Forcecage Deathtrap?

[Forrester]

Definately looks like you would suffocate. The windowless cell has a little more air inside than a portable hole, and a medium-size creature has 10 minutes worth of air inside the hole. So, maybe 12? 15? Definately not an hour though, and most certainly not enough air for 26 hours (minimum caster level).

Back In The Day there was an old Dragon (Issue #60, maybe?) that had a quiz which used (and assumed) that DnD physics (I'm sorry, AD&D physics) matched real-world physics. One of the questions asked how long someone trapped in a 10'x10'x10' room could survive.

The answer, I believe, was that if he didn't exert himself, he could stay conscious for about a day, and live, unconscious, for maybe two more.

 

[kreynolds]

The answer, I believe, was that if he didn't exert himself, he could stay conscious for about a day, and live, unconscious, for maybe two more.

That's a lot longer than it is now!

 

[LokiDR]

Real-world science does not apply to a fictional world.

Maybe the walls are permeable to nonmagical gas molecules. Or maybe creatures in D&D just use less air than real humans do. (That'd certainly explain how so many hordes of orcs stay alive in barren, unventilated dungeons...)

Point is, the spell is strong enough already. Making it suffocate the victim would turn it into a no-save no-SR automatic kill spell, against anyone without access to a Disintegrate. Every high-level adventurer would carry a bottle of air at all times, just in case.

I agree with your sentiment. But do you have any rules to back it up? If I take your example of "non magical gas" does this mean I could use inhaled poison against the trapped person?

Sometime a magic spell doesn't say it can do something, and that is fine. In this case, I would like know what the forcecage can and can't stop.

 

[AuraSeer]

Nope, I have no rules to back it up. I just don't want to make the spell any more powerful than it already is.

IMC, nothing physical can pass in or out of the windowless cell, yet the creature inside does not asphyxiate. I really don't care whether that's physically possible. YMMV.

 

[WattsHumphrey]

I just want to kick our GM up-side the head for not mentioning that material component. We didn't see him using them or we could have tried to remove them... and we didn't find any extras on his corpse after he died... how sad.

And as a side-note to those who aren't sure there is enough air, this was a Large sized PC stuck in the cage... he ran out faster than the average humanoid.

But I agree. By the rules it suffocates the guy... in practice, I think that's way too overpowered. But if he used it on us, we're free to use it on his minions .

 

[Jay Lofstead]

Do note that the material component is used during PREPARATION rather than actual casting. As long as that spell is never expended and the slot never replaced with another spell, you should be able to get by with expending the material component cost once and keeping it prepared for a long time (until that special moment of need).

 

[WattsHumphrey]

Do note that the material component is used during PREPARATION rather than actual casting. As long as that spell is never expended and the slot never replaced with another spell, you should be able to get by with expending the material component cost once and keeping it prepared for a long time (until that special moment of need).

I suppose so... so since this guy was a sorcerer, how does that affect him? I don't think he had the ability to prepare spells...

Well, regardless of if he had to use it then and there, I'm suprised he didn't have any extra on him in case he had to use up some of his spells. I'd think he would if he was prepared.

(I should stop thinking about it now, as it's a moot point)

 

[rhpead]

Force Cage does not Suffocate - I have Proof!

I believe that while Wall of force and Forcecage can stop breathweapons there are holes in it small enought for air molecules to pass thru. In the Epic Level Handbook there is an Escape Artist check to squeeze thru the holes in a Wall of Force I beleive that it is DC120.

So I would not allow it to suffocate the person trapped.

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Force Cage does not Suffocate - I have Proof!

In the Epic Level Handbook there is an Escape Artist check to squeeze thru the holes in a Wall of Force I beleive that it is DC120.

That's not what it says. It says you can squeeze through a "gap of weakness". It isn't a hole. It's just a section of the force effect that is weaker than normal.

Welcome to the boards, by the way.

 

[LokiDR]

Do note that the material component is used during PREPARATION rather than actual casting. As long as that spell is never expended and the slot never replaced with another spell, you should be able to get by with expending the material component cost once and keeping it prepared for a long time (until that special moment of need).

You are incorrect.

From the SRD
To cast a spell, the character must be able to speak (if the spell has a verbal component), gesture (if it has a somatic component), and manipulate the material components or focus (if any).

So the gestures, words, focus,and material are all used at the time of casting the spell. If you are stripped of your material components, you can not cast prepared spells that use them, regardless of what you have prepared in memory.