Jowgen
2015-06-15, 10:35 AM
The rules for this thing have been bothering me a little, so I thought I'd try and lay it all out piece by piece.
This metal urn is identical in appearance to an efreeti bottle, except that it does nothing but smoke. The amount of smoke is great if the stopper is pulled out, pouring from the bottle and totally obscuring vision across a 50-foot spread in 1 round. If the bottle is left unstoppered, the smoke billows out another 10 feet per round until it has covered a 100-foot radius. This area remains smoke-filled until the eversmoking bottle is stoppered.
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, pyrotechnics; Price 5,400 gp;Weight 1 lb.
Physical properties: The bottle is described as being made of metal and identical in appearance to an efreeti bottle, which are described as being commonly made from bronze or copper and having a lead stopper. As per the DMG, bronze has Hardness 9 and 20 HP/inch; while magic of faerun lists magically treated copper with the same stats as steel (H 10, HP 30). Lead is never given theses stats. Theoretically, an eversmoking bottle could be made from any metal, but it would likely add to the item price (e.g. 500 for mithril), and may change item weight. The stopper arguably always needs to be lead.
(De)Activation: Judging from it's description, the Eversmoking bottle is a Standard (Manipulation) activation item; meaning it can be activated by non-speaking creatures, spell effects and mechanical contraptions that can pull the stopper. My DMG lists the bottle as requring a command word to re-seal, but the SRD description above takes precedence afaik. I would assume that stoppering the bottle remains a standard action, but I don't have anything solid to back that assessment up.
Smoke effects: The colour of the smoke is never specified, so it could be either black or white or arguably any other color as chosen by the item creator or DM. Unlike the smoke created by Pyrotechnics (the prerequesite spell), this smoke has no special effects listed. There is, however, the following text form the Rules Compendium p. 103, which afaik is unaffected by general anti-RC arguments as it simply adds to the SRD Smoke effect rules as opposed to conflicting with them.
Thick smoke grants creatures 5 feet away concealment. Creatures more than 5 feet away have total concealment. A creature that breathes thick smoke must succeed on a Fortitude save each round (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or spend that round doing nothing but choking and coughing. Choking in this way for 2 consecutive rounds deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
By RAW, there are two ways to read this. 1st: The RC smoke rules do not apply, as this smoke is not mundane but a supernatural in effect (due to being created by a wonderous item) meaning that it does only exactly what is written in the description and nothing more. 2nd: The RC smoke rules apply, as the bottle explicitly creates smoke and provides no special exception to the smoke inhalation rules in regards to that smoke (i.e. no specific to trump general). The RAI is likely that the smoke is meant to do nothing but obscure vision, but even that is ambiguous as the smoke effect of pyrotechnics (the prerequesite spell) does have additional negative effects itself.
Vision effects: The description given states "totally obscuring vision across a 50-foot spread". This is generally accepted to mean total concealment for everything within the spread, but there is some ambiguity. The SRD's only smoke rules state "Smoke obscures vision, giving concealment (20% miss chance) to characters within it.", while the Rules Compendium adds (or arguably superimposes) thin smoke and and thick smoke; which respectively provide more or less concealment with varying degrees of breathing hazards.
Going with the SRD only, it is an easy argument to make that the "totally" obscured simply upgrades the 20 % to 50 % as per standard concealment rules; giving a special Su upgrade to the effects of regular smoke. Bringing in the rules compendium, however, the Eversmoking bottle smoke far more closely resembles the above-mentioned thick smoke; so we enter DM-ruling territory. A DM could either rule that the Eversmoking bottle smoke is a special upgrade even to thick smoke, giving total concealment period, or could rule in favor of keeping this smoke consistent with general smoke rules by taking "totally obscured" to mean "obscured to the maximum degree smoke can obscure vision to"; meaning 20% within 5 ft and 50% beyond 5 ft.
If one were to add a Necklace of Adaptation to this, then we'd be having a right field day of rules ambiguity.
