Crone Queen

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Ah the good old Freedom of Movement debate.

I would advise deciding for yourself if you are the DM or just asking your DM how exactly its going to work. As you can see Stikye, there are some varied opinions here on how exactly to handle this spell. A quick Google search could show you tons of other forum discussions on various sights arguing about what it does and does not do for you. Despite everyone in my group having more or less the same theoretical idea about what Freedom should allow/prevent, after years of us playing d&d together we still are at times stumped about how it should function in specific scenarios, particularly in regards to difficult terrain.

In regards to your specific questions, Nanomd is definitely correct about the paralysis, Black Tentacles, and probably the staggered effect of the Slow spell as well, Slow and paralysis being specifically mentioned int he spell description. Freedom of movement does not say however that it allows you to act normally, just move and attack normally, and Slow limits your ability to act because you are staggered. However, as it is a spell that limits your actions because it is "slowing" you, I can also see the logic behind Freedom of Movement trumping it outright, especially since the spell is specifically mentioned in the Freedom of Movement description. But, if you are at 0 hit points, are you not staggered because you have Freedom of Movement? I wouldn't think so, but it is in situations like these that Freedom of Movement shows its legendary vagueness. The spell does clearly make you impossible to grapple, and it certainly seems like it should let you ignore difficult terrain MOST of the time, PROBABLY including when walking through Black Tentacles. I really wish the spell description of Freedom of Movement was more clear about difficult terrain. The fact that Pathfinder did not change the spell description at all despite the clear confusion surrounding the spell kind of disappointed me.

So if you're still reading this, here's everything I and my group have come up with to deal with the spell in various situations. Feel free to stop reading if you would like to figure it out on your own or are just sick of reading this novella I am constructing here. I think we can all agree that the spell clearly does not turn you into Shadowcat. No walking through walls or spaces that you cannot fit through. That's fairly obvious. Generally speaking, any kind of mental attack on you, such as Power Word Stun, functions normally, unless it is a mental attack that causes paralysis since you are clearly immune to the paralysis condition. The stunned condition we treat as flat out not effected by Freedom of Movement regardless of it's source. One of our players does not really agree with that but he has lost the debate. He's still bitter about his fighter getting Power Word Stunned that one time. Clearly you cannot be grappled and automatically succeed in any attempt to escape being grappled, and are immune to the movement limiting effects of the spells Solid Fog, Slow, and Web and therefore, logically, similar spells. If a spell's description actually says that one of its effects limits or impedes movement, like Solid Fog does, I'd call that a clear case in which Freedom of Movement ignores that effect. Web creates difficult terrain and Freedom of Movement specifically mentions Web, and because of that similar spells, like Black Tentacles, which create difficult terrain should also certainly not affect you while under the effects of Freedom of Movement. The "Web Rational" could also be used as evidence that the spell simply lets you ignore difficult terrain period, but that is not how we treat it. Essentially, whether or not you get to ignore difficult terrain depends on why the terrain is difficult in our games and seat-of-our-pants logic takes over from there. If the terrain is difficult because there are "large" obstructions that must be avoided, objects which must be hurdled, holes in the ground that must be avoided, or if you are forced to treat ground as difficult under threat of falling (due to climbing a thin stairway or ledge over a pit for instance), then in such cases we rule that Freedom of Movement does not allow you to treat the terrain as not being difficult. If the terrain is difficult because the ground is mushy or slippery, because there are "small" obstructions that must be avoided or bypassed such as brambles or webs, or because a spell creates magical sources that impede movement, then in such cases we rule that Freedom of Movement does allow you to treat the terrain as not being difficult. Entangle is a fun one. After much deliberation we decided that if you are entangled because you are trapped under or behind some object that makes it impossible to escape then you should still be ensnared and suffer all ill effects (including moving at half speed, does your brain hurt yet?) as, again, you are not Shadow Cat, but if there is a means of escaping the entangle effect such as making a strength check or a combat maneuvers check then in that case you are immune to such sources of entanglement, based on the fact that you cannot be grappled (a similar condition that there is always a means of escaping).

I would throw out there though that Freedom of Movement is already powerful enough even if it does not let you ignore any entangle or any kind of mundane difficult terrain, and I lobbied for this side of things at one point with my group on balancing terms but the hive-mind eventually overruled me. If you like the sound of that, then by all means "You Can Go Your Own Way" just like Fleetwood Mac.

There you have it, all I have to offer you on one of the most vague and yet commonly used spells in the game once it becomes available. Despite all of this having been collectively agreed upon by my group (I think) I have no doubt that we have hours ahead of us to look forward to in future sessions trying to figure out whether or not players' characters wearing rings of Freedom of Movement get to ignore some difficult terrain.


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Lord Pendragon wrote:
Xaratherus, are you casting Quickened Dimension Doors? Since DD is a standard action to cast, I don't see how being able to still act in the round is particularly useful with only, at most, a move action left...

Not to step on Xara's toes, but Spell Dancers get the ability to use dimension door as a swift action once per spell dance at level 9.