A wave of thunderous force sweeps out from you. Each creature in a 15-foot cube originating from you must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 2d8 thunder damage and is pushed 10 feet away from you. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and isn’t pushed.
Considering the difficulty of this event, I am entertaining a player "friendly" approach and creative solutions (RAW would be a flat no). But this would harm Zhu, Zindra and the two horses near you. (Zhu goes after Kriv). Think about this spell acting like a terrorist suicide vest.
I do appreciate the thought but you need to at least match the DC of the strength save for the mudslide which is 15. I get the contested rolls but the mud doesn't make a save. It's your DC (14) against it's.
(Note: Zhu DC does match and so I'm allowing her web to have an impact). Pushing mud away from you would mean it is pushed into others who are 10 feet out of the 15 foot range. Anyone you push into would then get disadvantage on their upcoming strength save.
Considering the difficulty of this event, I am entertaining a player "friendly" approach and creative solutions (RAW would be a flat no).
But the spell also impacts things other than creatures, without a save:
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In addition, unsecured objects that are completely within the area of effect are automatically pushed 10 feet away from you by the spell's effect
Not sure if the mud is an unsecured object but certainly some of the "oncoming rush of debris and mud coming at them" could be pushed away, if not all of it.
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But this would harm Zhu, Zindra and the two horses near you.
But the area of effect can be pointed away from them, it's a "15-foot cube originating from you" which is on a face of the cube, not inside it. So if Kriv moved to the square centered betwen Zhu and Zindra he could cast it facing north and protect them (and the horses). That's 3 squares (15 feet) ... Kriv could have his horse move to the west one square and thus not need to move through another creature's space, and still reach that spot even with difficult terrain halving his movement.
(OOC - Well, as the spell description says there is no DC for items, only creatures, and that unsecured items are 'automatically' pushed away I would think that this would divert things to one side or the other or at least slow them down.)
Back home! We had a nice visit with two different couples that we're good friends with but who live some distance from us. We were in Beauford South Carolina and then in Orlando Florida. These are two really awesome places to visit. Now, with reliable high speed Internet and nobody pulling me in this direction or that we can get back to business. I do have a FTF session tomorrow evening so that's going to get most of my attention until Wednesday.
About PDFs being in sync with DnDBeyond... That seems to have fixed itself. Maybe cache? IDK.
About Kriv's potential Thunderwave...
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Not sure if the mud is an unsecured object but certainly some of the "oncoming rush of debris and mud coming at them" could be pushed away, if not all of it.
If you look at the Thunderwave spell, it's instantaneous. I can't see how one instant of a boom is going to stop or even slow a mudslide that may last several rounds.
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But the area of effect can be pointed away from them, it's a "15-foot cube originating from you" which is on a face of the cube, not inside it.
yup
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So if Kriv moved to the square centered betwen Zhu and Zindra he could cast it facing north and protect them (and the horses). That's 3 squares (15 feet) ... Kriv could have his horse move to the west one square and thus not need to move through another creature's space, and still reach that spot even with difficult terrain halving his movement.
If only he and his horse weren't prone Sadly, his max move after standing is 1 square. (Standing up requires half your movement) Half of a move of 6 squares 3. Half of 3 squares is 1 square because in DnD 5e you always round down.
Also, Zeim moved Zhu on the map from the position she was originally but if you look at the initiative order Kriv goes before her.
See the attached image. I moved Zhu back in this to her original spot, moved Kriv's horse and moved Kriv his full move after standing. This is what the tactical situation would look like. This is a "best case" scenario where neither Zhu or Zindra are in the cube.
Yeah, but Kriv couldn't use the spell until the second wave hits, which is after everyone goes, so Zhu (and maybe Zindra and Pavel) could have moved. He'd have to ready an action to cast the spell when the mudslide is in range, which is on it's turn.
