Ring of Invisibility

[Jimlock]

Face wall.
Place hands over mouth.
Whisper command word.
Refresh duration.
No need to worry about guards overhearing, unless you're less than a foot away.

Doesn't this seem to you as a lame way of resolving a challenge? The player(s) should think of intelligent ways to bypass relevant obstacles, and IMO this just isn't one.
Moreover:

I always assumed command words were the same volume level as the vocal component of a spell. I recall reading that vocal components have the same Listen DC as the sounds of battle, but I cannot find where the heck I saw that now. All the components section says is: "A verbal component is a spoken incantation. To provide a verbal component, you must be able to speak in a strong voice."

This



Plus:

Command Word
If no activation method is suggested either in the magic item description or by the nature of the item, assume that a command word is needed to activate it. Command word activation means that a character speaks the word and the item activates. No other special knowledge is needed.

A command word can be a real word, but when this is the case, the holder of the item runs the risk of activating the item accidentally by speaking the word in normal conversation. More often, the command word is some seemingly nonsensical word, or a word or phrase from an ancient language no longer in common use. Activating a command word magic item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Excuse my reasoning, but to me it seems that:

the holder of the item runs the risk of activating the item accidentally by speaking the word in normal conversation.
=
the holder of the item does not run the risk of activating the item accidentally by whispering it.

 

[Sekhmet]

Doesn't this seem to you as a lame way of resolving a challenge? The player(s) should think of intelligent ways to bypass relevant obstacles, and IMO this just isn't one.

Sometimes, the most intelligent thing to do is also the simplest. If you're in a bad situation that can be resolved by whispering or by concocting an elaborate plan to somehow sneak passed (with a low move silently and an armor check penalty), find a nook that you can duck into, wait for the guard to pass, and then finally speak "'ello Guv'na!", it should be assumed that the most intelligent thing to do is the whispering bit.

Excuse my reasoning, but to me it seems that the holder of the item does not run the risk of activating the item accidentally by whispering it.

It seems to me that if you were having a whispered conversation with a person and you said "Jellyfish", which just happens to be the command word for your Ring of the Ram, it should still hit your conversational partner in the chest so hard he dies or gets flung into the wall.
The same risk applies. If the command word is a common word, you're going to accidentally use it at some point.

As for the notion that command words must be spoken as loudly as a spell component, there is no rule or suggestion thereof that addresses it.
However, with the limited power of such items in regards to a caster of equal level, I see no reason to limit them in the same fashion.

Also, a DC20 listen check (15 for whispers, 5 for distracted listener, +1/10foot distance) is not terribly hard to overcome for a player character (although for the typical lv1-2 Guard, very difficult). There really is no reason to nerf an item that is already overpriced for what it does.

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Just wondering, what would you do with lets say, a ring of silence?

I'd personally somehow get it to follow my commands even when used on another person, then somehow get my aunt to wear it or something. That way when I don't want to listen to her I just mumble some incoherent words and she shuts up.

 

[Jimlock]

Sometimes, the most intelligent thing to do is also the simplest.

Oh, I agree. However I do not agree that this is such a case. It sounds more an excuse for bad play to me, but perhaps that is just me.

As for the notion that command words must be spoken as loudly as a spell component, there is no rule or suggestion thereof that addresses it.

It's a POWER WORD for god's sake, you are supposed to utter the damn thing in a clear voice.

Perhaps it's a mater of personal taste, but to me, imagining scenes where characters whisper command words, seems just as lame as whispering a spell.

No one said you have to shout it, but you have to say to it... and go with the challenge of doing it without being heard.

Ofcourse, as you say, RAW does not specify it, therefore by RAW you are good to go with a whisper.
Every group plays as it likes

 

[Sekhmet]

It's a POWER WORD for god's sake, you are supposed to utter the damn thing in a clear voice.

Command word, not Power Word. Easy mistake to make, but a dangerous one.

Every group plays as it likes

Word.

Oh, I agree. However I do not agree that this is such a case. It sounds more an excuse for bad play to me, but perhaps that is just me.

When I envision a person using invisibility to sneak through a guarded fort, I absolutely feel being quiet is the epitome of "good play".

 

[Trance-Zg]

I always assumed command words were the same volume level as the vocal component of a spell. I recall reading that vocal components have the same Listen DC as the sounds of battle, but I cannot find where the heck I saw that now. All the components section says is: "A verbal component is a spoken incantation. To provide a verbal component, you must be able to speak in a strong voice."

DC's are in RuC, p114.

DC of battle is -10 and for people talking is 0.

I would say that DC for spell casting/command word is 0, same as talking because I don't think that when cast a spell you shout your lungs out.

DC -10 for battle is I think for dozens of people clashing steel on steel, shouting commands, screaming and a few catapults for safe measure.

One spell caster is DC 0, but 50 of them casting at the same time is DC -10.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Fair enough, DC 0 sounds fine.

As for the activation of a Silence item...there ARE mental activation items, especially in MIC. I should check what the Ring of Silent Spells has for activation...

 

[Trance-Zg]

P.S.

for activation I would say that ring of invisibility is always active, dispels on attack and recasts it self automatic on start on your next round.

that would be worth the cost.

 

[Jimlock]

Command word, not Power Word. Easy mistake to make, but a dangerous one.

LOL, agreed.

When I envision a person using invisibility to sneak through a guarded fort, I absolutely feel being quiet is the epitome of "good play".

Me too. Moreover, my epitome of "good play" involves other things as well.

In my book, a character who does a such thing does not hide, (which involves the risk of being seen), instead he uses a powerful magical item that makes him completely disappear, thus eliminating the risk of being spotted.
However this powerful magical item has a down side. Every three minutes he has to speak a word or lose the advantage.

Now this factor is gonna make the player think more strategically of his approach: Perhaps three minutes is enough to tip toe in and tip toe out, having done what he was supposed to. Still if those three minutes are not enough, he's got to find ways of speaking the word unnoticed.

Perhaps he can coordinate it with a door's thud... or the ring of a bell...(like indy does with the seal)... or in a noisy room where a bunch of people are discussing... or do it while the wagon's wheels scritch, as the convoy leaves the castle... or simply he can do it when no one is around, in an empty room, an empty hall etc etc... If there are patrols taking turns, perhaps he has to count the time and act accordingly.

...In fact, this single factor, opens a rich chest for "good play" as you said it.

I am not saying that you can't have a good play without those things, of course you can, I'm just trying to explain my view/opinion on a "good play" as you put it, in respect to our common example.

Moreover, I believe that it is the downsides of situations that are gonna make for a better game. And this specific downside, to me, spices up things a great deal.

...One other thing. If you think that 3 minutes is too little for the given price, just think of what you could have achieved in real life with a Ring of Invisibility that expires after 3 minutes.

3 minutes, is a LONG time.

One single example that springs to mind:

You enter a mall casually. you enter the WC and you activate it while it's empty. You leave the WC and reach the Apple store. You stuff a dozen ipads in a bag that you already carry while people are distracted. You leave the Apple store and you go home. There you offer all 12 ipads to your girlfriend as a present for starting her dance classes. You know she has just bought a new collection of plates as you also know how she would love the ipads as sous-plats for her plate collection....

 

[Jimlock]

It's unbelievable how one can find ANYTHING on the internet.