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View Full Version : A few questions which came up during play [3.5]



Jacque
2010-07-15, 07:20 AM
Hey all,

Me and my group are playing a level 20 scenario. It's the first time we've ever played this high level and this high fantasy (they got to pick items for the wealth stated for a level 20 in the DMG). This has brought up a few issues:

Ring of Spell-Battle (MiC): Concerning its counterspelling ability (and redirect ability for that matter), if an enemy is standing 70ft. away and casts imprisonment, cause serious wounds or a similar spell, moves closer and then discharges the spell with a touch attack, can the wearer of the ring then counter and/or redirect the spell?

Androsphinx (MM): The Androsphinx has a roar ability which damages items: The force of this roar is so great that it deals 50 points of damage to any stone or crystalline object within 90 feet. Magic items and held or carried items can avoid damage with a DC 19 Reflex save.
If an item fails its save, would the roar then practically not almost always destroy the item? Or is there a better way to handle this?

Thanks

AmberVael
2010-07-15, 07:28 AM
Ring of Spell-Battle (MiC): Concerning its counterspelling ability (and redirect ability for that matter), if an enemy is standing 70ft. away and casts imprisonment, cause serious wounds or a similar spell, moves closer and then discharges the spell with a touch attack, can the wearer of the ring then counter and/or redirect the spell?
No. You can't counterspell something that has already been cast.


Androsphinx (MM): The Androsphinx has a roar ability which damages items: The force of this roar is so great that it deals 50 points of damage to any stone or crystalline object within 90 feet. Magic items and held or carried items can avoid damage with a DC 19 Reflex save.
If an item fails its save, would the roar then practically not almost always destroy the item? Or is there a better way to handle this?

Thanks

50 damage is going to destroy most stone and crystalline items, yeah. Assuming they fail their saves, of course (and attended items can use their owner's saves, remember).

That said, the sphinx in question will have to use its ability three times in one encounter (and it can only roar three times per day). Given possible character knowledge of the creature, any other actions the sphinx might have taken that would have used the roar, and the potential urge of the sphinx to try and save its roar until really needed, I highly doubt this is going to be a normal occurrence.

sofawall
2010-07-15, 07:29 AM
I'd just like to point out that metal has a crystalline structure.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-15, 07:31 AM
Hey all,

Me and my group are playing a level 20 scenario. It's the first time we've ever played this high level and this high fantasy (they got to pick items for the wealth stated for a level 20 in the DMG). This has brought up a few issues:

Ring of Spell-Battle (MiC): Concerning its counterspelling ability (and redirect ability for that matter), if an enemy is standing 70ft. away and casts imprisonment, cause serious wounds or a similar spell, moves closer and then discharges the spell with a touch attack, can the wearer of the ring then counter and/or redirect the spell?

Discharging a spell doesn't trigger a counterspell. Only casting it does. The spell is already cast by the time the caster is discharging it.


Androsphinx (MM): The Androsphinx has a roar ability which damages items: The force of this roar is so great that it deals 50 points of damage to any stone or crystalline object within 90 feet. Magic items and held or carried items can avoid damage with a DC 19 Reflex save.
If an item fails its save, would the roar then practically not almost always destroy the item? Or is there a better way to handle this?

Thanks

Does it says it bypasses hardness? If not, it will still apply. And I'm fairly sure it's the entire point of the roar to break just about anything nearby. You don't want to bring your Evening Tea China with you to fight one of those.

Runestar
2010-07-15, 07:37 AM
Who is going to fail a reflex dc19 save at lv20? :smalltongue:

Sure, you could always advance its HD, give it ability focus, boost its con and stuff...:smallamused:

Jacque
2010-07-15, 07:43 AM
It is a paladin's mount, has boosted HDs, magic items and ability focus feat, so it's not a reflex DC 19 in this particular case. Although I doubt many of them will fail their DC 24 reflex save, but they have a lot of magic items all in all, so you'll never know. At least a few natural 1s should occur.

subject42
2010-07-15, 08:43 AM
It is a paladin's mount, has boosted HDs, magic items and ability focus feat, so it's not a reflex DC 19 in this particular case. Although I doubt many of them will fail their DC 24 reflex save, but they have a lot of magic items all in all, so you'll never know. At least a few natural 1s should occur.

Isn't there a feat in savage species that lets you exclude allies from effects like that?

AmberVael
2010-07-15, 09:47 AM
It is a paladin's mount, has boosted HDs, magic items and ability focus feat, so it's not a reflex DC 19 in this particular case. Although I doubt many of them will fail their DC 24 reflex save, but they have a lot of magic items all in all, so you'll never know. At least a few natural 1s should occur.

If it is a paladin mount of a PC, just order it not to use its roar three times in the same encounter. Problem solved.

Jacque
2010-07-15, 11:24 AM
I have no problem getting it to roar. I just wanted to hear, if anyone had an easy way to solve the hundred magic items which needs to make a save. I'll so far go with save or destroyed unless the player wants to look up the hardness and hitpoints of the item.

Nidogg
2010-07-15, 11:54 AM
Well if you really want to put the number of saves down, two solutions present themselves

#1: One save for all items
Pro's only one dice to roll
Cons Fail your save and most of your items will go bye bye

#2 Roar deals damage to [insert dice size here] number of items
pros less dice to roll, roar only damages one item at a time
cons, downplays the roar

Milskidasith
2010-07-15, 11:57 AM
I don't think it's ever a con to lower the power of something that only exists to screw over your players magic items. Hell, if the roar did enough damage it would be better to reroll than try to walk around without magic, at least at high levels.

Lhurgyof
2010-07-15, 12:09 PM
Oh boy.
Have 'em roll up those saves one by one.
And it's DC 19 so that unattended items still have a chance. xD
And it should help your party deal without having magic items. I remember I went through that in a party once (giving up magic items). It got us to rely on our innate abilities more.

Jacque
2010-07-15, 04:23 PM
I plan on letting the PCs roll for each of their item without me having to supervise them, so they can roll individually at the same time. This shouldn't take long, and I trust my players enough to not cheat. We play with a Hero Point system (fate point, fortune point etc.) which allows them to make a reroll, so I don't expect them to lose any significant items. Also, all their items in their portable hole and bag of holdings should not be affected by the roar, so this significantly reduces the number of magic items to be rolled for.



(and attended items can use their owner's saves, remember).


Can anyone point me to the source of this?