D&D 5E Can you hear the audible version of the Alarm spell if you are more than 60 feet away?

[el-remmen]

The title is the question: Can you hear the audible version of the Alarm spell if you are more than 60 feet away?

The 2024 spell reads: "Audible Alarm. The alarm produces the sound of a handbell for 10 seconds within 60 feet of the warded area."

The 2014 version reads: "An audible alarm produces the sound of a hand bell for 10 seconds within 60 feet."

If a creature is 61 feet away from the warded door or area (assuming no significant obstructions) can they not hear the audible alarm? I feel like I would be able to hear a handbell being rung more than 60 feet away.

Now I know that a DM could rule that a sound might be muffled or reverberate due to the conditions where it is going off, but I can imagine reading the spell to mean the sound can only be heard in that radius, given that it is magical.

How do you rule? Has this come up before? I tried searching for it and failed.

 

[pukunui]

Since it's magic, I would say that the sound stops being audible beyond 60 feet. Same with other spells like thunderwave and knock that have a specific audible range mentioned in their description.

Compare this to thaumaturgy, which you can use to make your voice "boom up to three times as loud as normal" but there's no specific range limit.

 

[TiQuinn]

I've always taken it to mean that outside of that range the alarm couldn't be heard.

 

[aco175]

I always thought it should be a bit like light. A torch has the Bight light 20ft and Dim light another 20ft . And then there are animals with keen sight and hearing such as a dog.

 

[Stalker0]

Since it's magic, I would say that the sound stops being audible beyond 60 feet. Same with other spells like thunderwave and knock that have a specific audible range mentioned in their description.

Just confirming:

Daylight
A 60-foot-radius sphere of light spreads out from a point you choose within range. The sphere is bright light and sheds dim light for an additional 60 feet.

Do you rule that a sphere of daylight can only be seen by people within 120 feet?


Its fine either way, I would argue though that the spells have similar language and so should be treated the same.

 

[pukunui]

Just confirming:

Daylight
A 60-foot-radius sphere of light spreads out from a point you choose within range. The sphere is bright light and sheds dim light for an additional 60 feet.

Do you rule that a sphere of daylight can only be seen by people within 120 feet?

No, and I don't agree that they should be treated the same way because they aren't worded the same way at all. Yes, the daylight spell provides a range limit for the light, but it never states that the light is only visible out to the limit of its range.

If sound was a thing you could see, then I'd argue you could see the sphere of sound caused by a thunderwave from further away than 300 feet even if you couldn't hear it.

 

[Reynard]

Alarm would be pretty useless if it alerted the whole dungeon...

 

[Stalker0]

No, and I don't agree that they should be treated the same way because they aren't worded the same way at all. Yes, the daylight spell provides a range limit for the light, but it never states that the light is only visible out to the limit of its range.

If sound was a thing you could see, then I'd argue you could see the sphere of sound caused by a thunderwave from further away than 300 feet even if you couldn't hear it.

nor does alarm state that the sound is only audible within the radius. It simply says that the radius is filled with the sound...the same way daylight's area is filled with the light.

If a person can still perceive the light that is within the daylight spell outside the radius....it reasons the same would hold true for alarm and you could perceive the sound outside the radius

 

[pukunui]

@Stalker0: Why specify that the sound can be heard within 60 feet if that's not intended to be the actual range limit of the sound? What does the "within 60 feet" clause accomplish in that case?

With the daylight spell, you can at least say "there is light here and no light over there". That doesn't stop someone over there from seeing the light that is here ... but if you're trying to argue that any sound should be audible from any distance, why provide any sort of range limit on the sound at all then?

 

[Stalker0]

@Stalker0: Why specify that the sound can be heard within 60 feet if that's not intended to be the actual range limit of the sound? What does the "within 60 feet" clause accomplish in that case?

I can't speak for the 2024 version, but the 2014 version does not say that. It simply says: "An audible alarm produces the sound of a hand bell for 10 seconds within 60 feet"

It makes no claim about what can and cannot hear that sound, only that sound is created.....just like the daylight spell simply creates light.