Last session, my players were fighting a large sized vampire. We had to end the session before the fight was over, but I get the sense they will win next time.
My players had a really good idea: When the thing turns to fog and attempts to slink back to its coffin, cast stone-shape and trap it in stone, then wait for enough time to pass and the vampire will be destroyed, because it cannot reach its coffin.
I like the idea, but reading through the Stone Shape spell has raised a question for me. A question regarding the shape of the area that can be affected.
Stone Shape, as cast by the party's level 15 cleric, would affect an area of 25 cubic feet. Naturally this is not the same as a 25 ft cube, that much is clear, but what are the rules governing the shapes of the stone and the area? For instance:
must the area the cleric affects be a 25 cu. ft. cube? A small block that is? Or must it simply be any shape that can be formed within 25 1ft cubes, that connect to each-other? Is it completely free of area and only beholden to the mass of stone contained within the 25 cu ft, so you could feasably make an extremely thin, thousand-mile long stone rod?
Personally I'm inclined to say the stone can be shaped into any shape that can be made within any combination of 25 1ft cubes, all of which must be connected - so you could make a 25 ft tall/long stone rod, with a height and with of 1 ft max. If that makes a lick of sense :P
Anyway, your reading of the spell, and thoughts on the are that can be affected, are very much appreciated.
-Nearyn
"You can form an existing piece of stone into any shape that suits
your purpose. While it’s possible to make crude coffers, doors, and
so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn’t possible. There is a 30%
chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn’t work."
If you can make objects with moving parts that have a 70% chance of working (I'm not sure what an example would be - the hinge of a door, possibly) then it's fairly clear that the object doesn't have to be made of big cubes.
Our GM a while back let me make a simple hole through a rock wall with it. Big enough for gaseous creatures to move through.
@Matthew Downie: I didn't mean that it had to be -made- of cubes, but that the shape you create has to fit within 25 connected 1 ft cubes.
But that is still just my present reading of the spell. What is yours?
@Lathiira: indeed? That seems like it fall within the spell's use to me too. What are your thought on the area, though?
-Nearyn
@Matthew Downie: I didn't mean that it had to be -made- of cubes, but that the shape you create has to fit within 25 connected 1 ft cubes.
But that is still just my present reading of the spell. What is yours?
@Lathiira: indeed? That seems like it fall within the spell's use to me too. What are your thought on the area, though?
-Nearyn
The area is shapeable, correct? I used the argument that I could make 24 cubic feet as a six by four by one foot block...or by making a one by one by 24 foot block...or 3 by 8 by 1...and so on. In my case, I pulled the stone out of my way and made a tunnel, the excess material being added to the rock facing's outside and thus still contiguous.
But that is still just my present reading of the spell. What is yours?
I find the text annoyingly vague - I play it that you can turn a certain quantity of stone temporarily malleable like clay and shape it with your hands. That way there are no "I create an instant thin wall across the room, trapping half the enemies" abuses, but you could use it to block off a door (or coffin) if you had a few rounds. I don't have much RAW justification for this though.