Kelpstrand, the spell

[graeylin]

Kelpstrand, from the Spell Compendium, gives a +4 bonus if the caster is "within 300 feet of an ocean shore". Makes sense, since Kelp is an ocean plant, it's stronger if you are near the ocean shore than if you are in a desert or woodland area.

What if you are shipboard on the ocean, say, 500 feet from shore. Do you get the bonus? You aren't close enough to the SHORE to get the bonus, but you are close to the OCEAN.

what do you think?

[dextercorvia]

I don't think so. If I'm not mistaken, plants like kelp grow near the shore, so if you are out in the ocean, you are just as far from them as if you are away in a desert.

[Alabenson]

I'd probably rule that you get the bonus, but I think the answer would depend on the DM.

[PollyOliver]

In general, it depends on whether you think the bonus is because of some sort of synergy with real kelp nearby or whether you think it's proximity to fortifying seawater. In both cases, I'd give the bonus if you're 500 ft out as long as you aren't in super deep water--you can have kelp forests quite a ways offshore. If it was the former case, I wouldn't give it when you're in the middle of the ocean above deep water.

[Gamer Girl]

Kelp grows in the shallow water along the coastlines of the oceans, so yes you must be within 300 feet of the shore, not just on the ocean somewhere.

[graeylin]

I don't think so. If I'm not mistaken, plants like kelp grow near the shore, so if you are out in the ocean, you are just as far from them as if you are away in a desert.
technically, they grow in shallow oceans... In some places, several thousand feet from the shore, the depth of the ocean is still less than 50 feet deep, while in other parts of the ocean, the depth may be several hundred feet deep just a hundred or so feet from shore. So, distance from shore is not as crucial a factor to kelp growth as seabed depth, actually.

but then again, why bother trying to mix real world science and logic with DnD, eh?