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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hypersmurf" data-source="post: 2914415" data-attributes="member: 1656">Well, it has to be... or Summoned Monsters will bypass DR with their attacks.Only if the 8d6 is considered to be a variable numeric effect of the spell.If I use Mage Hand to pull a string that releases a landslide that deals 8d6 damage, the 8d6 damage is not a numeric effect of the Mage Hand spell.So is the 8d6 an effect of the Earthquake spell?  Or is it an effect of the landslide, which is an effect of the Earthquake spell?My other "keep it simple" rule of thumb is that if a figure is defined in the text of the spell, it's affected by Empower, but if it isn't, it isn't.  That has its disadvantages, though - it means that Faithful Hound's bite damage can be Empowered, where if it said "creates a phantom dog that attacks as a dire wolf", or whatever, it couldn't be.  It means that Transmute Rock to Mud and Earthquake can be Empowered.  It means that one needs to decide whether the damage dice quoted in the Shillelagh spell are a definition or a repetition.  But it does, at least, give me a foundation to work from.I don't think Earthquake or TRtM should have their damage affected by Empower.  But if I start drawing distinctions like that, then I need to figure out whether, say, Orb of Fire can have its damage Empowered.  Is the damage a variable numeric effect of the spell, or is the effect "One orb of fire", which deals 5d6 damage?  Spiritual Weapon?  Flame Blade?  And I have to remember what ruling I made on those spells last time they came up, for consistency.It's another line that's hard to pin down, of course <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=":)" />  If I Summon a monster and make it hit you, that's an indirect attack.  So what if I Evoke a Flaming Sphere and make it roll into your square?  Direct or Indirect?If I cast an Earthquake so that the spell's area includes a foe, that's a direct attack per the definition in the Invisibility spell... but so is Detect Magic.-Hyp.</blockquote>

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