We had an issue arise last night with the Druid spell "Resinous Skin," which reads as follows:
"You coat your body with a resinous substance, protecting you from attacks and binding weapons that strike you. You gain DR 5/piercing, as well as a +4 circumstance bonus to your CMD against disarm attempts and on saving throws against effects that cause you to drop something you are holding. Additionally, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on combat maneuver checks to initiate a grapple, maintain a grapple, and pin a foe. Any enemy you grapple takes a –2 penalty on attempts to break the grapple and to escape the grapple using Escape Artist. Any weapon, that strikes you becomes stuck unless its wielder succeeds at a Reflex saving throw. Such a weapon can be pulled free of you only with a successful Strength check (DC = your saving throw DC for this spell). This spell has no effect on unarmed strikes or natural weapons."
Our Hunter cast it on his big cat Animal Companion, who then went into battle with a troll wielding a trident. Troll hit the cat, failed his Ref save, so the weapon was stuck. OK, all good so far.
So then it's the cat's turn. However, it's stuck 10' away from the troll with a reach weapon stuck to it that the troll is still firmly holding. So what now? Can the cat take a 5' step toward the troll? Can it retreat? Seems to me that the troll is now holding the cat at bay with the trident at 10' unless the cat can either disarm the troll or succeed in an opposed STR check.
Nothing in the spell description says anything about a free disarm maneuver. Even if there was a free disarm check, does the troll then get an AoO on the cat because it doesn't have Improved Disarm?
And is the Strength check to tear it free a free action or a standard action? Ordinarily I would think it would be a standard action, but this was a weird situation.
It seems to me that adding a free disarm check to the spell makes it too powerful for a low-level spell. On the other hand, if the troll gets to simply hold onto the weapon and keep the cat at bay until it's turn to tear it free, the spell actually would be disadvantageous to the recipient (the cat).
I didn't give the cat a free disarm check, but I did give it a free action to attempt a STR check to separate from the trident (which it did). That seemed unsatisfying though. The weapon got stuck as intended, but the supposed beneficiary of the spell had to basically end the effect prematurely so that it wasn't severely disadvantaged.
How would you handle this? Is there a rule I'm missing?
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Separating from the trident is a standard action. It is a strength check and those are standard actions unless there is a rule saying something different.
The trident has no reach but the troll has reach.
My opinion is that probably the troll will release the trident at the end of his turn when he sees that it is stuck to the cat.
If for some reason, he wants to keep it, the big cat can try a disarm maneuver to wrestle it away, but, if it hasn't the improved disarm feat, the troll can make a free attack of opportunity with his other claw or his bite.
You can only take a 5-foot-step if your movement isn’t hampered by difficult terrain or darkness.
It is strange, but the cat can take a 5-foot-step, as the struck trident isn't difficult terrain nor darkness and it isn't grappled.
To sum it up, Resinous Skin has a bad description, as the writer hasn't considered the consequences of the spell.
Spells do what they say. Adding 'seems to' generally doesn't help. If you need to figure out some additional flavor to help it out.
Certainly this spell doesn't do anything to prevent movement of the creature with the spell on it. It also doesn't give a free disarm.
In the case of the cat moving closer to the troll, their should be no issue. The troll would have no problem still maintaining his hold on the weapon and the cat can attack just fine. The weapon is still stuck. If it makes you feel better, the resinous skin isn't going to hold the trident at any particular angle (it is free to swivel) so the cat can easily move closer.
Now, I agree that their is a problem if the cat were to move away from the troll. The spell should probably cover what happens in this case. I would rule that the cat can move away at will, but the stuck weapon is automatically freed if the cat leaves the creature reach.
Thanks to you both for the advice. I guess I have a hard time conceptually with the fight being unaffected when one combatant is firmly holding a weapon that is attached to the other combatant. But I agree with you both that the easiest way to deal with that is to ignore it.
Now, I agree that their is a problem if the cat were to move away from the troll. The spell should probably cover what happens in this case. I would rule that the cat can move away at will, but the stuck weapon is automatically freed if the cat leaves the creature reach.
I agree. That's the only way to make it work without affecting the spell by either making it more advantageous by giving the recipient a free disarm maneuver, or more disadvantageous by restricting the recipient's movement.
Thanks again.
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For the second time, the trident is a single-handed weapon.
If he has made a full attack the troll can do his bite attack and a single claw attack as secondary attacks.
If, for some reason, he has more weapons and quick draw he can drop his trident, draw a new weapon and make more attacks (BAB permitting).
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You can hold a trident in 2 hands. Most people that strength fight do. It's not worth bolding over, Diego.
A longsword can be used in 2 hands, but responding to questions as it was the "normal" way to use it can be misleading.
In the specific instance, the troll gets a secondary attack with his claw, so, depending on the source of the proficiency in using tridents, the utility of using it with one hand or two varies.
Evil grin.
It would have been interesting if in the above battle the troll was fighting like a Retiarius, with net and trident. Ruling how having the net struck to the cat work will have been a real nightmare.