serleran wrote: No. Sound burst can kill the caster. Sleep cannot. Likewise, I'm pretty sure that sleep ignores allies... sound burst, not so much.
So while it is a low level "nuke" it is also a last ditch effort. And completely counter-able, like most spells, with silence.
But, that's just my opinion. Which is never valid.
Regarding sound burst, recently an interesting question came up in one of my games. A sound burst has an area of effect of 20 ft. But, can it be heard outside that area even if it doesn't cause damage beyond that? Does one going off alert all the critters in the dungeon or is it only heard by those in the area of effect?
After discussion, our group decided that it doesn't make sense that someone 21 ft. away wouldn't take any damage unless they couldn't hear it. So our home ruling is that the sound is contained in the area of effect and does not spread beyond that, thus nothing is heard by those outside the area of effect and the whole dungeon isn't alerted to the party's presence.
Another reason we came to that conclusion was because we compared Sound Burst to Silence and felt that if sound is contained in silence it should also be contained in Sound Burst. With silence, the silence dampening effect doesn't make things quieter 1 ft. outside its range, so why should Sound Burst be loud 1 ft outside it's range? They're both sound spells so it makes sense that one ruling should true hold for both.
I am a firm believer that with magic, don't try to apply too much physics. Magic is magic, it just does what it does and doesn't have to make sense all the time. Even so, it made for an interesting discussion.
How would you rule it in your game?
Promoting C&C at Gary Con and LGGC since 2005.
