Protection From Normal Missiles
That youngfella
hit, but do no damage, or hit and bounce off, or does it kind of try and
dodge the castee?
The point of this question is, how do I (a DM) tell a player that his
natural 20 missed, without giving away that the target has PFNM cast upon
him?
Or does an archer know that he should have hit the target (e.g. maybe
he saw the arrow turn, or bounce off him)
KiM
> If I fire an arrow at someone who has this spell cast upon them, will it
> hit, but do no damage, or hit and bounce off, or does it kind of try and
> dodge the castee?
Judging by the material component (a tortoise shell) and the fact it's an
abjuration spell I'd say that it errects a barrier of sorts around the wizard
that acts like a missle specific field (missles will bounce, break or
ricochet off the caster like he was covered in flack. Since the barrier is
invisible it will probably look like most missles are skidding off and
mysteriously missing or bouncing off.
> The point of this question is, how do I (a DM) tell a player that his
> natural 20 missed, without giving away that the target has PFNM cast upon
> him?
> Or does an archer know that he should have hit the target (e.g. maybe
> he saw the arrow turn, or bounce off him)
I'd say that when you see an arrow fly perfectly at a target (speaking from
experience there are some shots you just know have hit the moment you release
the string, they just feel right) and somehow misses the guy without even
clipping or wounding or marking him then I'd say that'd be a pretty damn good
indication that something is not right.
A natural 20 would most likely give the archer a very good indication that
something is wrong, but what he can't say (arrows travel fast so he wouldn't
be able to see exactly what went wrong, just that the shot should of hit, but
somehow didn't.). The rest is up to the player and the character.
--
KiM
q960...@topaz.cqu.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/7756/index.html
[Insert witty yet irrelevant and nonsensical statement here]
Gaylord Tang
> If I fire an arrow at someone who has this spell cast upon them, will it
> hit, but do no damage, or hit and bounce off, or does it kind of try and
> dodge the castee?
>
> The point of this question is, how do I (a DM) tell a player that his
> natural 20 missed, without giving away that the target has PFNM cast upon
> him?
> Or does an archer know that he should have hit the target (e.g. maybe
> he saw the arrow turn, or bounce off him)
I vote for the last option. What can you say when someone swings a
non-magical weapon at a creature that's resistant? "You're pretty sure
you struck a good blow, but the creature seems unaffected..."
-GT
Stilvin
That youngfella wrote...
> If I fire an arrow at someone who has this spell cast upon them, will it
> hit, but do no damage, or hit and bounce off, or does it kind of try and
> dodge the castee?
>
> The point of this question is, how do I (a DM) tell a player that his
> natural 20 missed, without giving away that the target has PFNM cast upon
> him?
In most cases, you don't. Consider...
If the arrow hits, but does no damage: "Your arrow flies true and hits the
villain squarely above the heart. The villain looks down at the protruding
arrow for a moment, looks back at you, and smiles."
If the arrow hits and bounces off: "Your arrow flies through the air and
hits the villain on his bare forehead. The arrow breaks, and the villain
calmly brushes splinters off of his shoulder."
If the arrow's path bends around the castee: do I really have to give an
example?
The point of this is, that if the archer knows that the arrow should have
hit, then a PFNM spell is going to be pretty damned obvious.
--
-sc (Stilvin) sti...@bigfoot.com
"Because you can't cotton to evil. No sir. You have to smack evil
on the nose with the rolled-up newspaper of justice and say, 'Bad
evil. Bad, BAD evil.'"
- David Gerard
Darren Dare
surrounding him. So the player who rolled a 20 will have to be informed that
is accurate shot was deflected away from his target at the last minute by
some force (magical or physical). This usually surprised the hell out of
the bowman.
Elminster
That youngfella <co...@skynet.csn.ul.ie> wrote in message
news:FFMn4...@ul.ie...
> If I fire an arrow at someone who has this spell cast upon them, will it
> hit, but do no damage, or hit and bounce off, or does it kind of try and
> dodge the castee?
>
> The point of this question is, how do I (a DM) tell a player that his
> natural 20 missed, without giving away that the target has PFNM cast upon
> him?
Larry Mead
: If I fire an arrow at someone who has this spell cast upon them, will it
: hit, but do no damage, or hit and bounce off, or does it kind of try and
: dodge the castee?
I have always assumed that the arrow is deflected from its course and
misses. If it hits, it might spoil a spell being cast even if no damage
is taken.
: The point of this question is, how do I (a DM) tell a player that his
: natural 20 missed, without giving away that the target has PFNM cast upon
: him?
: Or does an archer know that he should have hit the target (e.g. maybe
: he saw the arrow turn, or bounce off him)
He sees the arrow deflect at the last moment.
DMGorgon
--
Lawrence R. Mead Ph.D. (Lawren...@usm.edu)
Eschew Obfuscation! Espouse Elucidation!
www-dept.usm.edu/~physics/mead.html
PJS
>The arrow will bounce off the target as if there is an invisible barrier
>surrounding him. So the player who rolled a 20 will have to be informed
that
>is accurate shot was deflected away from his target at the last minute by
>some force (magical or physical). This usually surprised the hell out of
>the bowman.
I agree. The only "authority" for saying so, though, is that picture of the
Wizard with the Imp on his shoulder in the 1st ed. PHB: the arrows fired at
him are breaking or glancing off as if there were an invisible barrier (of
course, this might be a Shield spell being illustrated as well . . .)
---
"...and the Scottish division one game between Taste of Dunfermline
and Strathcarnage cannot be stopped."
Ubiquitous
>If I fire an arrow at someone who has this spell cast upon them, will it
>hit, but do no damage, or hit and bounce off, or does it kind of try and
>dodge the castee?
Isn't the area of effect visible?
If not, make the arrows visibly act like they're bouncing off
an invisbile dome (or however it's shaped).
--
==============================================================================
"Goddammit! The world is just filling up with more and more idiots!
And the computer is giving them access to the world! They're spreading
their stupidity! At least they were contained before -- now they're on
the loose everywhere!"
-- Harlan Ellison in The Onion