Smoke spreading speed: Going by strict RAW (checked in the Q&A thread), the smoke released upon unstopering the Eversmoking Bottle has no effect on anything until one round has passed following the unstopering. Effectively, the solid 50 ft cloud of smoke just immediately comes into full being and effect exactly 6 seconds after the bottle is unstoppered.
I personally think this is dumb and believe there is some rule-wise wiggle-room. The effect reads: "The amount of smoke is great if the stopper is pulled out, pouring from the bottle and totally obscuring vision across a 50-foot spread in 1 round". "In 1 round" is not explicitly the same as "after 1 round" in the sense that the effect doesn't occur immediately after 1 round, but occurs over the course of 1 round.
Sadly, I am not aware of any rules or similar effects that would allow one to reliably adjudicate exactly how the smoke would affect things over the course of that 1 round; and I am fiercely opposed to putting any catgirls in harms way. As such, this is something entirely in DM-adjudication territory, although I am interested to hear if anyone has any suggestions. My personal take is an immediate 10 ft spread of thick smoke, and another 40 of light smoke; which then all become 50 ft thick on the unstopperer's next go; but that's just me.
The moving bottle conundrum: The item description seems to assume that the bottle stays within its original 50 ft spread for the whole time it is unstoppered. There is nothing to go by what happens if someone where to unstopper it and then move 55 ft or more from his original position immediately after. Or how the smoke would spread from the bottle if someone were to leave the original spread after the 1st round.
Other questionable things which may or may not endanger catgirls:
Does the bottle actively expel smoke, or does it simply change the surrounding air into smoke? What happens if you open the bottle underwater? Can you blow up baloons with one? Can you explode a gnome submersible from within using one? Can someone wearing a necklace of adaptation activate the bottle? Does Pierce Magical Concealment overcome the bottle's vision-effects? If you have two open bottles in the same 50 ft area, does the smoke spread 20 each round, and if yes, what's the maximum spread?
Bottom line I trust everyone now understands the headache this thing gives me. :smallannoyed:
This metal urn is identical in appearance to an efreeti bottle, except that it does nothing but smoke. The amount of smoke is great if the stopper is pulled out, pouring from the bottle and totally obscuring vision across a 50-foot spread in 1 round. If the bottle is left unstoppered, the smoke billows out another 10 feet per round until it has covered a 100-foot radius. This area remains smoke-filled until the eversmoking bottle is stoppered.
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, pyrotechnics; Price 5,400 gp;Weight 1 lb.
Physical properties: The bottle is described as being made of metal and identical in appearance to an efreeti bottle, which are described as being commonly made from bronze or copper and having a lead stopper. As per the DMG, bronze has Hardness 9 and 20 HP/inch; while magic of faerun lists magically treated copper with the same stats as steel (H 10, HP 30). Lead is never given theses stats. Theoretically, an eversmoking bottle could be made from any metal, but it would likely add to the item price (e.g. 500 for mithril), and may change item weight. The stopper arguably always needs to be lead.
(De)Activation: Judging from it's description, the Eversmoking bottle is a Standard (Manipulation) activation item; meaning it can be activated by non-speaking creatures, spell effects and mechanical contraptions that can pull the stopper. My DMG lists the bottle as requring a command word to re-seal, but the SRD description above takes precedence afaik. I would assume that stoppering the bottle remains a standard action, but I don't have anything solid to back that assessment up.
Smoke effects: The colour of the smoke is never specified, so it could be either black or white or arguably any other color as chosen by the item creator or DM. Unlike the smoke created by Pyrotechnics (the prerequesite spell), this smoke has no special effects listed. There is, however, the following text form the Rules Compendium p. 103, which afaik is unaffected by general anti-RC arguments as it simply adds to the SRD Smoke effect rules as opposed to conflicting with them.
