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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9586681" data-attributes="member: 7737">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.THIS! This is the attention to detail that a Real AD&D Player of Yore brought to the table.  <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="😁" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png" title="Beaming face with smiling eyes    :grin:" data-shortname=":grin:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />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.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.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.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):[Ultra-lengthy paragraph courtesy of E. Gary Gygax.]When we Cf. our way over to Ring of Spell Turning, we learn thatNeither 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.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.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 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.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).</blockquote>

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