Investiture of Stone and Forceful Ejection

[Mehangel]

When a character is forcefully ejected into an unoccupied space (because of failing to exit the earth or stone before end of turn), is the character subject to the other limitations of the spell?

In other words, would a sheet of wood, ice, steel, etc invalidate a square as a valid unoccupied space for the purpose of 'investiture of stone'?

For Example: A steel box with a sliding steel door (that slams shut when entered) perfectly encases a 10-foot cube of stone. Player 1 cast's 'investiture of stone'. What happens when the turn ends with player 1 inside the stone cube?

I am of the opinion that Player 1 will be ejected out of the box into the nearest unoccupied space (despite the stone cube being completely surrounded by metal).

Another argues that because there is no accessable unoccupied spaces (due to the metal), player 1 remains helpless inside the steel box until the door to the box is opened.

I am interested in both potential RAW and RAI.

[BlackRose]

I don't think there are any rules specifically relating to that situation. I imagine as a dm I would have to decide between leaving you stuck in the stone box or just shunting you out and through the steel and taking some amount of force damage like what happens with dimension door, etherealness, teleport etc. Unless something specific in the situation would be broken by letting them through the steel barrier I'd probably defer to force damage and pushing you into the nearest available space

[ImproperJustice]

I think the key term is “nearest” unoccupied space.
So it’s a GM call of whether you are nearer to a space outside the box or inside.

[Sethcor]

One could say you are stuck between a rock and a hard place for this one. Logic would dictate the character could not phase through the metal, but same time wording of the spell states nearest unoccupied space, given the entire internal area of said metal cage is now stone. outside would be the nearest space. hard call indeed.

[Quietus]

As a DM, I would decide based on why you're in the box. If it's something I arranged, then I won't punish the player; they get shunted outside of the box, maybe take a little extra damage for the unusual ejection. If it's something the player set up to see how I would handle it, they remain inside the box, getting shunted every turn, helplessly stuck inside their self-made prison.

[Mehangel]

The initial situation involved the player using investiture of stone spell to enter into a lower floor of a stone fortress from the outside. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the stone chamber he ended his turn adjacent to were covered in planks of wood.

I thought however that the situation that I posted in the OP actually addressed some of the underlying doubts at hand.

[Erys]

When a character is forcefully ejected into an unoccupied space (because of failing to exit the earth or stone before end of turn), is the character subject to the other limitations of the spell?

In other words, would a sheet of wood, ice, steel, etc invalidate a square as a valid unoccupied space for the purpose of 'investiture of stone'?

For Example: A steel box with a sliding steel door (that slams shut when entered) perfectly encases a 10-foot cube of stone. Player 1 cast's 'investiture of stone'. What happens when the turn ends with player 1 inside the stone cube?

I am of the opinion that Player 1 will be ejected out of the box into the nearest unoccupied space (despite the stone cube being completely surrounded by metal).

Another argues that because there is no accessable unoccupied spaces (due to the metal), player 1 remains helpless inside the steel box until the door to the box is opened.

I am interested in both potential RAW and RAI.

The RAW:


"You can move through solid earth or stone as if it was air and without destabilizing it, but you can't end your movement there. If you do so, you are ejected to the nearest unoccupied space, this spell ends, and you are stunned until the end of your next turn.


You will notice the spell is absent of any prohibitive language preventing you from crossing certain types of physical barriers, like metal.

So when you are trapped in the physical earth/stone (like stepping into this steel-box trap); by RAW, you teleport to the nearest empty space and get stunned.