Cloak of Minor Displacement & friendly spellcasting

[prospero63]

Thanks for the feedback. It was a quick off-the-cuff ruling, but (as KarinsDad put it) the item/spell not distinguishing between friend and foe was the basis for it. Since the PC's not dodging his ally he can be touched without requiring an attack, but he can't change the fact that he's not exactly where he seems to be.

Anyone else care to chip in?

I've lost count of how many times this has happened, every time the ruling has been right in line with what your ruling was.

 

[prospero63]

I know you were kidding, but you should - it's whats going on. Spells like mirror image, invis, displacement, etc have been ignored for beneficial abilities since 1e. It's one of those assumed things, hence not spelled out. Your rule is changing the intentions of the rules.

Huh?? I have NEVER seen them ignored for beneficial abilities that wasn't a munchkin game. Per the rules, those effects apply to ANYONE attempting to touch/strike/attack/etc. the character.

 

[prospero63]

I've been discussing this with AviLazar via email too, and apparently his previous DMs universally handwaved away protective spells from having an effect on allies. Seems weird to me, but then lots of things people do seems weird to me.

IMO it's party of the min-maxing munchkinism that is so prevalent in the game. Players pick abilities, etc. that have drawbacks. DM's ignore the drawbacks for whatever reason (I blame laziness myself). Fast forward and the same folks complain about how the game is too easy, how such and such ability/spell/etc. is too powerful, etc. Well it's too easy/too powerful because you make it that way.

One of the best things I've seen recently happened on Friday night:

Player - "I'm going to hit him with my icelance"
DM - "Really, you have that focus??" (this comes on the heels of a number of questionable "wait, you had that spell memorized" and "wait, you had 5000GP in diamond dust around for a raise dead" situations)
Player - "uh... no."
DM - "Well, I guess you don't do that after all"

 

[Nail]

IMO it's party of the min-maxing munchkinism that is so prevalent in the game.

Careful.

I can think of several other reasons. Most of them don't insult the intelligence and abilities of other gamers.

 

[prospero63]

Careful.

I can think of several other reasons. Most of them don't insult the intelligence and abilities of other gamers.

Huh? It's my opinion (and I labeled it accordingly) and I didn't insult anyone. If that's the kind of game (munchkin) that folks enjoy and they want to play there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing remotely insulting there.

 

[Nail]

Good!

 

[Deset Gled]

R.I.P.

Would someone like to say a eulogy?

Another soul tragically lost to the confusion between the houserules his old group had played with for years, and the hard rules his new group followed. He will be laid to rest here beside Bob, who mortally assumed his negative hitpoints would be automatically stablized with a Cure Minor Wounds.

 

[prospero63]

Good!

Yeah, a saying at our table is "there's no wrong way to play DnD". If you want to be all out high magic heroes, cool. If you want to play a super tactical, low role playing game, cool. If you want to role play for hours the interaction between players and players/npc's, cool. As long as everyone is enjoying the game and the company, it's all good.

 

[Rystil Arden]

To wit, I agree with shil and everyone else who would make the allies roll the Displacement, and I've done it before. For Mirror Image, however, it's a bit different--I would allow the Mirror-Imaged PC to call out which image is the correct one (identifying it to everyone) if she likes, then shuffle them later as part of movement.

On a side note, @Deset Gled, does healing magic not auto-stabilise? I'm not getting much on a quick search of the SRD, but I do see

Stable

A character who was dying but who has stopped losing hit points and still has negative hit points is stable. The character is no longer dying, but is still unconscious. If the character has become stable because of aid from another character (such as a Heal check or magical healing), then the character no longer loses hit points. He has a 10% chance each hour of becoming conscious and disabled (even though his hit points are still negative).

If the character became stable on his own and hasn’t had help, he is still at risk of losing hit points. Each hour, he has a 10% chance of becoming conscious and disabled. Otherwise he loses 1 hit point.

 

[Hypersmurf]

For Mirror Image, however, it's a bit different--I would allow the Mirror-Imaged PC to call out which image is the correct one (identifying it to everyone) if she likes, then shuffle them later as part of movement.

How’d you know who to shoot?
You saw the ring, right?
No, the monogram.
What?
Yeah, it was reversed in the mirrors.
What about the ring?
It was on the wrong hand in the mirrors.
Are we clever or what?

-Hyp.