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Message: <blockquote data-quote="azhrei_fje" data-source="post: 4068443" data-attributes="member: 12966">My players are upset with the way I ruled a few things tonight.  I'd like some input from the hivemind regarding how I should've handled this.1A.  My BBEG cleric cast blade barrier.  I ruled that it took an entire 5-foot square along a line of squares (one side of the room to another).  To keep things simple, the line was horizontal across the battlefield so I didn't have to deal with angles. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  I ruled this way because I couldn't see how a creature could be caught in the barrier when it was cast if the barrier ran down a grid line instead of across grid squares.  Did I do this wrong?1B.  In the blade barrier example, can a creature with reach put their hand through the barrier to retrieve something on the other side (or attack with a touch spell, for instance) without taking damage?  To my thinking, the damage would be automatic without any Reflex save.1C.  The spell allows a creature who is within the AoE at the time that the barrier is created to choose which side they end up on if they make their Reflex save.  What if one side is occupied by (a) an ally or (b) an opponent?  I ruled they could squeeze into a square with an ally, but couldn't move into a square with an opponent.  Because the PC was Large (Medium-size creature who was under the effect of righteous might), they wanted to bull rush the opponent out of the way as they exited the blade barrier!2.  A blinded PC wants to attack an opponent.  I allowed a player to convince me that the PC knows where the (effectively invisible) opponent is by the noise it makes, so the PC can make an attack and then I roll the miss chance.  However, the Special Ability Invisibility, says that only with a Listen check that exceeds the DC by 20 can an invisible creature be pinpointed.  Should I have been requiring the PC to roll against DC 0 (the opponent was in combat and casting spells) modified by +20 to pinpoint them, for a total DC 20?3.  A PC needs to be able to hear or see a spellcaster in order to use Spellcraft to identify a spell as it's being cast, right?  Does sound penetrate a wall of force (actually, a forcecage in "windowless cell" mode)?  Should someone trying to use Spellcraft while inside a forcecage be required to roll a Listen and/or Spot check to identify the spell?  (Listen didn't really matter since the spell didn't have a verbal component, but it did have a somatic one.)4.  What can my BBEG do with control winds while inside an acid fog area?  Can the controlling winds be used to push the fog away from its current location?  The fog spell only talks about dispersing the fog with a severe wind, but control winds let's the spellcaster shape the winds, which to me means that they don't have to be "dispersed" but could be "corraled" and pushed in a particular direction.  What do you think?5.  Last, the BBEG cast ethereal jaunt at the end of the encounter and fled by going straight down through the floor.  The mage PC cast see invisible, but it was too late and didn't see anything.  I asked the players if they wanted to stay in round-by-round mode (ie. were they going to chase after the BBEG or were they concerned about her coming back) and one of them said they wanted to drop out of combat and the others kept silent.  Here's the problem:  the BBEG had floated down one floor where the party had trussed up a character.  The BBEG dismissed her spell and in the next round coup de grace'd the trussed up (and unconscious) character.  Then made her escape without being ethereal.  The players balked at having their companion killed, complaining that they could've gotten there in time to stop the BBEG.  (That argument is actually debatable.  They didn't know that the BBEG was even doing this and while they were in a hurry to leave, they had to maneuver around a blade barrier and a forcecage, so it would've taken them at least two rounds to be in a position to see their companion at the bottom of the stairs.)  What is your opinion of this situation?  I made sure that it was not I who made the decision to drop out of combat, yet two of the players (out of five) are blaming me and saying that the choice was mine.  (Sigh)To summarize:1A.  Blade barrier along a grid line or through a grid square?1B.  Reaching through a blade barrier automatically inflicts damage.  True or False.1C.  Making the Reflex save requires the creature to move only into an unoccupied square (true or false).  Or they can squeeze into an ally's square (true or false).  Or they can bull rush an opponent and take their square (true or false).2.   A blinded creature must make a Listen check to pinpoint an opponent.  The DC is 0?  20?  Other?3.   Does wall of force block sound and/or vision?  (It's invisible, so it seems unlikely to block vision. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />)4.   How does control winds interact with the fog spells, specifically acid fog?5.   Should I have forced the party to remain in "combat" mode?I should point out that we're playing a very deadly module (RttToEE) and I've house ruled a number of player-friendly things:  raise dead produces a negative level that goes away when the creature next levels up (not a true level loss), all "raise" spells cost one-half gp for the material components, a creature that drops below -10 isn't dead until the following round (allowing party members to get to them in time to heal them up to something above -10), PCs receive the effects of a wish spell when the player has a birthday (well, not a true wish, but very close), PCs start with a 35-point buy, and probably a few more that I can't remember off-hand.I should probably split this up into separate posts, but as some of the questions relate to other ones, I figured I'd leave them all together.Thanks for your help and opinions.  I fear this may be something of a game killer for a players who lost one of the two mages he was playing to a destruction spell. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" />  He was kind of upset when he left, although nothing about the destruction spell needed any rule adjudications... :\</blockquote>

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