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I'm the DM and a player is trying to abuse the Immovable Rod. Advice?
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<blockquote data-quote="Harzel" data-source="post: 6918504" data-attributes="member: 6857506"><p>So upon further reflection, it seems to me that you have two issues: ruling on the mechanics, and the RL social repercussions. Since I don't know you or the player, I can't say much about how to handle the social issue, except that it might be the harder and more important of the two issues, and I hope that you succeed in maintaining a good relationship.</p><p></p><p>On the mechanical front, IMO, your player's proposed tactics try to blow by so many mechanical difficulties that this goes way past the bounds where you want to "find a way to say yes" to player ingenuity. Let's think about this.</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">On his first turn, the PC has to get both hammers into the precisely correct position.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Between his first and second turns, he must maintain the hammers in position on a moving opponent, probably while enduring an attack from that opponent.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">On his second turn, the PC has to press the button on one hammer while continuing to hold both hammers in place.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Between his second and third turns, the PC must continue to hold the one still movable hammer in place while somehow preventing the opponent from changing position with respect to the one now immovable hammer. While probably enduring another attack from the opponent.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">On his third turn, the PC finally gets to press the button on the second hammer.</li> </ol><p></p><p>If a player insisted on trying this anyway, my rulings would be:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Two called shots. Minimum of -4 penalty to each attack roll.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Opponent gets advantage on its attack (if made against this PC). PC has to make a DC 15 DEX check to keep the hammers in place; if the PC is hit, he has disadvantage on the check.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I don't see how this is physically possible (three hands?), but in the spirit of allowing heroic things to happen, I'll allow it if he makes another DC 15 DEX check.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">This gets ugly. The opponent must make a DC 15 WIS or INT check (whichever is better for it) to realize that it ought to move away from the one immovable hammer. If it passes that, it gets a DC 5 DEX check to succeed in moving. If all of that goes well for the PC, he still has to make a DC 10 DEX check to keep the one movable hammer in place, again at disadvantage if he gets hit.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Automatically succeeds, because everybody is tired of rolling dice.</li> </ol><p></p><p>Which is to say nothing of MJ's astute observation that an intelligent opponent might know enough to toggle the rods' immovability button.</p><p></p><p>Or maybe I'm just a jerk. Dunno.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Harzel, post: 6918504, member: 6857506"] So upon further reflection, it seems to me that you have two issues: ruling on the mechanics, and the RL social repercussions. Since I don't know you or the player, I can't say much about how to handle the social issue, except that it might be the harder and more important of the two issues, and I hope that you succeed in maintaining a good relationship. On the mechanical front, IMO, your player's proposed tactics try to blow by so many mechanical difficulties that this goes way past the bounds where you want to "find a way to say yes" to player ingenuity. Let's think about this. [LIST=1] [*]On his first turn, the PC has to get both hammers into the precisely correct position. [*]Between his first and second turns, he must maintain the hammers in position on a moving opponent, probably while enduring an attack from that opponent. [*]On his second turn, the PC has to press the button on one hammer while continuing to hold both hammers in place. [*]Between his second and third turns, the PC must continue to hold the one still movable hammer in place while somehow preventing the opponent from changing position with respect to the one now immovable hammer. While probably enduring another attack from the opponent. [*]On his third turn, the PC finally gets to press the button on the second hammer. [/LIST] If a player insisted on trying this anyway, my rulings would be: [LIST=1] [*]Two called shots. Minimum of -4 penalty to each attack roll. [*]Opponent gets advantage on its attack (if made against this PC). PC has to make a DC 15 DEX check to keep the hammers in place; if the PC is hit, he has disadvantage on the check. [*]I don't see how this is physically possible (three hands?), but in the spirit of allowing heroic things to happen, I'll allow it if he makes another DC 15 DEX check. [*]This gets ugly. The opponent must make a DC 15 WIS or INT check (whichever is better for it) to realize that it ought to move away from the one immovable hammer. If it passes that, it gets a DC 5 DEX check to succeed in moving. If all of that goes well for the PC, he still has to make a DC 10 DEX check to keep the one movable hammer in place, again at disadvantage if he gets hit. [*]Automatically succeeds, because everybody is tired of rolling dice. [/LIST] Which is to say nothing of MJ's astute observation that an intelligent opponent might know enough to toggle the rods' immovability button. Or maybe I'm just a jerk. Dunno. [/QUOTE]
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I'm the DM and a player is trying to abuse the Immovable Rod. Advice?
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