How free are you with a Freedom of Movement Spell?

[green slime]

So freedom of movement lets you ignore wind and weather, lets you autosuccess on escape artist checks, lets you move freely through webs, entangled areas, (and crowds?), let's you use your weapons freely in those areas (how about a grapple then?), but does not let you ignore armor penalties including armor movement penalties, and does not negate indirect penalties (a wet, moving rope is still more difficult to balance on that a normal one). Right?

Yep.

You aren't grappled when you are grappled and under the influence of FoM. So slash away with that Mighty twohanded axe of Death.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

No.

Why not?

 

[Mistwell]

I had a player once who couldn't grasp this spell. The party was persuing a foe through a *very* thick and rowdy crowd. Think Mardi Gras on Fat Tuesday - litterally thousands of people in the street, body to body. His thought was Freedom of Movement should allow him to just skip right through the masses, because they were "preventing" his movement.

He couldn't understand that by that logic, the spell would also let you walk through /any/ solid, and would then prevent the ground beneath your feet from supporting you. After all, gravity is providing you movement downwards - constantly. The only reason you don't plummet to the core is because the ground prevents your movement down.

rushl

In my opinion, your player isn't the one who misinterpreted this spell.

The spell uses as an example grapples. "The subject automatically succeeds on any grapple check made to resist a grapple attempt, as well as on grapple checks or Escape Artist checks made to escape a grapple or a pin." In other words, if the same crowd of people all at once tried to actually grab the PC, the PC would automatically avoid such grabs.

If you can avoid a crowd trying to actively grab you, you can avoid a crowd passively getting in your way.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Yea, I'd say FoM would work in the crowd situation too.

Hrmmm. An additional question that comes up for me, then...

Would FoM allow you to take the Charge action over rough terrain? Would it let you take the charge action through friendly occupied squares? Unfriendly occupied squares? The creature in a square doesn't fill the whole square, just "occupies" it and if we can move through a "packed crowd"...

It has never come up before, in my games.

--fje

 

[green slime]

Why not?

Because.





Seriously? Because it doesn't. FoM affects you as you stand there. A single entity with that Speed. Donning an armour while under the influence of FoM means the spell will affect you as an entity, with your armour.

I guess it is a matter of gaining the benefit of not having to roll saves for all your items if you fail a save vs fireball.

Its easier that way?

It prevents strange cheese?

Because the spell is plenty powerful enough, without people ignoring the speed penalties?

 

[green slime]

Would FoM allow you to take the Charge action over rough terrain? Would it let you take the charge action through friendly occupied squares? Unfriendly occupied squares? The creature in a square doesn't fill the whole square, just "occupies" it and if we can move through a "packed crowd"...

It has never come up before, in my games.

--fje

Tough questions.

I'd not allow "charge" through occupied squares. Basically, I'd question whether the "charge" action is included in "normal movement" described in the spell, and instead view the restriction as a combat restriction. I might change my mind overnight.

I'm inclined to answer in the negative for rough terrain as well. But I'll defer to the majority on this one.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Because.





Seriously? Because it doesn't. FoM affects you as you stand there. A single entity with that Speed. Donning an armour while under the influence of FoM means the spell will affect you as an entity, with your armour.

I guess it is a matter of gaining the benefit of not having to roll saves for all your items if you fail a save vs fireball.

Its easier that way?

It prevents strange cheese?

Because the spell is plenty powerful enough, without people ignoring the speed penalties?

My answer would be, "sure, the spell makes that heavy armour slip right off you so that it's not encumbering you anymore." But only if someone asked about it.

 

[Jhulae]

Well, as a human wearing plate mail, the 'normal' speed is 20' a round. Since FoM lets you 'move normally'... a human wearing plate mail would move at 20' a round.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Well, as a human wearing plate mail, the 'normal' speed is 20' a round. Since FoM lets you 'move normally'... a human wearing plate mail would move at 20' a round.

By that argument, for a human who is entangled, normal speed is 15 ft. per round. So FoM would allow that character to move 15 ft. per round.