Since I'm playing 2nd ed, I figured I'd place this question here. However, I think the spell is pretty much the same in every edition, or close enough. Anyway, the question is, does this spell extend through barriers? Like, if cast on a stone, can the stone be put in a pouch, thus containing the silence area of effect? In the same vein, wouldn't a wall or a door block it too. That's how we have played, though now it's being questioned. I couldn't find anything online, so I thought I'd ask how others deal with it.
It's been a long time since this came up IMC, but I used to play it (and probably still would, if it comes up again) that silence 15'r and all similar spells are blocked by the same things that block scrying. Thus, putting an enchanted stone in a pouch wouldn't block it, but most stone walls would. Doors wouldn't block the enchantment, but a properly designed lead box would contain it.
Finally, someone else is posing a question relating to gaming mechanics! Huzzah!!!
Ragnar, I would rule in much the same vein as mentioned by Bubbagump. I've had characters use Silence many times as offensive weapons by enchanting arrows, stones, and the like and using them against rival spell-casters. I don't think that a pouch or container would affect the area of affect of this spell. Nor do I think that a door, which is not "hermetically sealed" would stop it, either. A thick wall, perhaps. Maybe Bubbagump's idea about treating it like blocking scrying is a good one.
Keep posting! I don't like being the only one out there...
I don't have much to add, but I wanted to chime in and agree with Bubbagump's resolution. If it is something that sound could escape from (a chime sounding within a belt pouch could be heard from without) or through (most sounds will travel through the cracks around a normal door), then such an object should not act as a barrier to the Silence spell. However, barriers that would normally stop sound (a thick stone wall or a vacuum, for example) should also limit the radius of a Silence spell.
SirXaris
Edit: The above ruling may be in the PC's favor most of the time. However, there would be many situations where it becomes a hindrance to stealth. If, for example, they are travelling down a 10' wide hallway with an active Silence 15' Radius spell, the rooms on either side would experience about 10' of silence as the party passed by. That would be quite a warning to any guard posts that intruders are on their way or just outside their door. SX
Last edited by SirXaris on Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:02 am; edited 1 time in total
Finally, someone else is posing a question relating to gaming mechanics! Huzzah!!!
Keep posting! I don't like being the only one out there...
-Lanthorn
Cebrion wrote:
But, how long will that link keep Lanthorn busy for? Tune in next time, AD&Ders!
You must have "finished "going through that Sage Advice index for Cebrion... hehe
...the question is, does this spell extend through barriers?
Yes, excepting those barriers that specifically block spell effects, like the wall of tentacles and another weird wall in a couple of well known old school AD&D 1E Greyhawk adventures which I will not name. Note that these sorts of barriers are very, very rare, and very, very specifically spell out what does and does not penetrate them. I assume I need not mention anti-magic barriers, but I just did.
ragnar wrote:
Like, if cast on a stone, can the stone be put in a pouch, thus containing the silence area of effect?
No, it doesn't contain the effect. What putting silence 15" r. on a stone does is make the effect mobile. Now, if the silence stone is put in a bag of holding or other extra-dimensional space, then the effect will be contained (in actuality it is elsewhere).
ragnar wrote:
In the same vein, wouldn't a wall or a door block it too.
No. The effect extends beyond doors, walls, etc., and yes, enemies that are not idiotic could be easily tipped off to the presence of the PCs when the effect extends from a passageway the PCs are walking in with a silence stone and the effect extends into an enemy area, which suddenly has become abnormally silent. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
Last edited by Cebrion on Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
As per the 2nd edition rules it states if the spell is cast on an object that is mobile then the effect is mobile so a normal stone in a backpack or belt pouch would not prevent the silence from extending to a 15' radius. Though Cebrion's example aka bag of holding would mean the object is no longer in this plane of existence and so the silence effect would only occur in the space the object now occupies.
Unwilling targets of the spell get a saving throw if successful it takes effect centered one foot behind the target of the spell, though it is not mobile as the spell is now fixed to that location.
I would rule that unless something specifically states it blocks a magical radius, then it does not. Though lead is thought to block magical effects and so it is feasible to believe lead lined walls or portals would block out the radius.
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