Kind of puts a perspective on the whole "Ready an Action" concept. You're typically waiting 1-2 seconds? And with 10 pcs and say 10 monsters there is 0.3 seconds between turns... <sheesh>
Sadly, his max move after standing is 1 square. (Standing up requires half your movement) Half of a move of 6 squares 3. Half of 3 squares is 1 square because in DnD 5e you always round down.
Kriv's a fighter, and thus can action surge. Kriv has the potential to Expeditious Retreat as well, though moot if we're going for a non-cantrip spell. In either case, that's a whole lot more movement even in difficult terrain. Perhaps even two thunderwaves.
Kind of puts a perspective on the whole "Ready an Action" concept. You're typically waiting 1-2 seconds? And with 10 pcs and say 10 monsters there is 0.3 seconds between turns... <sheesh>
It actually (objectively) makes you wonder how a spellcaster can:
- move up to 30 feet - evaluate the situation - choose a spell to cast - take out the material components - speak the words of magic - make the somatic movements - choose the target/area - release the spell
... all in 0.3 of a second? Practically the same with a weapon attack, assuming a potential move, block, parry, and strike in less than a second?
It implies that in actuality (if you want any sort of realistic result) everyone should send their actions to the DM privately at the start of the round and then the DM should adjudicate what happens in initiative order, but that realistically (I don't like that word as relates to D&D but......) there is no time to see what actions the people who go before you do before you go. At best you could cancel what you told the DM. However if you are casting a spell, forex, you have started it and are in the middle of it while other things are happening. If your target is killed by the person who just went 0.3 seconds ahead of you can you really choose a new target?
I know the answer to all of this is to suspend reality, but it is just odd to consider.
... all in 0.3 of a second? Practically the same with a weapon attack, assuming a potential move, block, parry, and strike in less than a second?
Coming from a MUD world, pretty much all combat was a screen full of scrolling combat spam that was impossible to even read in real time, and if my cleric didn't have triggers set to heal the tanks when they dropped to a threshold, that 0.3 seconds would be the difference between life and death.
The point is that it is not physically possible to perform all of the activities: Move, Action, Bonus Action, etc in a sub-second time frame. So not sure why the arbitrary number of "6 seconds" was chosen as the length of a round other than that it just divides 60 second minutes by 10 and makes it clean, hierarchically. Also, note that each player's actions take a different amount of time depending on how many participants are acting. 1 PC and 1 foe would each have 3 seconds to act whereas 10 pcs and 10 foes have 0.3 if you do not have them all going simultaneously.
So not sure why the arbitrary number of "6 seconds" was chosen as the length of a round other than that it just divides 60 second minutes by 10 and makes it clean, hierarchically.
and of course no one is standing around waiting for the person in front of them to act, so everything really is simultaneous anyway. It is clearly in the pcs best interest to have people go one by one.
This is an old, old argument. Suspend reality and suspend realism. It's a game. Things are done in games to make them easy to run and play. Quick. How many of you can levitate? Cast fireball?
Initiative is rolled to help DMs organize. Moving the same distance at a diagonal as in a vertical or horizontal direction is not geometrically correct...it's easy.
So if all 10 pc's are fighting 26 monsters means that 36 go in 6 seconds. Do we all really thing that the blows aren't near to simultaneous?
And at a table it's absolute chaos to say "It's all of your turns now".
Well, as I mentioned, I believe that if your goal is to let the players have fun then one by one is the ticket. If your goal is to try to inject realism into the game then the best way is for every player to privately submit to the DM their actions for the round without knowing what anyone else is doing and then the DM adjudicates those actions in initiative order and the player's only option when it is their turn is to follow thru with their action or cancel it and do nothing. If the person who goes right before you kills the monster you're fighting, oh well. No time for you to turn around and run across the room to attack anyone else.
BTW, I don't recommend this. It is an intellectual exercise.
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Sadly, his max move after standing is 1 square. (Standing up requires half your movement) Half of a move of 6 squares 3. Half of 3 squares is 1 square because in DnD 5e you always round down. 