PDA

View Full Version : Seeing through earth [3.5]



Ungvar
2009-06-28, 09:43 PM
Does anyone know what kind of vision or other sensory apparatus earth elementals use when navigating through earth/rock via earth glide? They don't have any special senses listed, but it's hard to believe they are doomed to just wander around aimlessly until they actually go above ground.:smallconfused:

Brock Samson
2009-06-29, 01:03 AM
That's a good question... I have no idea, anyone?

Sstoopidtallkid
2009-06-29, 01:05 AM
I'm fairly certain that's a mistake(well, more of a BLATANT OVERSIGHT, WOTC), especially since I've heard it on here before, but I don't know what the fix is.

Yora
2009-06-29, 01:12 AM
Tremmorsense would be a start.

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-06-29, 01:15 AM
Yup. I just always give earth elementals the ability to see "ahead" inside the earth up to 60 feet and tremorsense to 60 feet.

I would also give anyone using the earth glide spell (but not burrow), the ability to see 30 feet "ahead" inside the earth.

Zaq
2009-06-29, 01:26 AM
Asherati, from Sandstorm, have the ability to see through the sand in which they're swimming. However, the presence of this specific mention of it only serves to make the absence of it stand out even more in the case of earth elementals/xorns/what have you.

Emy
2009-06-29, 01:29 AM
This thread appears to have ignored the obvious: Earth Dreamer.

Ungvar
2009-06-29, 08:22 PM
Thanks, guys, the comments have been helpful. I think the solution I'm going to go with is something that came to me while reading your posts. Let me know if you foresee any problems with it:

Creatures using earth glide or xorn movement etc have " Earth Vision 60' ". Meaning that, while using earth glide, they can see through the earth or stone as if it were air, but they CANNOT see through air or water. So an earth elemental traveling under the surface of the ground could look up and see through the rock, but the air above the surface would be opaque to him. Once the elemental surfaced, it would switch to normal vision, able to see through air and water using the visual spectrum of light, but unable to see through stone.

I think that would explain how elementals navigate through rock, but it wouldn't let them see through stone walls of a dungeon. And it seems a bit less powerful than tremorsense, which seems appropriate to me.

Are there any balance issues with this?

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-06-30, 08:25 AM
Thanks, guys, the comments have been helpful. I think the solution I'm going to go with is something that came to me while reading your posts. Let me know if you foresee any problems with it:

Creatures using earth glide or xorn movement etc have " Earth Vision 60' ". Meaning that, while using earth glide, they can see through the earth or stone as if it were air, but they CANNOT see through air or water. So an earth elemental traveling under the surface of the ground could look up and see through the rock, but the air above the surface would be opaque to him. Once the elemental surfaced, it would switch to normal vision, able to see through air and water using the visual spectrum of light, but unable to see through stone.

I think that would explain how elementals navigate through rock, but it wouldn't let them see through stone walls of a dungeon. And it seems a bit less powerful than tremorsense, which seems appropriate to me.

Are there any balance issues with this?

Sounds good. If the party wizards small earth elemental familiar is sent to scout the dungeon, he can get the general layout without, say, accidently running into your lava pit. But if it wants to see what is in each room, the vulnerable small earth elemental familiar is going to have to stick his "neck" out.

dooplex
2010-04-16, 07:35 PM
Thanks, guys, the comments have been helpful. I think the solution I'm going to go with is something that came to me while reading your posts. Let me know if you foresee any problems with it:

Creatures using earth glide or xorn movement etc have " Earth Vision 60' ". Meaning that, while using earth glide, they can see through the earth or stone as if it were air, but they CANNOT see through air or water. So an earth elemental traveling under the surface of the ground could look up and see through the rock, but the air above the surface would be opaque to him. Once the elemental surfaced, it would switch to normal vision, able to see through air and water using the visual spectrum of light, but unable to see through stone.

I think that would explain how elementals navigate through rock, but it wouldn't let them see through stone walls of a dungeon. And it seems a bit less powerful than tremorsense, which seems appropriate to me.

Are there any balance issues with this?

Resurrecting (unearthing? :smallsmile:) an old post...
{Scrubbed. Yeah, please don't do that - not even when a pun is involved.}

Eldonauran
2010-04-16, 07:44 PM
I think this works well, except for the following conundrum: How then does an Earth Gliding creature determine whether the medium on the other side of the earth/stone is safe to enter? If it cannot "see" that it is about to enter a frozen lake, how does it know not to go there?

I would rule, as a DM, that whatever senses the creature had that let it perceive 'solid matter' as open air, would extend 5ft into (or out of) whatever it was looking into (or out of) but only when the creature is adjacent to that space (otherwise, it would appear as 'black space'). It would know if the immediate area was safe, but nothing past that. Probably give any creatures in that open space concealment as far as the 'earth-sense' creature is concerned, until it is out of the 'solid matter'

Makes sense to me. You would know if its lava, water, acid, etc past the edge of the earth.