Silence Spell Saving Throw

[Zook]

In a recent session, one of our PCs cast a Silence spell on the bad guys. The bad guys were not all caught within its scope, and one of them cast Silence on our party. My character has a very good will save, so, when it was my initiative, I asked if I could make a will save. The player who cast the original spell said 'no' because the save does not apply except when it is cast on a creature and only that creature gets the save. After checking the text of the spell, the DM agreed.

Although I went along with the DM's decision and I was able to move out of the silence zones, I'm not convinced that this interpretation is correct. It seems to make a 2nd level spell a little too powerful and the only justification I can see for this interpretation is the positioning of the sentence, "An unwilling creature can attempt a Will save to negate the spell and can use spell resistance, if any."

We're a 10th level party, and I've never bothered to prepare Silence spells before because I thought they'd be unlikely to have much impact against enemy spellcasters we were likely to encounter. Should I change my tactics or encourage the DM have another look with repect to future sessions (I have no interest in changing the past)?

 

[dcollins]

The ruling was correct. Silence is a surprisingly powerful spell against casters -- some think too powerful.

 

[Scion]

silence is an 'extremely' strong spell as written.

But yes, as written the only thing that gets a save is what it is cast on, not what happens to be in the area.

It is a very odd spell, more of an abjuration than an illusion really.

this thread might help
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=71966

 

[Laman Stahros]

I would have to agree with your DM. The silence spell is one of those tricky spells that players both love and hate. Look at it this way, (my player's have used this before), if you cast a silence spell on a coin and then throw it towards the enemy spellcaster, why would he get a saving throw?

Oh, by the way, welcome to the boards.

 

[Zathraas]

It surprises me that after the many excellent updates they made for 3.0 and 3.5 that Silence is still listed as an Illusion: Glamer. If it only tricked people into believing there was no sound then that would make sense, but the spell desciption ends with "This spell provides a defense against SONIC or language-based attacks" which means that spells like Shatter and Shout which cause damage from sonic vibration are nullified in the radius of the silence. However, a Glamer is a type of illusion that "changes a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear". How can you trick an object into thinking the sonic wave that is bursting through the room isn't really there?

Laman, I agree with you that it should be an Abjuration.

 

[Scion]

Laman, I agree with you that it should be an Abjuration.

My name isnt laman

 

[Thanee]

Abjuration? Shouldn't that be Transmutation, rather?

Anyways, Silence is only really nasty in combination with movement restriction (i.e. grapple).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Scion]

Depends on which effect you are focusing on, it is a very odd spell.

Also, only dangerous with movement restriction? I suppose you dont mind the near auto counterspell effect then.

This spell has all kinds of in combat and out of combat uses, some of which are very powerful indeed. Overall it is just too strong.

mmm.. tanglefoot bag + silence = bad news for casters.

 

[Thanee]

Depends on which effect you are focusing on, it is a very odd spell.

Well... on the effect, that it alters the sound... the other stuff is just a result from that.

Also, only dangerous with movement restriction? I suppose you dont mind the near auto counterspell effect then.

Well, if you look at it closely, spellcasting has some heavy restrictions on movement, too. You simply cannot move in the instant when you cast the spell.

Overall it is just too strong.

And that from you...

mmm.. tanglefoot bag + silence = bad news for casters.

Yep, that's pretty nasty, indeed.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Scion]

Any action in which you do not move means your movement is restricted? Woo! now I can 'partial charge' anytime I use my move action for something other than moving

Also, the spell protects vs sonic based attacks, protection tends to be abjuration.

But like I said, it depends on which part you focus on the most, making sound stop or defending vs sonic based attacks or the illusion descriptor (really, out of all of them that one makes the least amount of sense).

I've never used the tanglefoot bad + silence in any of my games, but I threatened to do so in one, the dm read over silence and quickly banned it from the game before it could be used..lol.. but then he was an odd guy, I'd prefer to just modify it very slightly.