Friday, May 1, 2015

the rule of cool

A situation arose in my pbp game involving the use of the invisibility spell.  Here's the text, from OSRIC:


In this situation, "King" Corbin, a bandit lord that the party encountered previously while guarding caravan, is waiting to ambush an oncoming wagon in order to steal a delivery of jewels meant to seal an alliance with a nearby lord.  He has 14 men, half on each side of the road, waiting in cover to rain missiles on the caravan in the case that there is any resistance.

What Corbin doesn't know is that the delivery is a trap--the party's fighter, Ithel, is posing as a nobleman, and the party's henchmen make up the caravan crew and guard.  What Corbin also doesn't know is that Aditsan, the party's hunter, lies in wait in the woods nearby, and that Raith, the party's mage, is currently under the effect of the invisbility spell, standing just behind Corbin.

As the bandit lord raises his bow to fire upon the caravan, Raith wishes to foul the shot by tapping the bow with his staff, thus raising the question as to whether that constitutes as an "attack", negating the invisbility spell.

By the rules as written, and certainly by intention, I think that this would indeed constitute as an attack, and that it would negate the spell.

By the "rule of cool," however, by which players are encouraged to stage interesting, flavorful and entertaining actions and scenes, I think this is a brilliant use of the spell, and I've ruled that Raith can indeed foul the bandit lord's shot without cancelling the invisibility spell.

Thoughts?  How would you rule it?


1 comment:

  1. As written it leaves a lot of room for interpretation, but the consensus over the years has been basically that any aggressive or disruptive action cancels the spell. There might be more detail in the 1e sources, but the 2e PH leaves it about as open as OSRIC does.

    Taken literally, Raith didn't make an attack or do anything to cause direct harm to Corbin, so I definitely don't think your decision was technically wrong. I'd probably have ruled against me, but having reread the spell description and this post, I think I might have a change of heart on it going forward. It definitely made for a cool moment, and very helpful to the party. Just have to remember that it works both ways when enemies/NPCs use the spell.

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