Player Shrinking

[Murrdox]

I'm thinking of adding a puzzle to my latest dungeon which requires the shrinking of one or more players to an inch high or so. I'm not quite sure what mechanic I'm going to use to accomplish this... perhaps a Reduce spell of higher level? I'm not sure. The maximum a Reduce spell can shrink someone is 50%, and I'm looking to shrink a human to an inch or so tall.

ANYWAYS, my question is what if this reduced player had to fight a rat? To the human, the Rat would probably be Huge. Should I treat the combat just as if a NORMAL sized human was fighting a Huge rat, or use the reduced weapon values because of size (longsword would cause 1d2 damage or something) and the rat's normal hitpoint of 2-4?

I'm not thinking of having any normal sized vs. shrunk combat... so no need to think of how a fireball from a 1 inch tall wizard would affect a normal human. However, I'm tempted to say spell effects wouldn't be changed at all from the shrinking... I think.

 

[kreynolds]

Polymorph? Shapechange?

 

[andargor]

Shrinkage? Use a pool of cold water.

Oh! Shrinking! Sorry, old Seinfeld flashback.

Andargor

 

[Maitre Du Donjon]

Thing is, in 3E sizes, you can't really be smaller than "Fine", and that everything smaller than a frog (i think the frog was the example of a "Fine" creature (whereas Alyssa Milano is an execption of another "Fine" creature, but i digress).

Since the rat (Tiny) is one step bigger, it would be as if the Fine character would be fighting a Large Rat, which doesnt seem to work well when you compare a 1-inch tall human and a foot-long dirty stinkin' rat.

the Reduce spell reduces height, mass and Str (to a minimum of 1). Height (size, in fact) affects Attack bonus positively while the Str reduction affects the Attack bonus negatively. The fighter will probably have the same Attack bonus, but will do considerately less damage.

Unless the characters are very low level, dramatic size reduction shouldn't affect much their chance of survivability... They'll just be dishing out much less weapon damage...

My2cents.

Maitre D

 

[andargor]

But the point about spells is valid. There are no rules saying that spells are affected by creature size.

Hence, that fireball would explode with a really big bang from the reduced characters' perspective.

Andargor

 

[diaglo]

I'm thinking of adding a puzzle to my latest dungeon which requires the shrinking of one or more players to an inch high or so. I'm not quite sure what mechanic I'm going to use to accomplish this...

hey, if it works i would definitely pay to see that.

 

[Particle_Man]

I'm thinking of adding a puzzle to my latest dungeon which requires the shrinking of one or more players to an inch high or so.

Uh....I think you mean the shrinking of one or more characters, unless you are, in fact, Dr. Evil.

 

[JChung2003]

Does the player have to do something of a physical nature while that size? If not, one could assume gaseous form and reform on the other side of the 1" high hole in the wall.