Jamie Steier's page

Jamie Steier wrote:

Just a sheer drop of 15'. They were technically behind a barrier as per the rules, but they would absolutely be able to hear it. Like you said, Spread doesn't exist any longer in 2e in general and I think that is my hang up. I came from 1e, and I played and GM’d for years there. I just need to separate those differences better and look at rulings in a different light. See my fancy illustration as follows for the original question.

~~~~~~~~~C S
~~~~~~~--------
~~~~~~~|
~~F & W|
--------
C = Cleric - not part of the conversation
S = Sphinx - 60' emanation
F = Fighter - 25' away (hypotenuse)
W = Wizard - 20' away (hypotenuse)
~ = Open air

I still don't understand the situation exactly (meaning the exact geometry). But it looks like characters below could have been fully covered from the effect (and consequently not affected at all). GM ruling is fine, but if you want consistency, I'd try to use straight lines from the source to potential targets.

'Auditory' doesn't mean that hearing an effect is enough to be affected. Line of effect still works. You could describe it as a difference in effect potency or straightline spread of magic (if the effect is magical).
Also there's no such thing as 'type of effects blocked by a barrier' last I've read the rules. Only that a barrier should be continuous.

Ya after a heavy re-read and discussion over the course of days it was indeed shown that the two that were 15' below the tower were indeed not applicable to the effect. Consistency is exactly what I tell my players and why I run RAW as much as possible. Again, at the end of the fight they defeated the sphinx without issue. The wizard lost a spell from deafness (DC 5 failed lol). Going forward, now we know. Thanks for the feedback!

Technically, spread area (the one that goes around corners) isn't a thing. But if there is anything that should still have a spread area, it would be sonic effects.

Line of Effect does need to be blocked by something that can block the effect though. Line of Sight is needed for targeting because targeting is a visual effect. But Fireball would only be blocked by something that could block fire damage (as determined by the GM), and sonic effects would only be blocked by something that blocks sonic effects (as determined by the GM).

So what was blocking the Line of Effect between the Heiracosphinx and the Wizard? Does that thing block Sonic/Auditory effects?

Just a sheer drop of 15'. They were technically behind a barrier as per the rules, but they would absolutely be able to hear it. Like you said, Spread doesn't exist any longer in 2e in general and I think that is my hang up. I came from 1e, and I played and GM’d for years there. I just need to separate those differences better and look at rulings in a different light. See my fancy illustration as follows for the original question.

~~~~~~~~~C S
~~~~~~~--------
~~~~~~~|
~~F & W|
--------
C = Cleric - not part of the conversation
S = Sphinx - 60' emanation
F = Fighter - 25' away (hypotenuse)
W = Wizard - 20' away (hypotenuse)
~ = Open air

So, in a recent session my players came up against a hieracosphinx. The hieracosphinx was on top of a 15' open tower. One character climbed the tower and triggered the fight since the hieracosphinx is territorial. The hieracosphinx was able to go first and used its Shriek ability (all non-sphinx w/i 60' emanation). The character up with the sphinx critically succeeded her save and was unaffected. The fighter and wizard still 15' down critically failed the save. They were deafened and Stunned 1. The player for the wizard asked if they were affected. At the time I ruled yes, and the fight carried on. They defeated the sphinx and made it to level 5. No harm no foul.

However, afterwards once the session was done the discussion came back. Line of effect says you usually need an unblocked path. The Auditory trait says the creature needs to be able to hear. Emanations are 3D and the sphinx was in range of the group to affect all of them. Now the question for all of you, how is this ruled? By RAW I now see that I don't think they should have been affected. I just want consistency in the game since this would affect friendly and hostile actions in the future (Heal, Courageous Anthem, Bless, etc.). Does the Auditory trait alter anything for situations like this (an ally stepping around a corner out of sight would lose Courageous Anthem for instance)? Thanks all.

Seems there is something wrong with the curretn release 12.01? It keeps having me update it but it never changes? Can someone looking into that

I updated today without issues. Not sure what your issue could be. On a side note, I wish there was a changelog somewhere.

The Imperial Calendar was explained in the Travel Guide:

Quote:

The Imperial Calendar (IC): While not the only calendar in Tian Xia, the Imperial Calendar is the most commonly used and begins with the founding of Yixing, the first human empire on the continent.

(In turn that year was -2499 AR, so you can kinda orient other dates around those.)

Ya, it was more for month names and all of that. I created a whole calendar system for my Season of Ghosts game I run and was hoping there was something that I could've looked at later and verified. Oh well, part of the fun I suppose of fantasy games!

FallenDabus wrote:

I assume the timeline dates are in the Imperial Calender. Are they given with the AR equivalents, or do we need to calculate those ourselves if we are making a grand timeline of everything?

I did not see any AR equivalents, though I imagine the notation is explained early on in the book.

Do they go into detail at all about the Imperial Calendar?