What do plants have to say?

[Hand_of_Vecna]

The Spell Speak With Plants let's you communicate with normal plants. It says their perception of their surroundings are limited and it can't give detailed descriptions of people.

Does this mean it can describe people in a similar way to what an Int 2 Animal would? Maybe with less insight into emotions and motives.

[Calimehter]

Feeed Me!!!!!!!!

[Flickerdart]

Prarie dogs are capable of recognizing people based on height and colour of clothing, but not gender or anything else (we know this because we've been able to "decode" their sounds somewhat). I don't think plants would know what colour is though, given a lack of eyes. A plant could give account of tremors, and would probably be aware of the creatures that caused them ("one person walked by" or "a large group ran by") as well as the time it happened (by the location of the sun). Any interactions with the plant itself would obviously also qualify.

[Novawurmson]

Plants do talk to each other (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/). They could at least probably tell you about environmental conditions: Pests, weather, etc.

[Uncle Pine]

They could tell you if the big oak that fell last week when no one was around made a sound.

[Starbuck_II]

They could tell you if the big oak that fell last week when no one was around made a sound.

But can they tell why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

[Slipperychicken]

It would probably sound a lot like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j06gFyxfdbk).

[Malimar]

What does the plant say? A-RING DING DING DING DINGE-DINGE-DING.


Plants do talk to each other (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/). They could at least probably tell you about environmental conditions: Pests, weather, etc.

Related (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_pollan).

Related to that related link: it would be entirely reasonable to decide that "The Secret Life Of Plants" is actually true in a fantasy setting; that fantasy plants, unlike real plants, really are telepathic and appreciate being sung to and so on. It's no weirder than e.g. undead skeletons.

A quibble with what I just said: somewhere in the RAW, it specifies that mundane plants are objects, and lack INT and CHA and WIS scores.

[Duke of Urrel]

Seriously, folks. The Speak with Plants spell is of higher level than the Speak with Animals spell, but of lower level than the Stone Tell spell. So I think you should get better information from the Speak with Plants spell, but not quite as good information as you would get from the Stone Tell spell. Both of these spells should endow formerly unthinking beings with memories and the ability to use language.

Of course, this is fantasy and unthinkable without suspending a whole lot of disbelief here. But there's a lot of fluff I can come up with right off the bat.

What are leaves? Light-sensitive organs. Therefore, green plants can see. (Maybe trees that have lost their leaves can't see during the winter, though.) Fungi can't see (no chlorophyll, no photosynthesis), but since they rely on decaying organic matter for food, they surely can smell and should have olfactory Blindsight. Everything rooted in the ground should have Tremorsense. Some herbaceous plants are only as old as last spring (and some mushrooms were literally born yesterday), but some trees are hundreds or even thousands of years old, and I endow them with memories as indelible as the rings inside their wood. And they're perfectly honest. They don't lie, because they haven't the Intelligence or Charisma for it.

As for the Stone Tell spell, I don't like the idea of allowing stones to see, but they can certainly hear. After all, a stone wall echoes back everything you say to it, right? So I consider stones animated by the Stone Tell spell to have a perfect phonographic memory. Everything the stone has heard, it can repeat back to you, perfectly and verbatim. (It can't translate, though.) And stones in contact with the ground also have Tremorsense. Consider also that stones are very, very old, even older than the oldest trees.

[Killer Angel]

Daisies do tell (http://rockysmith.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/from-demons-to-daisies/), for example. :smallwink:

[(Un)Inspired]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L7SkrYF8lCU

A florist in New York did a bunch of studies on plants that could talk. The above link takes you to his results. Honestly I think you're better off avoiding the spell all together.

[Captnq]

The Spell Speak With Plants let's you communicate with normal plants. It says their perception of their surroundings are limited and it can't give detailed descriptions of people.

Does this mean it can describe people in a similar way to what an Int 2 Animal would? Maybe with less insight into emotions and motives.

I perfer to make them... quirky.

Like I had a tree talk like a lumber jack with stockholm syndrome because he witnessed every other tree around him get cut down.

I had a whole bunch of grass speak with an eerie chorus.

I had a very arrogant flower mock the druid's wilted appearance.

I had a giant mushroom talk like a stoner.

Just wing it and give them whatever moves the plot along.

[Xervous]

Obviously the plants wouldn't be on very good terms with vegetarians.

[Malimar]

Obviously the plants wouldn't be on very good terms with vegetarians.

I've heard the screams of the vegetables, watching their skins being peeled...

[Pickford]

The spells are pretty explicit:

Speak with Animals*: The animals can talk to you.
Speak with Plants*: Normal plants and Plant Creatures can speak with you. Plants only have limited perception as compared to animals, no specific details, and only information about vicinity.
Stone Tell*: Stone can tell you what it's touching, or touched it. Stone perceptions, perspectives, and knowledge are DM discretion.

*As with everything in this game, the DM has final say on what any of this means. Which makes sense, as there's no scenario where the caster is speaking to anyone but the DM.

[Killer Angel]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L7SkrYF8lCU

A florist in New York did a bunch of studies on plants that could talk. The above link takes you to his results. Honestly I think you're better off avoiding the spell all together.

wasn't it extraplanar? :smalltongue:

[Spore]

wasn't it extraplanar? :smalltongue:

No, extraterrestrial. Remember, being on the same plane, but another planet doesn't convey the outsider type. :smallsmile:

On the topic at hand: I would play it similarly to an animal, without sight but blindsight. They felt a large animal running by (because plants can detect vibration) maybe even some scentlike feature (actually just communicating through pheromones with other plants), they may even know where the targetted creature broke a twig from one tree (since trees are linked together through the roots).

[prufock]

it would be entirely reasonable to decide that "The Secret Life Of Plants" is actually true in a fantasy setting; that fantasy plants, unlike real plants, really are telepathic and appreciate being sung to and so on.

Another reasonable explanation for Speak with Animals, Speak with Plants, and Stone Tell is a type of animism. The plants, animals, and even rocks each have a spiritual essence, and it is this spirit that you speak to when you cast these spells.

[Gnaeus]

That would be reasonable in a fantasy world, but it doesn't sound like the "A regular plant’s sense of its surroundings is limited, so it won’t be able to give (or recognize) detailed descriptions of creatures or answer questions about events outside its immediate vicinity."

I think Speak with Plants is pretty phenominally useless for a level 2-4 spell. Inanimate plants can't do anything for you or tell you anything likely to be useful. Animate plants almost all speak common or sylvan or (the ones that don't speak) tend to be hostile predatory types.