Thick smoke grants creatures 5 feet away concealment. Creatures more than 5 feet away have total concealment. A creature that breathes thick smoke must succeed on a Fortitude save each round (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or spend that round doing nothing but choking and coughing. Choking in this way for 2 consecutive rounds deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
By RAW, there are two ways to read this. 1st: The RC smoke rules do not apply, as this smoke is not mundane but a supernatural in effect (due to being created by a wonderous item) meaning that it does only exactly what is written in the description and nothing more. 2nd: The RC smoke rules apply, as the bottle explicitly creates smoke and provides no special exception to the smoke inhalation rules in regards to that smoke (i.e. no specific to trump general). The RAI is likely that the smoke is meant to do nothing but obscure vision, but even that is ambiguous as the smoke effect of pyrotechnics (the prerequesite spell) does have additional negative effects itself.
Vision effects: The description given states "totally obscuring vision across a 50-foot spread". This is generally accepted to mean total concealment for everything within the spread, but there is some ambiguity. The SRD's only smoke rules state "Smoke obscures vision, giving concealment (20% miss chance) to characters within it.", while the Rules Compendium adds (or arguably superimposes) thin smoke and and thick smoke; which respectively provide more or less concealment with varying degrees of breathing hazards.
Going with the SRD only, it is an easy argument to make that the "totally" obscured simply upgrades the 20 % to 50 % as per standard concealment rules; giving a special Su upgrade to the effects of regular smoke. Bringing in the rules compendium, however, the Eversmoking bottle smoke far more closely resembles the above-mentioned thick smoke; so we enter DM-ruling territory. A DM could either rule that the Eversmoking bottle smoke is a special upgrade even to thick smoke, giving total concealment period, or could rule in favor of keeping this smoke consistent with general smoke rules by taking "totally obscured" to mean "obscured to the maximum degree smoke can obscure vision to"; meaning 20% within 5 ft and 50% beyond 5 ft.
If one were to add a Necklace of Adaptation to this, then we'd be having a right field day of rules ambiguity.
Smoke spreading speed: Going by strict RAW (checked in the Q&A thread), the smoke released upon unstopering the Eversmoking Bottle has no effect on anything until one round has passed following the unstopering. Effectively, the solid 50 ft cloud of smoke just immediately comes into full being and effect exactly 6 seconds after the bottle is unstoppered.
I personally think this is dumb and believe there is some rule-wise wiggle-room. The effect reads: "The amount of smoke is great if the stopper is pulled out, pouring from the bottle and totally obscuring vision across a 50-foot spread in 1 round". "In 1 round" is not explicitly the same as "after 1 round" in the sense that the effect doesn't occur immediately after 1 round, but occurs over the course of 1 round.
Sadly, I am not aware of any rules or similar effects that would allow one to reliably adjudicate exactly how the smoke would affect things over the course of that 1 round; and I am fiercely opposed to putting any catgirls in harms way. As such, this is something entirely in DM-adjudication territory, although I am interested to hear if anyone has any suggestions. My personal take is an immediate 10 ft spread of thick smoke, and another 40 of light smoke; which then all become 50 ft thick on the unstopperer's next go; but that's just me.
The moving bottle conundrum: The item description seems to assume that the bottle stays within its original 50 ft spread for the whole time it is unstoppered. There is nothing to go by what happens if someone where to unstopper it and then move 55 ft or more from his original position immediately after. Or how the smoke would spread from the bottle if someone were to leave the original spread after the 1st round.
Other questionable things which may or may not endanger catgirls:
Does the bottle actively expel smoke, or does it simply change the surrounding air into smoke? What happens if you open the bottle underwater? Can you blow up baloons with one? Can you explode a gnome submersible from within using one? Can someone wearing a necklace of adaptation activate the bottle? Does Pierce Magical Concealment overcome the bottle's vision-effects? If you have two open bottles in the same 50 ft area, does the smoke spread 20 each round, and if yes, what's the maximum spread?
Bottom line I trust everyone now understands the headache this thing gives me. :smallannoyed: