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Had this one pop up at the game session last night - this spell can result in creatures being pinned beneath rubble, and the effects of so being pinned. What it doesn't address is how to escape or extract yourself from this situation. Effectively, can creatures escape from pinned beneath rubble on their own? Can they cast spells?
I ask this, because last night the entire party was buried by this spell. I was feeling generous, and allowed spellcasting with a concentration check, as well as activating magic items. The party managed to extract themselves with teleport effects, plot twist card use, and an extremely clever use of Feather Token (Tree).
Is there a section of rules I'm missing here?
Thanks.
The rules for Cave-Ins in the Environment Chapter section for Dungeons SHOULD cover you.
Characters in the bury zone of a cave-in take 8d6 points of damage, or half that amount if they make a DC 15 Reflex save. They are subsequently buried. Characters in the slide zone take 3d6 points of damage, or no damage at all if they make a DC 15 Reflex save. Characters in the slide zone who fail their saves are buried.
Characters take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per minute while buried. If such a character falls unconscious, he must make a DC 15 Constitution check each minute. If it fails, he takes 1d6 points of lethal damage each minute until freed or dead.
Characters who aren't buried can dig out their friends. In 1 minute, using only her hands, a character can clear rocks and debris equal to five times her heavy load limit. The amount of loose stone that fills a 5-foot-by-5-foot area weighs 1 ton (2,000 pounds). Armed with an appropriate tool, such as a pick, crowbar, or shovel, a digger can clear loose stone twice as quickly as by hand. A buried character can attempt to free himself with a DC 25 Strength check.
Standard Cave-Ins don´t actually say you are Pinned, but if your spell does say that (or you´re ruling that they are Pinned), that precludes most (Somatic/Material Component) Spellcasting... just look up the Pinned condition, and use that. You will also need to house-rule what ACTION the Strength check takes, since the Cave-In rules don´t actually specify that.
The Cave-In rules are kind of wonky, in that they PRECISELY detail exactly how much weight/volume of stone can be removed by outside rescuers per round, yet the DC 25 check to free your self has NO parameters or time-span, so apparently you can free yourself from a 2-kilometer deep mineshaft collapse with just one check... As a Standard Action??? Who knows...
Not to mention the amount of debris on top of you is nowhere described, so who knows HOW MUCH stone needs to be removed by outside rescuers (with their very specific capacity to remove rock)? (But the damage is always the same, no matter how you house-rule the volume of collapsed rock) 8-/
You might notice that the the Avalanche rules elsewhere in that Chapter are EXTREMELY similar but DON´T have a means to escape (either personally OR by rescuers). ...So next time, bury your PCs in snow rather than rock, and let them really squirm!
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Thanks! I knew I was missing something. The STR check to escape would give me a starting point to handle escapes. I think I might allow an escape as a full round action if you made the initial REF save (you got to the edge of the collapse/got lucky on how much debris is on you), but otherwise you're stuck unless you have friends dig you out!
Whether it is actually the pinned condition or not is probably debatable, but I suspect it's a good place to start.
Thanks! I knew I was missing something. The STR check to escape would give me a starting point to handle escapes. I think I might allow an escape as a full round action if you made the initial REF save (you got to the edge of the collapse/got lucky on how much debris is on you), but otherwise you're stuck unless you have friends dig you out!
Whether it is actually the pinned condition or not is probably debatable, but I suspect it's a good place to start.
Grappled would probably be better. You still move your arms a bit in a cave-in. Being pinned means that you're restrained enough to be readily tied-up.
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Grappled would probably be better. You still move your arms a bit in a cave-in. Being pinned means that you're restrained enough to be readily tied-up.Thanks! I knew I was missing something. The STR check to escape would give me a starting point to handle escapes. I think I might allow an escape as a full round action if you made the initial REF save (you got to the edge of the collapse/got lucky on how much debris is on you), but otherwise you're stuck unless you have friends dig you out!
Whether it is actually the pinned condition or not is probably debatable, but I suspect it's a good place to start.
Went with the pinned condition since that is how the spell refers to it "pinned under rubble". Not sure if you would really have enough room to spellcast if you are pinned. Of course, if you make the initial Ref save, maybe you are grappled, and pinned if you fail.
Food for thought.