PDA

View Full Version : (D&D 3.5) Thoughts on Sending



Abies
2010-08-28, 11:20 PM
I'm looking at the spell description for Sending, and a couple things occur to me:


Sending
Evocation
Level: Clr 4, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: See text
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round; see text
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You contact a particular creature with which you are familiar and send a short message of twenty-five words or less to the subject. The subject recognizes you if it knows you. It can answer in like manner immediately. A creature with an Intelligence score as low as 1 can understand the sending, though the subject’s ability to react is limited as normal by its Intelligence score. Even if the sending is received, the subject is not obligated to act upon it in any manner.

If the creature in question is not on the same plane of existence as you are, there is a 5% chance that the sending does not arrive. (Local conditions on other planes may worsen this chance considerably.)

Arcane Material Component
A short piece of fine copper wire.

The target is listed only as "One Creature", do not the souls that become petitioners when they move on to the afterlife still count as creatures? ASnd therefore by that extension can you not use Sending to speak with the dead?

This seems like a better way to get a complex answer to a question from a non-hostile deceased person. You don't even need the body to be intact like you would with Speak with Dead.

Heck, you could directly call a god with only a 5% chance of the message not arriving and without the pesky chance for stat loss that's built into Contact Other Plane. Then again, cold calling a deity may not be the best course of action in most cases.

Additionally, it says a creature of Int 1 can understand the message. So if I were to send my cat a series of messages describing string theory, would the 1 Int cat then understand string theory (to the extent it had been described)? Or is that simply meant to mean the cat would know who was talking to him?

Its also a great way to harass people who are otherwise hidden or magically protected. Your hated enemy is hiding out with Mindblank active at all times? Well at least you can still make crank calls. Private Sanctum also specifically does not block Sending. I'm not sure how it would be useful, but getting a 25-word message every 10 minutes from a guy you hate could tend to get annoying. Espically if it just pops into your brain, no way to stop it.

balistafreak
2010-08-29, 12:16 AM
I believe a plane that holds the souls of the dead or the private residence of a GOD counts as a "local condition" that might worsen the chance of contact considerably. :smalltongue:

Good call on the annoyance thing, though.

The Glyphstone
2010-08-29, 02:44 AM
Now I'm picturing magical spam telemarketers.

"Hello, Sir/Madam/Other! Buy a scroll of Farley's Sending Shield today, and never be bothered by unwanted Sendings again! Reply with name to order!"

The Pressman
2010-08-29, 05:21 AM
Now I'm picturing magical spam telemarketers.

"Hello, Sir/Madam/Other! Buy a scroll of Farley's Sending Shield today, and never be bothered by unwanted Sendings again! Reply with name to order!"

Just counted all the words to make sure there were 25.:smallfrown:

FFKonoko
2010-08-29, 07:16 AM
Just counted all the words to make sure there were 25.:smallfrown:

I did it too, before scrolling down and seeing your post. :smallfrown:

Love the annoying sending spam idea though. Intimidate via Sending?

Ghastly
2010-08-29, 09:10 AM
Intimidate via Sending?
How good is that wizard's intimidate check going to be :smalltongue:? Also, could Sending potentially be used to keep the target from resting?

"WALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLA WALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLAWALLA, I have twenty-four words left! Well, seventeen now. Nine after I finish this sentence. So, you trying to sleep? That will be hard."

SilverLeaf167
2010-08-29, 09:26 AM
Hmm, what if you said the whole message in one long word? They could make a Listen check or something to understand it, and you could practically explain a complete battle plan with a single Sending.

"AndthensquadAflanksfromtheeastwhiletheorcsarestill unknowingofthelocationsofourelitearcherswhobythewa yarecamouflagedintheforestwithcompositelongbowswit harrowssoakedwithdeadlypoisongasbombs"

Urpriest
2010-08-29, 09:36 AM
Contacting the dead with it would be useless. Petitioners don't usually remember their former lives.

FelixG
2010-08-29, 09:43 AM
Hmm, what if you said the whole message in one long word? They could make a Listen check or something to understand it, and you could practically explain a complete battle plan with a single Sending.

"AndthensquadAflanksfromtheeastwhiletheorcsarestill unknowingofthelocationsofourelitearcherswhobythewa yarecamouflagedintheforestwithcompositelongbowswit harrowssoakedwithdeadlypoisongasbombs"

Looks good on paper but i would like to see someone speak like that in reality :P

Player: "I am going to say 'And then squad A flanks from the east while the orcs are still unknowing of the locations of our elite archers who by the way are camouflaged in the forest with composite long bows with arrows soaked with deadly poison gas bombs' but im going to say it all as one word!"

GM: "Ok, say the word for me."

Player: "...What?"

GM: "I want to hear you say the word you are sending."

Player: "...GIBBERISH"

GM: "Yah, thats what i thought!"

Tyndmyr
2010-08-29, 09:53 AM
Look at old telegraph slang if you really need to get the most information possible into a message. They charged by word for that, so all sorts of clever things were invented.

Moriato
2010-08-29, 01:53 PM
Looks good on paper but i would like to see someone speak like that in reality :P

Player: "I am going to say 'And then squad A flanks from the east while the orcs are still unknowing of the locations of our elite archers who by the way are camouflaged in the forest with composite long bows with arrows soaked with deadly poison gas bombs' but im going to say it all as one word!"

GM: "Ok, say the word for me."

Player: "...What?"

GM: "I want to hear you say the word you are sending."

Player: "...GIBBERISH"

GM: "Yah, thats what i thought!"

You just have to keeptalkinginonelongincrediblyunbrokensentencemovi ngfromtopictotopicsothatnoonehasachancetointerrupt itisreallyquitehypnotic

Jack_Simth
2010-08-29, 01:57 PM
Look at old telegraph slang if you really need to get the most information possible into a message. They charged by word for that, so all sorts of clever things were invented.Just FYI: Check the component detail for Sending.

The Glyphstone
2010-08-29, 02:00 PM
Just counted all the words to make sure there were 25.:smallfrown:

So did I. :)


You just have to keeptalkinginonelongincrediblyunbrokensentencemovi ngfromtopictotopicsothatnoonehasachancetointerrupt itisreallyquitehypnotic

movingfromtopictotopicquitehypnotic...
movingfromtopictotopicquitehypnotic...

:smallbiggrin: