Reading Scrolls in armour

[hong]

These rods would make the scroll sturdier and would facilitate one-handed reading:

Why, the possibilities are endless!

 

[mikebr99]

Why, the possibilities are endless!

And so is this thread... it would seem.

 

[smetzger]

Why, the possibilities are endless!

Yeah, I just paste my scrolls to the back of my shield

Who says scrolls had to be rolled up?

 

[LokiDR]

A perfectly legal abuse of the invisibility spell? Please elaborate

Without giving up any details of the modual, here is what I can say. I believe it was a core modual, not a regional, so it was more "offical". The PCs had to go through difficult terrain to deal with the problem they were hired for. There was only one path the PCs could follow, so no avoiding encounters.

The NPCs had set a fairly complex series of ambushes. So the PCs used a scout with a high hide score to find the first ambush. When this was found, all the PCs used invisibility, by potion, scroll or from memory, to walk past all the encounters, and study all the ambushes. The NPCs didn't succeed any listen checks.

When it was done, the PCs had ambushed every ambush, avoided every trap, and used the NPC's own animals against them. It was all perfectly legal use of spells and tactics. But it made the whole thing too easy.

 

[LokiDR]

Use Magic Device

I seem to recall some one mentioning that Use Magic Device never has a spell failure chance. If that is the ruling, why should some one who does not have to "fake it" have more penalties? If the rule for fighter wizards is changed, it seems that the ruling on Use Magic Device would have to be as well.

P.S. Is there a convenient way to browse the Sage Advice online? I saw something about it on wizard site a few days ago, but I can't find it now.

 

[Petrosian]

When it was done, the PCs had ambushed every ambush, avoided every trap, and used the NPC's own animals against them. It was all perfectly legal use of spells and tactics. But it made the whole thing too easy.

Well, i gotta say, this sounds like good tactics and excellent play, not abuse.

Abuse should not be defined by how easy it makes something.

Sounds to me like a porrly designed set of challenges if they all allowed as easy a "cook" as this.

 

[mikebr99]

Without giving up any details of the modual, here is what I can say. I believe it was a core modual, not a regional, so it was more "offical". The PCs had to go through difficult terrain to deal with the problem they were hired for. There was only one path the PCs could follow, so no avoiding encounters.

The NPCs had set a fairly complex series of ambushes. So the PCs used a scout with a high hide score to find the first ambush. When this was found, all the PCs used invisibility, by potion, scroll or from memory, to walk past all the encounters, and study all the ambushes. The NPCs didn't succeed any listen checks.

When it was done, the PCs had ambushed every ambush, avoided every trap, and used the NPC's own animals against them. It was all perfectly legal use of spells and tactics. But it made the whole thing too easy.

It may have been easy for them combat wise, but they did spend alot of resources to get it that way... I'd give them extra (exp.) for good tactics.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

The NPCs had set a fairly complex series of ambushes. So the PCs used a scout with a high hide score to find the first ambush. When this was found, all the PCs used invisibility, by potion, scroll or from memory, to walk past all the encounters, and study all the ambushes. The NPCs didn't succeed any listen checks.

Abuse? That is how you are supposed to use Invisibility.

Those guys were clever. All those Invisibilities could have been Bull's Strength, Endurance, or Aid. Trying to sneak by can be risky. Something like a trained dog might sniff you out and then you get forced into combat, having burned through a bunch of spells before the fighting even started. Take a risk, you have earned the rewards, I say.

LokiDR, you have to be a pretty good level before your Use Magic Device skill check doesn't fail regularly anyway. Including an arcane spell failure chance is just nickel and diming the character.

 

[LokiDR]

That is how you are supposed to use Invisibility

I agree. The problem was that either the modual write didn't anticipate that, or the DM didn't think fast enough to make the process risky. The PCs didn't have much risk, they knew it. It was smart of them, but the party that doesn't think of that, or does not have the resources to do it, is in a bad place. We are not talking about high level characters, it was an APL 4.

In either case, this use of invis is like the spell casting fighter, like using Use Magic Device to not have arcane failure. They are perfectly legal but make a number of situations easier than they were intended to be. If you closed a situation like the fighter/mage, I think you are looking at decreasing the power balance of the game.

 

[Pielorinho]

Originally posted by Pielorinho:
"These rods would make the scroll sturdier and would facilitate one-handed reading:"


Why, the possibilities are endless!

Hong, dammit, you're supposed to be holding onto the SCROLL's rod, not

--ah, nevermind.

Daniel