OK, I'm a bit fuzzy on what exactly this sense does provide. From the Universal Monster Rules:
Tremorsense (Ex)
A creature with tremorsense is sensitive to vibrations in the ground and can automatically pinpoint the location of anything that is in contact with the ground. Aquatic creatures with tremorsense can also sense the location of creatures moving through water. The ability’s range is specified in the creature’s descriptive text.
Format: tremorsense 60 ft.; Location: Senses.
OK, so what does this really mean? Are you flatfooted to an invisible attacker if you have Tremorsense? Do you still have a miss chance for concealment? Exactly how good is this sense?
I run it like Blindsense, with the limitation you must be in contact with the ground.
So you know what square they are in, but if you cannot see them you still have a miss chance and they get the "invisible attacker" benefits against you.
As far as I know, that's excactly how it works. Compare to blindsight, which lets you actually see, rather than just pinpointing. So with tremorsense, you'd know which squares have creatures touching the ground, but it wouldn't tell you what they were, or exactly where within that square they were (picture a stooping gnome vs an upright human - you're going to swing over the head of the former if you try to attack the latter),
And if you have uncanny dodge you care a whole lot less about invisible attackers.
I have a new question about tremorsense that I haven't spotted in the other threads. I picked this thread because it's newer than some of the others and because it seems to be the one closest to what I want to know.
Let's say a creature has a 90 ft. range on its tremorsense and is in a cave complex. It is in a room with no other creatures. There is a room that, on a map, would be described as "one level below." The floor of that room below is 60 feet away, and there are some wolves walking around on that floor.
1) If any particular wolf's distance, measured geometrically from its center to the center of the creature above, were less than 90 feet, would the creature detect it? (Assume that in between the two rooms there is solid rock, and that a creature with burrow could move from one creature to the other moving only through solid rock, and that at least one such path is less than 90 feet total distance.)
2) If any particular wolf's distance, measured as above, were less than 90 feet from the creature, but no path measured only through rock were less than 90 feet, could the creature detect the wolf?
That's how I'm understanding it as well, Kayerloth. I'm presuming tremorsense works in three dimensions and that the range of the tremorsense is a line traced between the two. But things brings me to a new, third question.
3) A stone room has stone pillars. The pillars are, at their closest point, 30 feet apart, the ceiling, walls, and floor are all the same stone as the pillars. Each pillar is 20 feet high. The room is completely dark. A creature with tremorsense (range 60 feet) is atop one pillar. A wolf is pacing at the top of the other pillar. Tracing a line from the creature, through the floor, to the wolf, goes through 80 feet of rock, but the tremorsense is 60 ft. However, tracing a line through the air, the distance between them is 30 ft. Does the creature sense the wolf?
From what I understand in the Universal Monster Rules, the creature does not detect the wolf with tremorsense (but certainly might hear or smell it, if it has those senses, and could see it with darkvision, if it has that sense).
But, since the pillars are 30 feet apart, the wolf's motion is probably causing vibrations even in the base of that pillar, which is within range of the creature. So, maybe the creature is aware that there is something, somewhere on the pillar, but doesn't know enough to pinpoint the wolf's location (or even that it's a wolf).
Those vibrations won't be strong enough to reach the tremorsense creature (TC). It can detect tremors from sources within 60' and the wolf isn't within 60'. If you start adding in secondary sources of vibration it gets messy real fast. I wouldn't recommend it.
However even if you do add in secondary vibrations, what can 'TC' really sense (as 'TC' can't see the wolf, I'm assuming it only has tremorsense). It can't detect the pillars themselves as they aren't moving, so 'TC' only knows there is something 30'down and 30' across. 'TC' won't know what is causing the vibrations and cannot really infer the existence of the pillars or that there might be a creature beyond the range of tremorsense.
Remember even if the wolf is in range you can't ID a creature with tremorsense.
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I would argue that the creature with tremorsense could get a vague idea of what the creature is, an ogre would leave a different "vibration" then a goblin, a 4 legged creature would leave a different vibration then a 2 legged creature or even a no legged create like an ooze or snake. tremorsense can see or sense "anything that is in contact with the ground" that something does not have to be moving, it could be a statue and it knows there is something solid on the ground in that area and it is not moving. I personally like to use tremorsense like blind sight for anything touching the ground.
For those of you who watch Avatar the Last Airbender think Toph's seismic sense, look it up on google images it’s a pretty cool representation of this ability in another media, if you want to use it that way, some would argue that Toph's ability is way stronger then what the wording of tremorsense would allow, I think it’s not a huge difference in the long run, not many things in the game have tremorsense anyway, aside from earth elementals.
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I would say no a creature with 60ft Tremorsense could not detect another creature 80ft away through solid material even if said creature is only 30ft away through the air.
I would agree with this as well. you will only be able to detect a creature or object if you could connect it through a line of solid material that is equal to or less than your tremorsense range, even if it is only 5 feet away.
Like standing on the edge of a gorge that’s 5 feet wide but nothing solid connects the 2 edges for 100+ feet in any direction.