Question about Freedom of Movement

[Greenfield]

We're in a relatively low level game (4th/5th), and our Cleric has the Travel domain, so she gets a Freedom of Movement effect as a domain power.

In a recent game the character got tagged with a Tanglefoot Bag. The player invoked the Domain power and play went on.

I didn't argue it at the time, but it bothered me.

Freedom of Movement
Abjuration
Level: Brd 4, Clr 4, Drd 4, Luck 4, Rgr 4
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal or touch
Target: You or creature touched
Duration: 10 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
This spell enables you or a creature you touch to move and attack normally for the duration of the spell, even under the influence of magic that usually impedes movement, such as paralysis, solid fog, slow, and web. The subject automatically succeeds on any grapple check made to resist a grapple attempt, as well as on grapple checks or Escape Artist checks made to escape a grapple or a pin.

The spell also allows the subject to move and attack normally while underwater, even with slashing weapons such as axes and swords or with bludgeoning weapons such as flails, hammers, and maces, provided that the weapon is wielded in the hand rather than hurled. The freedom of movement spell does not, however, allow water breathing.
Material Component: A leather thong, bound around the arm or a similar appendage.

As written, the spell specifies magical impediment being rendered ineffective. Tanglefoot bags aren't magical, they're alchemical.

The first sentence could be read to imply that the spell also foils non-magical impediments, such as heavy brush or rough terrain, though aquatics are the only difficult environment specifically mentioned.

Another thing not mentioned, and almost certainly *Not* included would be manacles, rope bindings, locked cell doors etc. (You needed to use the power to escape your captors before they got the chains or ropes on you and locked you in that cell.)

So somewhere between these extremes lay the line of what is and isn't ignored when Freedom of Movement is in effect. I've tended to play it close to the "Magical restrictions only" end of the scale, with a side of "Ignore minor terrain issues."

Does anyone have any rules references or other authoritative sources that could help clarify this?

Sound arguments are also welcome (noting that in this case "sound" and "noisy" aren't the same thing at all )

 

[Oryan77]

Freedom of Movement works against all effects that keep you from moving. The first line of the spell description mentions magical effects, "even under the influence of magic that usually impedes movement." The rest of the examples are all nonmagical effects.

You are basically immune to manacles, bindings, grapples, etc, etc. Your speed is also not impeded with difficult terrain or any effects that would normally reduce your speed while in the area.

Keep in mind, it is a 4th level spell, which is pretty high level considering what class level you need to be before you can cast a single 4th level spell per day. Also, check out how much a Ring of Freedom of Movement costs, it's very expensive. It's one reason I love the Travel Domain. I like making fast PCs that move around a lot and this spell is great for that build.

The only example you gave that doesn't apply is locked cell doors. The door isn't keeping you from moving. You are free to move however you want regardless of the door being locked or not. The door is simply a barrier and doesn't relate to your ability to move any more than a Wall of Force or a solid stone wall would. You don't get to "teleport" past it or anything.

I guess think of it in terms of being physically bound (as in grabbing or holding on to you). Manacles are physically binding you. A cage or a chest that you have been stuffed inside isn't physically grabbing and holding on to you. Difficult terrain isn't holding on to you, but it slows down your speed, which is an effect that the spell specifically ignores. You still get to move your speed while yer stuffed inside of a box.

 

[delericho]

Freedom of Movement works against all effects that keep you from moving.

This.

 

[Greenfield]

It says you auto-succeed when resisting Grapple.

I didn't know it also gave you an auto-success on Escape Artist.

Can you walk through walls as well?

 

[Tovec]

Can you walk through walls as well?

No.

This spell enables you or a creature you touch to move and attack normally for the duration of the spell,

If you cannot normally move through walls, this spell does not allow that. It allows you to move normally and freely as if certain effects were not hampering your movement. Since wall would always block you, it has no effect on that wall. The wall is not grappling you or otherwise slowing you down or holding you in place. The wall is a solid, stationary, object and this spell has no reason to allow you to move through such objects. It just allows you to freely escape restrictions. Heck, as far as I'm reading you can't even freely move through enemies (or enemy squares), but that one I am less sure on.

At least that is how I read it by RAW, you can't freedom of movement through a wall, and I'm like 100% sure RAI doesn't wait you to either.

