Notes on the Aether (Rae judging)

[Wik]

As the Elemental dissolves in a flash of smoke, Galwynn tries to force a smile. "Nice swing." at the same time, he cna't help but sound a little jealous that he didn't land the killing blow.

 

[Bront]

OOC: Eh...? I'm pretty sure a rebuked creature is indeed cowering and can take no actions. If not, I've been DMing this whole game incorrectly!

OOC: Peanut Gallery here. Turned undead are indeed cowering and have all the other negitive thigns that go one with them. Rebuked are awed and only suffer the +2 to hit, but can otherwise act normaly. It's command where the fun begins.

 

[Trouvere]

[sblock=OOC]
RAW, maybe (though turned creatures cower only if cornered and unable to flee), but I've never before seen it played that way. Turned and cowering are defined conditions in the SRD, but awed and rebuked are not! One other RAW implication is that the cleric cannot approach turned creatures without breaking the effect, but can approach rebuked creatures.

So, RAW, we've done absolutely everything wrong. But RAI, I think we're exactly right. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of players treat rebuking as we have, or why would anyone say it's more powerful than turning, if it gives nothing more than a +2 to hit? No, no, I can't believe it. It's just symmetry - turned undead run away unable to attack, rebuked undead stand still unable to act. Argh.

I've been trying to find a clear statement somewhere official, and all I can find is this wizards.com glossary in which game terms are bolded and rebuked undead are said to "cower" in bold text. But every other mention (for example an article on dealing with incorporeal creatures) treats turning and rebuking as equivalent abilities (without going so far as to actually say what rebuking does, of course) - not one as an insta-win and the other as a group buff.

Meanwhile:

Not IC: Keldar raises his head from a table in the Red Dragon. "I had the strangest dream. And you were in it, and you, and you."[/sblock]

 

[Trouvere]

[sblock=OOC]Yeah, re-reading the SRD, I think the attack roll +2 bonus parenthetic remark is just a partial and mistaken restatement of the cowering condition. The entry for turned undead immediately previously hyperlinks to the cowering condition, while the rebuked entry doesn't, but that's the only difference. So of course rebuked creature can't attack.
And a rebuking cleric can approach or even attack a rebuked creature, since there is very specifically no restriction as there is under turning. Whale away, Tarag. It only makes sense, otherwise a rebuking cleric surrounded by undead on all sides wouldn't ever be able to use rebuking to escape.[/sblock]

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

OOC: Yikes. Why do all these obscurities still exist in the rules? I thought 3.5 was supposed to be a "clarification+". Whatever, regardless of the RAW, it only makes sense for a rebuked creature to be unable to take any actions. I also think that Tarag should be able to approach them, since the "rebuke" implies scolding, and punishment of wrongdoing, and how can you punish something without beating it up? So in this game at least, let's play rebuking as we have been, with the change that Tarag is not restricted in his movement/actions.

 

[covaithe]

Seeing the elemental flash out of existence in this plane, Tommy safely stows his wand and starts looking around the room, paying extra attention to the bookshelves. "If Cassandra was right, there shouldn't be any summoning devices on this level. But that doesn't mean there aren't traps or other dangers."

 

[Trouvere]

"Too many places to hide traps amongst all these shelves. I'd never find them, if they're there at all," Keldar comments. He sheathes his dagger and draws a javelin. "I'm for going straight upstairs and finishing the last elemental, and finally meeting this Thyrin. He can take apart the last summoning devices himself."

 

[covaithe]

Tommy gently runs a finger down the leather covered spine of one of the books, and sighs. "You're right, of course. We have no business lingering in Thyrin's library while he's trapped in a saferoom."

 

[Solange]

As the Elemental dissolves in a flash of smoke, Galwynn tries to force a smile. "Nice swing." at the same time, he cna't help but sound a little jealous that he didn't land the killing blow.

"You got a good hit in there as well," Rapture says. "We should press on, we're almost there."

 

[Trouvere]

"I feel more sorry for the elementals than I do Thyrin," says Keldar. "Plucked out of who knows where just to be chopped to pieces. No wonder they want to kill us, and him. Well... who wants to go first, after seeing what happened to Tarag?"