Shadow Meld?

[Veknironth]

Well, as you probably know, I have some questions about this spell.

It seems simple at first, but then they throw in the line about the shadow needing to be 5” long to act as a hiding place? How wide must it be? Could you hide in the shadow that’s 5” long and 1 inch wide? Does it have to be 5 x5? What if you’re a gnome? A 5 foot shadow seems excessive. And if you’re a Troll, wouldn’t that shadow be too small? It seems to me that the shadow must cover a large enough area to let the mage at least crouch in it. That, or the spell alters the physical dimensions of the mage. That, or the mage somehow steps INTO the shadow like a dark pool.

Second question. How dark does the shadow need to be? Does it need to be so dark that the viewer cannot see anything in the shadow? IF that were the case, who would need the spell? Or, does it work for any shadow, no matter how faint? That would essentially make the mage transparent. And how does it work at night? Outdoors at night, almost everything is a shadow. I guess it works quite well at night.

Finally, does the viewer angle matter? For example, there is a nice, dark shadow being cast by a pillar. The mage hops into that. Someone looking at the shadow with the light source behind them would not see the mage. The mage would effectively be black on black as the shadow stretches away from the viewer. But what about being at a right angle to the shadow? If another person were 90 degrees offset from the initial viewer, or if that viewer, rotated around, they would then be seeing the shadow “from the side”. So, it would seem the mage would have to lie down in order to not be seen. I suppose that the shadow exists in a triangle from the highest point of the object to the farthest point of the shadow on the floor/wall. Unless, that is, the spell alters the physical dimensions of the caster and allows them to step into the shadow and be two dimensional.

-Vek
“Eventually, I’ll ask about every spell.”

[Franko Tyrador]

In my simple opinion, i would say it would have to be the size of the person(ish). doesnt matter the angle or whatever, as long as the shadow is about the size of the person, give or take 25%. also, to me, a shadow is a shadow. if a shadow is created, you can use it for shadow meld. that's how i would referee it in my game.