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Command is the Perfect Encapsulation of Everything I Don't Like About 5.5e
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<blockquote data-quote="Milieu" data-source="post: 9445507" data-attributes="member: 7041560"><p>Sure, but examples are <em>examples</em>, not the absolute outer bounds. The spell doesn't say anything like "if the DM determines the command is more powerful than the examples, the spell ends".</p><p></p><p>The definition of the spell doesn't say "the target can only move toward or away from the caster or just not move at all". Unless you interpret the potential for falling as "directly harmful to it" (and unless there are circumstances that make falling particularly dangerous or likely, I wouldn't), this isn't an abuse of the definition of the spell.</p><p></p><p>The spell doesn't say "you can cause the target to drop something at their feet but that's it". Drop is just an example, not a limit.</p><p></p><p>It also doesn't say "you can't make the NPC take an action". Attacking is not <em>expressly </em>prohibited. You might argue that it is <em>implicitly</em> prohibited, since if it were allowed, they would probably have given that as an example. That's not an unreasonable position, but nothing in the text of the spell says <s>a dog can't play basketball</s> you can't command them to attack or take an action.</p><p></p><p>But on the other hand commands like "attack" aren't usually a very good idea, since you can't tell them whom to attack, so maybe they were just trying to list a few that are more generally useful.</p><p></p><p>It's fine if you want to interpret it as not being able to force the target to take an action, but arguing that people who don't interpret it that way are "rewriting" the spell is not correct.</p><p></p><p>It's only clearly more powerful than "Drop" if you assume the direct object has to be "your weapon" and the indirect object has to be "a PC". But you can't command them to give a PC their weapon, only "Give".</p><p></p><p>In my interpretation, a low intelligence enemy would probably give something already in their hands to the nearest creature, but if they're a bit clever, they'll choose to give something unimportant or give something to their friend. So it's more circumstantial than drop.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Milieu, post: 9445507, member: 7041560"] Sure, but examples are [I]examples[/I], not the absolute outer bounds. The spell doesn't say anything like "if the DM determines the command is more powerful than the examples, the spell ends". The definition of the spell doesn't say "the target can only move toward or away from the caster or just not move at all". Unless you interpret the potential for falling as "directly harmful to it" (and unless there are circumstances that make falling particularly dangerous or likely, I wouldn't), this isn't an abuse of the definition of the spell. The spell doesn't say "you can cause the target to drop something at their feet but that's it". Drop is just an example, not a limit. It also doesn't say "you can't make the NPC take an action". Attacking is not [I]expressly [/I]prohibited. You might argue that it is [I]implicitly[/I] prohibited, since if it were allowed, they would probably have given that as an example. That's not an unreasonable position, but nothing in the text of the spell says [S]a dog can't play basketball[/S] you can't command them to attack or take an action. But on the other hand commands like "attack" aren't usually a very good idea, since you can't tell them whom to attack, so maybe they were just trying to list a few that are more generally useful. It's fine if you want to interpret it as not being able to force the target to take an action, but arguing that people who don't interpret it that way are "rewriting" the spell is not correct. It's only clearly more powerful than "Drop" if you assume the direct object has to be "your weapon" and the indirect object has to be "a PC". But you can't command them to give a PC their weapon, only "Give". In my interpretation, a low intelligence enemy would probably give something already in their hands to the nearest creature, but if they're a bit clever, they'll choose to give something unimportant or give something to their friend. So it's more circumstantial than drop. [/QUOTE]
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