Isilwen Nightfall's page

Well, since I'm the GM it's up to me to decide how to manage this issue :P

I understand your point shadowmage, but after reading your replies I will probably opt for an "opaque" darkness, and make light effectively "bounce off" the sphere of darkness (or dim light) that this spell creates.

If someone is inside and full darkness is created by the spell, the only way to see what's happening outside would be with darkvision.

Screw physics.

Uh, you are right. That can be interpreted both ways.

Those two points do not exclude each other tho - a torch placed just outside magical darkness does not illuminate the affected area, thus elimimating my issues with silhouettes - at at the same time, if the torch is placed inside the affected area, it basically becomes as dark as the area itself.

Yes, Nonmagical sources of light placed INSIDE the Darkened area do not increase Light levels, if we follow the spell description.

My concern is about nonmagical sources of light placed OUTSIDE the darkened area, and whether said sources would create silhouettes that would effectively negate the concealment bonus.
I understand there's no clear answer - was just wondering if there's a "general school of thought" about this matter.

Hi there.

I have a question concerning the spell "Darkness".

I am used to the D&D 3.5 Darkness so maybe it's just me not getting this spell now, but still...

Suppose the PCs are in a fight. An enemy NPC casts Darkness while being near them, so they are all engulfed in full darkness (area was previously already in Dim Light).

Now.

What happens if, OUTSIDE of the Darkness area of effect, the characters can see a source of light? Like a torch, or an illuminated hallway, or a window with sunlight entering through it? Will they see clearly stuff that's OUTSIDE the darkened area?

Also, would people INSIDE the darkened area, moving in front of the far-away light, be able to be clearly seen due to their silhouette and thus should not be granted the 50% miss concealment bonus when being attacked?

I hope I explained myself in an understandable way :/

Thanks :)

Hello,

here I am with another doubt.

Apparently following the rules the Knowledge field that involves Undead creatures is "Religion".

What about Undead created by Arcane magic, tho?

Are undead created by Necromancers still fall under Knowledge (Religion) rather than Knowledge (Arcana)?

Thank!

Thank you guys for your answers, sorry for the late reply.

I will continue as I did up until now, then.

Thanks for your answers.

Yes, of course his companions are able to notice his odd behavior.

To be honest, some of them even heard the NPC cast the spell and succeeded in recognizing it.

It's not an issue whether they KNOW or not, the issue is whether the victim should try to convince them to follow him with sound and rational reasoning or if he just turns into an orc-killing zombie.

Hello,

my first post here.

In our latest session I had one of my NPCs cast "Dominate Person" on one of the players, ordering the to go and kill a bunch of NPC orcs that sent them there to investigate the surroundings.

Now.

The dominated PC does not have a particular sympathy for those orcs (he does not trust them anyway), and he's not particularly lawful or orc-loving. He often used the group's orc NPC guide as meat shield.

I believe that the order issued is reasonable.

The spell description says:

"Once you have given a dominated creature a command, it continues to attempt to carry out that command to the exclusion of all other activities except those necessary for day-to-day survival (such as sleeping, eating, and so forth)."

I interpret this as "the subject does EVERYTHING that he can do to carry out the task received". The victim PC, however, believes that the subject turns in a robot-like mannequin that has no mind of his own, and for this reason cannot "convince" his companions to follow him to the orcs because the spell negates all his mental faculties.
Going alone would be suicidal, and for this reason the order should not be carried out.

However in the Spell description I don't find anything that clearly states that the victim stops thinking.

In short - does Dominate Person control the thoughts of someone, or only the actions?
Does an order like "Attack those guys, and do whatever is necessary to kill them" include the "convincing of other people to join you because alone it would be impossible", or not?

Thanks a lot for your help!