Two Questions - When Evard's Attacks, Tumbling and Flight

[Abraxas]

My friendly neighborhood DM asked me to pose these questions for him.

1. The description for EBT says: "Each round that a tentacle is not already grappling someone or something, starting the round after it appears, it makes a grapple attack at a random creature or object within 10 feet of it."

Does this mean that the tentacles make no attacks until the round after they appear? OR Do all tentacles make an attack when the spell is cast and unattached tentacles begin making random grappling attacks in subsequent rounds?

2. Can a character/creature use the tumble skill in mid air while flying (either naturally or while under the effects of a fly spell)?

I've already given my opinions on these questions to him but there is some disagreement among the members of my gaming group. The DM is looking for additional insight before making a final decision.

Thanks

 

[hong]

My friendly neighborhood DM asked me to pose these questions for him.

1. The description for EBT says: "Each round that a tentacle is not already grappling someone or something, starting the round after it appears, it makes a grapple attack at a random creature or object within 10 feet of it."

Does this mean that the tentacles make no attacks until the round after they appear?

Yes. Basically everyone has one round to get out of the minefield before things start blowing up.

2. Can a character/creature use the tumble skill in mid air while flying (either naturally or while under the effects of a fly spell)?

Don't see why not. One of the PCs in our RttToEE group used it to great effect last week.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I would say yes to the first question, and no to the second one. I wouldn't allow anyone to use tumble when flying. In my book, they need to be able to bounce and roll, unpredictably changing their direction.

I could imagine that someone might create a "jinking" skill for doing the same sort of thing while flying, and I would allow that... cross class for everyone that isn't a native flyer, so while pixies and will-o-thewisps could be great at it, people using a fly spell never will be.

 

[Abraxas]

I wouldn't allow anyone to use tumble when flying. In my book, they need to be able to bounce and roll, unpredictably changing their direction.

This is similar to the argument one of the other players in our group has made. The implied part of this argument that I don't agree with is that you need periodic contact with a solid surface to twist, turn and roll unpredictably.

The discussion in our group focused primarily on tumbling while under the effects of the fly spell so I'm going to focus on that.

The fly spell gives the character good maneuverability (see pg 69 of the DMG for the specifics of that level of maneuverability) and a movement rate 1.5 to 6 times greater than normal (45 ft while climbing, 180 ft while diving vs 30 ft for an unencumbered human). Flying takes no more thought than walking. Nothing in the fly spell indicates that you have to be stretched out like superman to fly (In a particular game a DM may require this, but it is not part of the spell as written).

So what really limits a flying character from performing multiple bodily contortions (twisting and rolling) while flying? Why is this so different from land based tumbling where the character is still maneuvering through 5x5x5 ft cubes as he passes an opponent? The flying character may actually be more unpredictable because he can ignore the effects of gravity on the directions of his movements and, at worst, is moving faster than his land based counterpart.