away
THIS! This is the attention to detail that a Real AD&D Player of Yore brought to the table.
even without the keen hearing of their species.
In fairness, as we are about to find out an another path, the gnolls are not simply standing on the pier super quietly with one hand cupped to their ear. They are talking fairly loudly to each other. So it's plausible that a boat could drift in beneath them.
That's interesting. They are more worried about people sailing away...
It is weird. Who do they want to prevent from leaving the island? I'm not being coy nor sarcastic. I really don't know.
which is strange since fishermen in a fishing village would do that all the time, wouldn't they?
Very strange, particularly because part of the premise for going to Freeton from section 137 (and yes, I know we're not in Freeton here) was "because fishing and trade must continue." If the gnolls COMPLETELY disallow any movement to-and-from Seagate Island, the island will starve (no fish) -- and maybe so will Tikandia, if they are dependent upon Seagate's fishing fleet for food.
Shouldn't the sceptre absorb the detect magic spell [...] Admittedly, the spell wasn't cast at us but at the harbour.
Schrödinger's Sceptre works in mysterious ways. As described in various places in book 1, it is implied that it only works on spells cast at the wielder.
Edited to add: The Sceptre of Power [take a shot] resembles the AD&D magic item known as the
Rod of Absorption (DMG, p. 132) crossed with the Ring of Spell Turning (p. 131):
This rod acts as a magnet and draws magic spells of any nature (cleric, druid, magic-user, or illusionist) into itself, nullifying their effects but storing their potential within until the wielder chooses to release this energy in the form of spells of his or her own casting. The magic absorbed must have been directed at the character possessing the rod. (Cf. ring of spell turning) The wielder can instantly detect the spell level and decide on whether to react or not when the rod absorbs it. The wielder can use the energy to cast any spell he or she has memorized, in but 1 segment, without loss of spell memory, as long as the spell so cast is of equal or lesser level than the one absorbed. Excess levels are stored as potential, and can be cast in like manner....
[
Ultra-lengthy paragraph courtesy of E. Gary Gygax.]
When we Cf. our way over to
Ring of Spell Turning, we learn that
This ring distorts the three normal dimensions with respect to magic spells directed at its wearer. Any spell cast at an individual will usually rebound, in part or perhaps in whole, upon the spell caster. The distance between, and area occupied by, the victim (the ring wearer) and the spell caster are not as they seem when the magic activates the
spell turning ring. Three important exceptions must be noted:
- Spells which affect an area, and which are not cast directly at the ring wearer, are not turned by the ring.
- Spell which are delivered by touch are not turned.
- Magic contained in devices (rods, staves, wands, rings, and other items) which are triggered without a spell casting are not turned. Note: a scroll spell is not considered a device.
When a spell is cast at an individual wearing a ring of spell turning percentile dice are rolled and rounded to the nearest decimal, i.e. 1-5 is dropped, 6-9 adds 10, so 05 equals 0%, but 96 equals 100%. The score of the percentile dice indicates what portion of the spell has been turned back on its caster.
Damage is determined and awarded proportionately. Saving throws (for both opponents) are adjusted upward by +1 for each 10% below 100%, i.e. 80% = +2, 70% = +3, . . . 10% = +9. Even with such adjustments in saving throw it is possible that both target individual and spell caster will end up polymorphed into bullfrogs!
[
snip additional detail, including the special rules for what happens if both caster and recipient wear rings of spell turning]
Neither one of these items could be touched to an extant magical effect to nullify, absorb, nor reflect it.
However, given that "permanent Detect Magic anchored to a pier" is illegal by RAW, if I were playing Carr in this game I would DEMAND that my sceptre be allowed to absorb, nullify, and reflect the Detect Magic here.
What's the canonical range of a heavy iron spear in ad&d?
Have I mentioned how well you would've fit in at the AD&D game tables of the 1980s?
Edit: whoops, didn't answer the question. A regular Spear has range 1/2/3 (so that is 10/20/30 yards outdoors, 10/20/30 feet in the dungeon) and does 1-6 damage against a size S or M creature (1-8 against a size L creature). Carr and Dalris could plausibly survive being struck by 3 spears each if the gnolls rolled average to medium-high damage.
All the more reason to be frustrated with this death.
The dreaded Sceptre-of-Bukhod-detecting spell that was so useful to locate the sceptre to Beldon for all these years. Or by kings for centuries.
What's funny is that because this gamebook passage is where you turn if you're carrying the sceptre
or if you try to cast a spell, we can intuit the the Detect Magic Radar Emplacement here
isn't even detecting the sceptre. It's detecting all of our other magical gear... including the boat for some reason.
the ability to Detec Magic around you, whenever you are, is much more useful than detecting magic in a place you're not and can't do anything about.
The way the Detect Magic Radar Emplacement is being used is pretty clever: "light up anyone carrying or casting magic, because those will be enemies."
It's completely impossible by RAW use of Detect Magic + Permanency, though.
In 5e, I've tried to convince the GM that it makes sense to roll INT(Arcana) to outrun the assassin since I use my intelligence to calculate the best escape trajectory to be the straight line, and geometry is most certainly a subset of Arcana.
Shoehorning your best skills into the task at hand is a time-honored tradition in D&D, which dates back to before we even
had skills.
Player: "Of course rowing quietly past the keen-eared gnolls should be a Charisma check. I am
convincing them that whatever they hear isn't worth investigating."
DM: "Shut up and roll Dexterity."
Boo! Doesn't your DM know that Arcana is the uber-skill and should be allowed to be used for literally anything?
Heck, in 4e there were even Skill Powers explicitly to let Arcana sub in for Bluff (Arcane Mutterings), Diplomacy (Arcane Mutterings or Suggestion), Intimidate (Arcane Mutterings or Spook), Perception (Cave Sight), your defenses (Insightful Warning or Warp in the Weave), the damage you take (Elemental Countermeasures), Stealth (Chameleon's Mask), and even Arcana itself (Arcane Insight: roll 2X, keep the better result).
