Post/Author/DateTime	Post
thorinXXX 05-30-07, 02:03 PM	The rules for the Share Spell ability require that the caster and the pet remain within 5 feet of each other. The problem is that there is no such thing as simultaneous movement in D&D. So, how do you adjudicate this when both caster and pet move? (mounts are irrelevant to this discussion) A) They are pretty much stuck to 5 foot steps. B) As long as both take the same general path and end up in adjacent squares they are good.
Jay_Ibero_911 05-30-07, 02:25 PM	The rules for the Share Spell ability require that the caster and the pet remain within 5 feet of each other. The problem is that there is no such thing as simultaneous movement in D&D. So, how do you adjudicate this when both caster and pet move? (mounts are irrelevant to this discussion) A) They are pretty much stuck to 5 foot steps. B) As long as both take the same general path and end up in adjacent squares they are good. Well, familiars, animal companions, and special mounts all act on their master's initiative, meaning they act AT THE SAME TIME as the master, so as long as both the master and companion start and end their moves adjacent to each other, and would be able to remain adjacent for the duration of the move, there isn't really any problem. It is a case of simultaneous movement/action.
Timlagor 05-30-07, 02:55 PM	Although they usually start the combat at the same Initiative they can get separated. For these things (and Mass Fly has a similar issue) I -and other GMs locally- rule that you have to qualify at the beginning and end of the round ...we'd have a problem if someone managed to manufacture a situation where this was done while clearly being impossible to carry through without a break but this has not happened yet. Different Initiative counts are not supposed to be temporally discrete. [with Mass fly you could have two groups of people staying at least 70' apart and someone wanting to move from one to the other over one round which they could not do without being 35' from both at some point and having the spell fail ..familiars and white mice are a wonderful thing ;)]
Jay_Ibero_911 05-30-07, 04:56 PM	...we'd have a problem if someone managed to manufacture a situation where this was done while clearly being impossible to carry through without a break but this has not happened yet. I can think of one off the top of my head. Companion moves to some point, master moves in a different direction, but then D-doors next to companion. I can't think of a situation where you would want to do this, except maybe to avoid AOO's yourself that you aren't afraid of having your companion take...
clannagh 05-30-07, 10:15 PM	I can think of one off the top of my head. Companion moves to some point, master moves in a different direction, but then D-doors next to companion. I can't think of a situation where you would want to do this, except maybe to avoid AOO's yourself that you aren't afraid of having your companion take... DD is a good case in point 1) familiar is a blink dog and you use D-Door and already are transporting your maximum other creatures 2) your familiar/companian is immune to fire/cold/etc or can breathe underwater and hence can pass through intervening terrain and pick up plot item and you DD to other side and meet them 3) you jump off a flying companion and DD back on
JamesMaissen 05-31-07, 12:03 AM	The rules for the Share Spell ability require that the caster and the pet remain within 5 feet of each other. The problem is that there is no such thing as simultaneous movement in D&D. So, how do you adjudicate this when both caster and pet move? (mounts are irrelevant to this discussion) A) They are pretty much stuck to 5 foot steps. B) As long as both take the same general path and end up in adjacent squares they are good. During overland movement (out of initiative) I've never seen issue with it. During combat rounds some judges will accept the shared spelled creature moving simultaneously with the caster without comment, others will have issue with it mainly as it looks awkward in the turn based system. To get around that simply begin a move with each and do it in stages. There's nothing I know of to say that one must finish his move action before the companion can start theirs and vice versa. -James
kjenks 05-31-07, 10:15 AM	Just ride your critter and stop worrying about it.
Maesto 05-31-07, 12:16 PM	heh, the worst one I've seen is trying to keep the entire party in an invisibility sphere in initiative. It just doesn't work good :P
thorinXXX 05-31-07, 02:21 PM	Just ride your critter and stop worrying about it. But the whole reason for having an uber critter is so that you do not have to come within arms reach of the bad guy. That is the critter's job.:)
Reska 06-01-07, 08:28 PM	But the whole reason for having an uber critter is so that you do not have to come within arms reach of the bad guy. That is the critter's job.:) That's why I have a critter that has reach....
katrick 06-07-07, 04:26 PM	Ahhh, can't you share Dim Door, and then your companion can touch the others surrounding them katrick
Cardinal Teplin 06-13-07, 09:15 AM	Well, familiars, animal companions, and special mounts all act on their master's initiative,. That is commonly how it is played, but are there any rules to back it up? It's one of the areas have had table variation with, more often with an animal companion than a familiar, but the principle is the same (the more so since my familiar does go into combat). The way I usually rule it is to have both animal and master roll iniative, and then have the animal delay for the master if it goes first, unless something else intervenes. Going together in initiative is quite an advantage, and I'm loath to just give it away...
kjenks 06-13-07, 01:17 PM	Just ride your animal companion. SRD === Your mount acts on your initiative count as you direct it. ===