CM
Adventurer
An issue has come up in my campaign regarding the Cube of Force's 4th function: "Spell effects can't pass through the barrier."
First, everyone in the group agrees that in this mode, the cube prevents spells from taking effect on creatures on the opposite side of its barrier. So someone inside the cube who attempted to bless or friends creatures on the outside would be unable to affect them, likewise someone on the outside who threw a fireball at the cube would see it explode on impact with the cube's surface (leaving cube occupants unaffected). Attempting to teleport to the other side of the cube would fail.
The point of contention is existing spells.
I believe that if someone with an active spell crossed the cube (in either direction), the ongoing enchantment would be unaffected. Bless, fly, charm person, confusion would continue to work as normal.
Another member of the group believes that any spells affecting someone who entered the cube would be suppressed (though duration would continue to run) while they are inside it. This would included someone who started their turn inside the cube, moved outside it, and then went back inside: they would find their ongoing spells suppressed.
I suggested that you could then use the cube offensively to move up to someone and suspend all their ongoing spells, or negate permanent spell effects temporarily, but we agreed that would be overpowered and not in the spirit of the cube. I also think that if were intended to suppress effects, there would be some reference to the antimagic field spell in the PHB, as it has extensive rules for suppression of effects.
What do you think?
First, everyone in the group agrees that in this mode, the cube prevents spells from taking effect on creatures on the opposite side of its barrier. So someone inside the cube who attempted to bless or friends creatures on the outside would be unable to affect them, likewise someone on the outside who threw a fireball at the cube would see it explode on impact with the cube's surface (leaving cube occupants unaffected). Attempting to teleport to the other side of the cube would fail.
The point of contention is existing spells.
I believe that if someone with an active spell crossed the cube (in either direction), the ongoing enchantment would be unaffected. Bless, fly, charm person, confusion would continue to work as normal.
Another member of the group believes that any spells affecting someone who entered the cube would be suppressed (though duration would continue to run) while they are inside it. This would included someone who started their turn inside the cube, moved outside it, and then went back inside: they would find their ongoing spells suppressed.
I suggested that you could then use the cube offensively to move up to someone and suspend all their ongoing spells, or negate permanent spell effects temporarily, but we agreed that would be overpowered and not in the spirit of the cube. I also think that if were intended to suppress effects, there would be some reference to the antimagic field spell in the PHB, as it has extensive rules for suppression of effects.
What do you think?