Re: Spelljamming

> > With a large level differential, though--say 15% chance of
> success-it's
> > not worth it. Though you could switch to Anti-Magic Shell.
>
> And not be able to get there yourself.  The point is the defended
> entry requires magic to reach (I guess a thief could try to climb
> walls but that's slow and risky).

Fly up to above the entrance (if you're up there, we're already assuming
you have a way to counter the winds). Stick a piton in the rock, and tie
on a rope. Cast AMS, and *then* enter the cave.

Not the most efficient way of doing things, but just a demonstration that
AMS is a feasible alternative to Dispel Magic in this situation.

> You can't cast spells when you get there because you're holding on to
> the wall.

Point taken. (Isn't AMS a verbal-only spell?)

> You need to negate the repulsion.  And leviation lets you
> get pushed around by the winds.  Like right into the cliff face for
> some nice damage.

However, levitation is just a safety belt. Mainly, the idea is to climb
the rock face--with levitation as a sort of climbing tool. If you're
already on the rock face, winds aren't going to bother you much; I
shouldn't think anything less than hurricane-force winds would be able to
blow you _off_ the cliff, to slam you back onto them for damage.

> > And the simplest one is just
> > to cast Enlarge on myself, increasing my mass by twentyfold or more.
>
> Now you catch even more wind and get pushed around even easier.
> Remember a fly spell isn't like real wings, it doesn't help you fight
> the wind anymore than its flying movement rate will allow (whereas a
> dragon massive wings and wing muscles combined with its mass let it
> ignore the local winds).

1.) In that case, you can't be sure that winds would be enough to stop a
Fly spell. It could be you get the same old MV 18 whether in
hurricane-force winds or dead calm.

2.) If you're using a permanent Gust of Wind--or using the spell
description as your basis--increased size would indeed help combat the
spell. I don't have my books with me, but Huge size creatures are reduced
to something like half speed, not blown away like man-sized ones are.

3.) If you're climbing the rock, the increased mass would help anchor more
against the winds. Sure, you catch more wind (as the square of the linear
size increase, roughly), but your mass increases more than your surface
area. (Cube of the linear size increase.)

Actually, it's not stated how much mass increases with Enlarge, and I tend
to view the spell differently myself than a simple mass/size increase, but
I'm thinking that's how most DMs would probably see the spell.

> > How about a tame beholder, Dominated and using its disintegration eye?
> > Since we play SJ, we know it shouldn't be *that* difficult to steal
> one,
> > or even hire one instead.
>
> Why not just dominate the dragon and be done with it?

We're trying to penetrate its lair. Admittedly, you *could* just try to
ambush and dominate the dragon, but its magic resistance makes this risky.
In a SJ context, hiring a beholder would probably be somewhat easier than
stealing one--but we can think of plans for that as well. (You'd likely
have to hire a rogue, like the bartender on Braal, since the standard ones
don't seem too cooperative. Much too wrapped up in racial conflicts.)

> > You can cast your Levitate or Fly on the zombie.
>
> But it's still no good as a scout or at negating the repulsion.

The use of the zombie was contingent on discovering whether repulsion
affects unliving tissue. Levitate or Fly was an answer to your question
about how to get the zombie up to the entrance.

> > But then you still have the problem of extracting the image of the
> > interior from its mind so you can teleport inside. I was thinking of
> this
> > in combination with the Magic Jar or Sight Link variant.
>
> A zombie wouldn't really have a mind to trade places with with magic
> jar and sight link is another scrying spell.

It's not the mind you trade places with in Magic Jar, it's the life force.
You can definitely possess undead; to say that you can't possess zombies
sounds like a house ruling. In any case, if that were true in the campaign
this trap was in--say your house campaign--the mage should probably know
the limitations of the spell, and wouldn't bother checking this
possibility.

> > Okay, before reading your message today, I had thought this was the
> real
> > entrance, the one that the dragon himself used. If it's not, the
> point is
> > moot. I'll *know* the entrance the dragon uses, and that's the same
> one
> > I'll use. Or else just Phase Door through the side wall. <evil grin>
>
> Actually the dragon's anti-scrying spells will prevent you from
> learning his entrance (throw a few on himself along with invisibility
> and you can't track him either).

Dragons tend to have a poor spell selection. They have more raw power
(higher casting level), but they learn spells randomly, and even an
ancient red only gets 5th level spells. Golds and silvers and their ilk do
a bit better, but even a gold doesn't attain the spell list of an
archmage. If he's got spells, it's fair to assume IMHO that the attacking
wizard has better ones. Also, is this dragon paranoid enough to cast
Invisibility on himself every time he enters and exits his lair?

(Additionally, Invisibility is far from infallible, when you're trying to
hide from a high-level wizard. I'm imagining around 14th level here--I
probably wouldn't try to attack an adult dragon before then. Well, I
would, but the one setting up this trap is fairly paranoid, which spells
danger. And if it's an evil dragon, it can't be anything less than a red
dragon and a Wyrm or thereabouts, in order to cast the Repulsion. Steer
clear for a while.)

> For phase door don't you have to
> prepare or know your destination or something?

I don't believe so. It's a Passwall variant, with an open duration and
some amount of camoflage built in. Not a teleport.

> > One possible way to do this is to Rock to Mud the one entrance,
> Reduce and
> > Fly on one's self, and hide. See if the dragon comes out. If he ever
> does,
> > 1.) you know there's another entrance, and 2.) you can follow him
> back in.
> > I wouldn't recommend doing this in your own body, just in case.
>
> He's still invisible and simply uses stone shape to repair his
> entrance.  Now he's alerted that someone (someone with at least 5th
> level spells) is trying to get at him.  Now you're the prey and he's
> the hunter.  It was nice you became a lizard snack.

(You snipped my comments dealing with this.)

That's one reason I wouldn't try this in my own body. I don't think he'd
actually kill me, but it doesn't hurt to be paranoid.

Anyway, much like an ambush, being hunted is more of a problem if you're
not expecting it. If you are, it is sometimes referred to as "baiting." :)

Hemlock