Cones and Concealment... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cones and Concealment... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
AlanBruce
02-17-06, 08:40 AM In an adventure we played a few days ago, our human wizard cast in complete darkness the spell Color Spray. He used it against two orcs who had just felled an elf ranger. Now, according to the rules, the wizard was effectively blind, since they were in a pitch black cave. In the event of the spell discussed above, would the orcs get a 50% miss chance against it because of concealment (after all the wizard is effectively blinded and would not be able to know where to spread his palm at to release the spell). Furthermore, after the orcs failed their saving throws and fell asleep, the wizard declared he performed a coup d egrace on them... how? The place is pitch black, he would have to locate the bodies somehow (and be careful he didn't coup de grace his friend instead). Any clarification on this is much appreciated.
psionichamster
02-17-06, 08:49 AM as for color spray:

the 50% miss chance doesn't apply to non-attack spells (scorching ray, etc. would suffer)

of course, unless he saw through the darkness (unlikely from your post) or heard the orcs (listen DC ~25...5 to hear the noise of battle, +20 difficulty to pinpoint the exact square(s) the enemies are in), he wouldn't really know where to aim his spell.

i once had the exact situation...my halfling sorcerer cast Color Spray upon entering a door and seeing 1 human rogue-y type. he did NOT see the 2 others (failed the spot vs. hide), but they also failed their save. basically, used a shotgun effect on 1 enemy, luckily hitting 2 others.

as for the CdG attack...you're right. unless he could see in the darkness, or dispelled it in some manner (light spells/torches/etc), he's stuck moving at 1/2 speed and making search checks to tell what he's got.

that gets a little more tense if you think of it like this: you're in your basement w/ your brother, when a flash-bang grenade goes off, and the lights cut out. you think there were a couple of other people in the room, but it's too dark to see and you think your brother is down. whipping out your knife do you

a: find the nearest body on the floor and slash it's throat
b: scramble along the floor, trying to identify what happened to your brother
c: flail your arms and scream
d: turn on the lights (if possible)

sounds like your player was forgetting about the darkness rules.

namaste'
the hamster
yonman
02-17-06, 05:57 PM From SRD:

You can deliver a coup de grace against a creature with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to "find" the creature once you’ve determined what square it’s in, and one to deliver the coup de grace).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
AlanBruce 02-17-06, 08:40 AM	In an adventure we played a few days ago, our human wizard cast in complete darkness the spell Color Spray. He used it against two orcs who had just felled an elf ranger. Now, according to the rules, the wizard was effectively blind, since they were in a pitch black cave. In the event of the spell discussed above, would the orcs get a 50% miss chance against it because of concealment (after all the wizard is effectively blinded and would not be able to know where to spread his palm at to release the spell). Furthermore, after the orcs failed their saving throws and fell asleep, the wizard declared he performed a coup d egrace on them... how? The place is pitch black, he would have to locate the bodies somehow (and be careful he didn't coup de grace his friend instead). Any clarification on this is much appreciated.
psionichamster 02-17-06, 08:49 AM	as for color spray: the 50% miss chance doesn't apply to non-attack spells (scorching ray, etc. would suffer) of course, unless he saw through the darkness (unlikely from your post) or heard the orcs (listen DC ~25...5 to hear the noise of battle, +20 difficulty to pinpoint the exact square(s) the enemies are in), he wouldn't really know where to aim his spell. i once had the exact situation...my halfling sorcerer cast Color Spray upon entering a door and seeing 1 human rogue-y type. he did NOT see the 2 others (failed the spot vs. hide), but they also failed their save. basically, used a shotgun effect on 1 enemy, luckily hitting 2 others. as for the CdG attack...you're right. unless he could see in the darkness, or dispelled it in some manner (light spells/torches/etc), he's stuck moving at 1/2 speed and making search checks to tell what he's got. that gets a little more tense if you think of it like this: you're in your basement w/ your brother, when a flash-bang grenade goes off, and the lights cut out. you think there were a couple of other people in the room, but it's too dark to see and you think your brother is down. whipping out your knife do you a: find the nearest body on the floor and slash it's throat b: scramble along the floor, trying to identify what happened to your brother c: flail your arms and scream d: turn on the lights (if possible) sounds like your player was forgetting about the darkness rules. namaste' the hamster
yonman 02-17-06, 05:57 PM	From SRD: You can deliver a coup de grace against a creature with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to "find" the creature once you’ve determined what square it’s in, and one to deliver the coup de grace).