OOC Sword of Valor, Wrath of the Righteous AP by MLeibrock and Scotley

[Queenie]

Okay, you guys do like to challenge your GM's don't you? The Message spell requires Meliara to point at her intended targets. She can't see them so you will be guessing with your pointing. There are 7 party members and three cultists upstairs. The floor above you represents a foot of stone, but you have enough range (160') to reach pretty much anywhere upstairs even with the spell needing to travel through the door, across the rooms down here up the stairs (the spell description does allow for this). So You have 7 targets you want to hit and 3 you don't spread over about 70 squares (that is being very generous). I figure the math works out to you having about a 1 in 10 chance of hitting a party member. Failing to hit a party member you then have about a 1 in 20 chance to hit a cultist. I'm being very generous here, you are essentially shooting blind.

So, why don't you roll 6d10 and if you get a 10 you hit a party member with the spell and they hear you (you can roll a 8 and if you get an 8 you can pick, if not we'll assume that you hit in the order the characters are posted in the RG). For each miss roll a 1d20 and if you get a 1 you hit a cultist and they will hear you. Seem reasonable?

If you want to get creative and try to hear folks moving on the floor above with a perception check I might give a bonus based on how well you roll, but the chances of hitting a cult member will go up as well. Add a perception check to the rolls we'll adjust accordingly.

Not to second-guess the GM...and you're actually being very generous...but the Message spell also requires a line of effect to the subjects, I believe. A locked door would block that.

So.. Scotley, if you want to change your super generous interpretation of the spell, let me know. I haven't rolled yet.

Plus, this is the last time I ask the non spellcaster for spell advice!!!

 

[Queenie]

I hope it is something Jazzy or maybe Rockin' and not an instrumental string quartet version of some bubble gum pop from the 90's...

lol. Only Rockin from this end... thanks DeWar!!

 

[Queenie]

Based on that even a fairly heavy wooden door bound in thin iron should not stop the spell. The pointing at targets thing suggests line of sight, but we thought we'd give her a chance just for fun. I am reading it to suggest that it can circumvent the barrier of the floor/ceiling made of stone by going through the door and up the stairs.

Just saw this... I will give it a whirl!

Oh, and apologies for testing the GM's patience... I'm more of an ideas gal rather than a rules gal. But, I will try harder in the future

 

[Shayuri]

Well now, I stand corrected! You're correct, the entry does seem to mean the message can penetrate thin barriers.

Excellent!

 

[Scott DeWar]

Scottley, that music was New Orleans dirty brass Jazz

 

[Scotley]

Just saw this... I will give it a whirl!

Oh, and apologies for testing the GM's patience... I'm more of an ideas gal rather than a rules gal. But, I will try harder in the future

I try to be the rules guy. I'd much rather you focus on what you character wants to do and leave it to us to shoehorn it into the rules. Metagaming every action is boring!

 

[Scotley]

Scottley, that music was New Orleans dirty brass Jazz

Excellent!

 

[Scott DeWar]

did you read it and play it in your head? It was a couple of bars by dirty dozen bass band . . .

 

[Leif]

Am I missing something here?

I agree that we are being generous. The spell description itself doesn't seem to require direct line based on this:

'Magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal (or a thin sheet of lead), or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks the spell. The message does not have to travel in a straight line. It can circumvent a barrier if there is an open path between you and the subject, and the path's entire length lies within the spell's range.'

Based on that even a fairly heavy wooden door bound in thin iron should not stop the spell. The pointing at targets thing suggests line of sight, but we thought we'd give her a chance just for fun. I am reading it to suggest that it can circumvent the barrier of the floor/ceiling made of stone by going through the door and up the stairs.

Um, did you guys forget the part of the spell description that i have in Bold and Underlined? If there's a door between you and the subject how can there be an "open path" to him? But, ahh, in this case, I'm all for a "reality warp" permitting the spell to succeed. The description isn't very clear, is it? Disregard this whole post.

 

[Fenris]

Um, did you guys forget the part of the spell description that i have in Bold and Underlined? If there's a door between you and the subject how can there be an "open path" to him? But, ahh, in this case, I'm all for a "reality warp" permitting the spell to succeed. The description isn't very clear, is it? Disregard this whole post.

Yeah it is not clear. Why specifically mention passing through barriers if they didn't permit transmission? It would seem that anything that would prevent normal transmission of sound (ie the point of a message) constitutes a non-open path. So a think enough, dense enough material blocks the spell as it would block the physical sound. Furthering this argument is that the message does not have to travel in a straight line. No line of sight is required, just like hearing a spoken message. Seems very consistent with reality. Especially a reality with elves and magic.

I think the solution our DMs came up with was great.