Tensir's Floating disk of do everything + Cranky DM

[Nail]

Depending upon interpretation of the rules, a 1st-level ritual is competitive with a 20th-level magic item, Nail. This suggests to me that the ritual is broken or being misinterpreted.

.....with the best bet being "misinterpreted", with an emphasis on "reading the ritual description only once and then winging it". As I pointed out above, the TFD floats 1 foot above the ground. Any other location doesn’t work (water, tightrope, your grandma’s shawl, etc).

Again, there’s not much to interprete here…except for whether or not the ritual caster can ride the disk while commanding it (using a move action) to move. Perfectly reasonable people can disagree on this point without throwing the rest of the ritual description into doubt! That is, even if the ritual caster can ride upon it, he still is only 1 foot above the ground, and is still not allowed to float over a spider silk strand or sail over a 50 foot-deep chasm.

And really, why should it matter (much) if the ritual caster should float 1 foot over the ground? Do you have that many pressure plate traps in your dungeons?

If you’d like – especially as there is language of this sort in the Flying Carpet description - insert house rules that assign combat penalties to any who ride the TFD. (Given the size of the disk, it seems only one person could ride it in any event.)

However, I personally find many of the uses of TFD being described to be distasteful or problematic, if not because they are unreasonable then because they emulate a much more expensive player-capability too closely.

Perhaps you could be more specific. Many uses???

Reading through your posts, you seem to find allowing the TFD to carry people "distasteful". Why, specifically? Is it because a Flying Carpet can also carry people? Other than what the two things can carry, they have precious few similarities. One flies, the other doesn't. Already a large difference!

 

[renau1g]

TFD is a pretty common ritual that many wizards take, but mostly because it's pretty useful, even discounting the mount-like qualities of it. I look at it in relation to the other lvl 1 rituals:

Make Whole (doesn't happen enough, in my games anyways, especially with Sunder removed), Comprehend Languages.... can be useful in the most narrow circumstances, Magic Mouth, Secret Page, and Silence seem better suited for either NPC's or villians.

I personally find it to have the most utility, due to its length and multitude of uses. If a PC wants to ride it why not? It's not much better than walking (except against pressure traps)

 

[Nail]

If a PC wants to ride it why not? It's not much better than walking (except against pressure traps)

To be fair: if the wizard can ride TFD, he can float (1 foot above the ground) over other hazards on the ground, like red-hot coals spread over the floor, poison-coated spikes driven into the ground, or a slime-covered stone hallway.

So there is some degree of hazard protection afforded by a ridden TFD.

....however, if -as the DM - you find yourself unable to challenge the PCs with TFD......

...then it's your right to interpret the ritual description as not allowing the caster himself to ride it. That's still within the rules, methinks. I don't think there's any interpretation of the RAW that forbids a different creature (of appropriate weight) from riding it.

 

[Rowe]

You know that in Drow in their capital city, the well to do lords of the land so to speak, they all ride Tensir's floating disc instead of walking. in the dark elf trilogy comic i clearly remember seeing Drizzt's mom riding a disc around the city.

also a bit to clarify

* A wizard and a cleric both summon TFD. they place a 3'x6' board between the two. assuming both characters roll 20's on their arcane checks, and the discs can support 2k lbs a pop. 2 tons is allot of weight to be able to carry.


I would like a WoTC ruling on whether it will hover across water. just to absolutely remove all opinion on the mater. because if the rules don't explicitly say something is not aloud, it can pretty much be left up to DM decision on whether its possible. i had to show my DM the picture out of the comic that showed Drow riding on those things before he would let my character float on it.

 

[doctorhook]

Well, it appears that I've been roundly disagreed with regarding my point, "OMG! TFD is soo OP!!!1" Having had time to consider it, I've decided that, as theNater and others pointed out, the Flying Carpet has a major advantage over TFD, thanks to two factors: 1.) 49 more feet of altitude, and 2.) Not being tied to having ground beneath it.

I'm still of the opinion that TFD is somewhat more powerful/useful than most other 1st-level rituals, however, I believe I've been convinced that it's not strictly overpowered.

For the time being, I'm going to allow whatever uses my players think of with the RAW. That said, I like the houserule Nail suggested: combat penalties to characters riding the disc, on par with those of the Flying Carpet (-2 AC and Reflex). This seems fair and reasonable to me, and it will be my only house rule on this matter.

Besides, every DM makes a bad call once in a while!