wood shape

calighis

First Post
Had an argument at the table that lasted 20 minutes over this spell.
Is it possible to trap a target in wood without allowing a reflex save?
The spell says you can shape it into whatever you want. So the druid used it to trap the main bad guy in a six inch wrap of wood. To me this seems like an overly powerful effect for a second level spell. It totally ended a 14th level NPC caster. Any thoughts?
 

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A 14th level caster couldn't blast his way out of...wood?!

EDIT: Looked at spell description. Wow, that's actually really clever. Yeah, it should probably give a reflex save. Either that, or expand the "moving parts" clause to cover such fine detail as a body wrap, so there's at least a 30% chance of failure. Beyond that...there must be some low level verbal only spells to help out. Flaming Weapons is a level 1 swift, it could at least set the thing on fire...
 
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StreamOfTheSky said:
A 14th level caster couldn't blast his way out of...wood?!

EDIT: Looked at spell description. Wow, that's actually really clever. Yeah, it should probably give a reflex save. Either that, or expand the "moving parts" clause to cover such fine detail as a body wrap, so there's at least a 30% chance of failure. Beyond that...there must be some low level verbal only spells to help out. Flaming Weapons is a level 1 swift, it could at least set the thing on fire...

No he covered that... the wrap was air tight muffling him and preventing him from making any gestures. After all it does say pretty much any shape that you desire.

Yeah a reflex save is good form and seems to be well in order here. I'll make sure to get back to the group on this.
 

I think I would have required a Craft check for such fine detail....
With a high (next to impossible?) DC.

If these kind of spells could disable an opponent like that, why bother with higher lvl spells?

Herzog
 

calighis said:
No he covered that... the wrap was air tight muffling him and preventing him from making any gestures. After all it does say pretty much any shape that you desire.

It also says "While it is possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth, fine detail isn’t possible. " While wraping around an enemy to keep them out of combat for a couple of rounds seems fine (with a save), the detail necessary to create an airtight seal or encase someone close enough that they cannot move should not be allowed.
 


What exactly did the druid use to shape in the first place?

If he was standing on a wooden floor, then the wood was most likely either too small (wooden boards) to use in that manner, or too large (big logs) to be effected by the spell. A 14th level caster could affect 24 cubic feet of wood....that's a medium-ish tree.

And the spell says nothing about the wood moving wherever you want it too, which by my interpretation means it would form towards the center of the piece of wood or it would have to have some sort of arm reaching out that could support its own weight and still make it to the target...I would call that too complex.


If the guy was sitting on a wooden throne, and didnt have any guards at his door, and the druid managed to sneak in win initiative move all the way over to the mage and touch the throne, and the 14th level caster didn't have a dimension door or teleport or cloak of the mountebank, or any of the jillion other ways casters have to save themselves from grapples, then he should still be allowed a reflex save. If he fails that too, then he got what he deserved.

*edit*On second thought, instead of a reflex save, I would allow the wood to start forming, and then as soon as it came into contact with the mage I would allow the wood a Saving throw as an attended object using the mages will save since the spell description says 'Will(object)' If the save fails, the wood could either revert to normal or simply stop as is at the DMs discretion.

The spell is fairly obviously meant to be used for utility rather than offense, so I would be pretty harsh in interpretations that allow for offensive uses.

Use it like it was meant to be used...to disarm traps with wood parts, open doors without rogues. Bypass traps on wooden chests. Cast a cloudkill into a room then seal the door with woodshape so they can't escape. Destroy the bad guys wagon by giving him a square wagon wheel. Ready an action to shape a tree that your right next to into a small barricade to keep you from being hit by the charging minotaur. But don't try to be cheezy and cause no save insta-kills with low level spells.
 
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hornedturtle said:
I don't think the person getting trapped would want to set something wrapped around them on fire...

If he's high level and it's his only way out, why not? I've constantly seen enemies set my web spells on fire on purpose, just to get free from them.
 

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