Post/Author/DateTime	Post
cheeky_ktty 07-22-07, 02:57 AM	Hi Guys. I just wanna find out about a couple of things that came up when I was DMing that I'm a little unsure about, Firstly, can a wand be activated when the owner is stuck in the middle of a silence spell? A player on my table insisted that wands have a command word and, therefore, can not be activated if the command word cannot be spoken. When I asked another D&D player/GM about this he said a wand can be activated regardless- Who's Right? Secondly, can a reach weapon get through a Antilife shell? A baddie casted Antilife Shell upon his self, and the fighter in the party got enlarged then hit him with a spiked chain. The description in the PHB doesn't say anything about non- living creatures being blocked, but I would like to be sure for future reference. Can anyone help me out here?
jstorrie 07-22-07, 03:48 AM	Wands are Spell Trigger activated items, not Command Word activated items, so they can be used in areas of forced silence, yes. An Antiplant Shell would prevent a plant creature from attacking with a reach weapon. An Antilife Shell, however, only prevents living creatures from entering an area. They can still attack into it (subject to DM interpretation: I could see not allowing natural attacks, gauntlets, or very small weapons to reach in, but a reach weapon is definitely okay.)
copper_wyrmling 07-22-07, 03:54 AM	Wands are Spell Trigger activated items, not Command Word activated items, so they can be used in areas of forced silence, yes. Not true, as far as I can see - per the DMG p.213, Spell Trigger items require "a single word that must be spoken".
cheeky_ktty 07-22-07, 04:52 AM	Not true, as far as I can see - per the DMG p.213, Spell Trigger items require "a single word that must be spoken". This is what the player on my table thought. The other player/DM I asked was thinking along the same lines as you jstorrie. - and thanks for the input on the whole Antilife thing, thats what I was thinking, but I'm still learning and I'ld rather get it right than wrong :)
jstorrie 07-22-07, 12:16 PM	Oh, yeah, copper_wyrmling is right. I missed that part.
kjenks 07-22-07, 12:28 PM	Secondly, can a reach weapon get through a Antilife shell? A baddie casted Antilife Shell upon his self, and the fighter in the party got enlarged then hit him with a spiked chain. The description in the PHB doesn't say anything about non- living creatures being blocked, but I would like to be sure for future reference. The fighter didn't even need the Enlarge Person spell to do this. When the baddie casts Antilife Shell, its "10-ft.-radius emanation, centered on you" area must be centered on one of the grid intersections that the baddie occupies. Plot this out on a battle mat and you'll see that there's a square in which the fighter can stand where he can be adjacent to the baddie but not hedged out by the Antilife Shell. If you give the fighter a spiked chain, he threatens the baddie from 13 squares, rather than the 25 squares that a spiked chain wielder normally threatens. (The Antilife Shell takes up 12 squares.) If you give the fighter with a spiked chain an Enlarge Person spell, he threatens so many squares that the Antilife Shell hardly makes a dent.
cheeky_ktty 07-22-07, 11:20 PM	Thanks for your help guys :)