 

[Greenfield]

Apologies for the snark.

I was just trying to get my head around the spell allowing you to squeeze your body through places where it doesn't fit (such as a hand or foot through manacles or tight bindings), while not allowing you to do the same thing through iron bars of a cell door.

I guess I see a difference between breaking a Grapple, and Escape Artist from things that aren't normally resolved under the Grapple rules.

To me, the iron collar chained to the wall just doesn't seem like something you could slip without actually unlocking it, and the spell doesn't unlock things, as far as I know.

Ah well, thanks for the input.

 

[Oryan77]

I used to have a hard time grasping the whole concept of this spell too. In situations like this, I'll usually try to convince myself with some plausible explanation (as much as you can do in terms of magic). In this case, I think of it along the lines of the spell causing the binds to no longer be as efficient. Maybe the spell causes the iron collar to loosen up enough for you to now slip out from it. Or if you are not bound yet, then the magic simply prevents the binds from clasping down on you enough to take hold.

This reminds me of the movie Young Guns when Billy the Kid is shackled and pulling his hands out of the shackles. He says he was born with small hands and thick wrists, so he was always able to easily escape binds. I always thought that was funny and wondered if there was some truth to that.

 

[Greenfield]

I think we're in agreement on part of this: If the power is in effect before you're bound, they can't restrain you unless you let them.

Once you're in a situation where Escape Artist is called for, however, well, I think Escape Artist is called for. And those only auto-succeed when used to escape a Grapple or a Pin. (Says exactly that in the spell text.)

Looking at spells: Does Freedom of Movement trump magical barriers like Wall of Force? (You can find a way through a Force Cage with an Escape Artist check of something like 60, or so I've been told. Haven't actually seen the RAW to back that one up.)

How about Levitate? (Once in the air you can't move unless you find a way to propel yourself by pushing off things.)

How about Wizard Lock? (I'd think it wouldn't, since in this case it's the door that's stopping you, the spell is just keeping it closed.)

Would Freedom of Movement help if you had been dropped in a pit? (That one kind of needs a good Climb check more than anything else.)

You see where I'm going, don't you? There are a lot of situations that can slow or stop a PC that just don't "fit the mold" for FoM.

And, to be blunt, there's nothing in the spell that says it bypasses "any" mundane impediment. It lists a few specific ones, and a number of magical ones, but I when I read the actual text of the spell I don't see that it makes the person unstoppable. Maybe I'm missing something in the text...

(We used to joke about the Cleric with that power up who falls out of a boat. Since the water can't slow them down, they would fall to the ocean floor unimpeded, and take appropriate falling damage.)

 

[Oryan77]

As I originally pointed out, the spell doesn't do anything vs things like Force Cage, Wizard Lock, a pit, a locked door, a jail cell, or a vault. A thousand feet of granite in your way does not effect your movement. These obstacles are blocking your path and are not keeping you from moving around. You're not receiving any penalty to your speed nor are these obstacles grappling you in any way.

You don't roll escape artist or grapple checks vs a wall, or a locked door (open locks). So I'm assuming you keep bringing up those examples more to be snarky than as an honest question. I suggest reading the 3.5 FAQ because it has several paragraphs about Freedom of Movement.

Also, I think the whole idea about letting Freedom of Movement work against things like manacles may in fact be one of those houserules that most houses have taken as RAW. I forgot that Freedom of Movement really only says that it works against grappling situations and using Escape Artist to escape a grapple. Being shackled is not a form of being grappled and the spell description only mentions Escape Artist to point out it being used to escape a grapple, not to escape everything on the Escape Artist DC chart.

So if you wanted to save yourself the headache, that's your angle. People (like me) may just relate the spell to working against all forms of physical immobility because it uses paralysis as one of the examples and we think of being shackled as a form of impeding movement. So being shackled probably doesn't work with the spell according to RAW.

 

[delericho]

It says you auto-succeed when resisting Grapple.

I didn't know it also gave you an auto-success on Escape Artist.

It doesn't. But it does allow you to move and attack normally. Since the only effects of the Tanglefoot bag are to impede movement and attacks, and the spell negates those, it effectively renders the tanglefoot bag useless.

But for other uses of escape artist (moving through a tight space, for example), freedom of movement doesn't help you.