I think about having my players find one of two Sending Stones on a slain enemy.
The main antagonist will then later send a message using the other stone intended for the slain enemy.
How I read the Sending Stone magic items is, that its sending stone where the recipient would whoever is in possesion of the other stone.
So my 3 questions to you:
1. I intend this antagonist to be a orc warlock. None of them speak orc. Do they still understand the message? My guess would be yes since the sending spell indicates that it work down to really low intelligence scores, and doesn't talk about languages at all.
2. If they understand it. Can they in any way sense who send or what send the message using the stones? Like do they know the message was in "orcish"?
3. Does the sender know that the recipient is someone else than he intended. Is there any kind of feedback in case they dont send a response?
2. Only if they know the Orc Warlock. As you stated before, there is no mention of language. The receiver simply knows the message.
3. The sender has no idea who receives the message. If the receiver replies, the original sender would know if they knew who sent the reply or not.
One way to do this is to use passphrase coding, so when the slain enemy doesn't reply/report in with the correct phrasing and/or time, the antagonist will know something is amiss. Of course players might be very suspicious of any messages they receive from a sending stone off a known enemy...
re point 1: I read it as the person recieving the message understands it as there is no requirement to share a language, so should not be a problem if the PC's don't speak orc.
re point 2: I would say they do not know the person who sent the message or that it was sent in orc, you could give them the impression it was sent in a different language, use pidgeon english and slang terms like a sterotypical orc speaking common...even better, if the orc sending the message is a warlock have the patrons voice overlay with the orc so it sounds like two people speaking at the same time or a ghostly echo.
re pont 3: the message goes to the bearer of the other stone so the sender will know a message has been recieved but will have to use their own guile to determine their minion is not in posession of the stone, this could be as simple as a code word being spoken or a title being used in the reply, for expample, the warlock may require his minion to say "master" before replying to the message so if the players do not say maser before replying the orc knows something is up and may then have access to a scry spell (depending on level) to spy on the party and find out who has his stone.
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"The spell enables creatures with Intelligence scores of at least 1 to understand the meaning of your message." seems clear to me. Yes, they understand.
"recognizes you as the sender if it knows you" implies that there's something identifiable about the message. Whether this corresponds to knowing information about unknown senders is left unspecified and is normally moot, since sending can normally only target creatures you know, who will usually know you as well. I'd do whatever makes the story interesting, the magic item doesn't have to work exactly like the spell anyway.
This is a question that's unique to the item, since the spell can't have an unexpected target. The item specifies "If no creature bears the other stone, you know that fact as soon as you use the stone and don't cast the spell", but nothing more. However, the fact that the recipient didn't answer should be a warning that something went wrong.
Some of your questions are not answered by the rules as written for casting Sending, so it's going to be up to you as the DM to decide! Which is, frankly, a lot of fun.
Here's the basic info on the Sending spell: You send a short message of twenty-five words or less to a creature with which you are familiar. The creature hears the message in its mind, recognizes you as the sender if it knows you, and can answer in a like manner immediately. The spell enables creatures with Intelligence scores of at least 1 to understand the meaning of your message.
1. You're right that there's no talk of languages, but meaning still is conveyed. So it sounds like someone who doesn't speak orc would still get the meaning behind the message even if they don't understand all of the words. How you want to roleplay that is up to you, but I would consider making sure the receiver knows they are hearing a language they don't understand.
2. The spell says "recognizes you as the sender if it knows you" so I would say the receiver would not know who the person sending the message was at first, and would need to become more familiar with them. In the short term that might just be "that person who has the other sending stone who speaks orc". But the spell doesn't convey details about the other person. I think of it like calling a stranger...just hearing your voice won't tell the stranger anything about you, but if you called the stranger several times they'd recognize your voice as the same person.
3. The spell itself gives no indication that the message was received. You can cast Sending and receive no response but not know if the other person got the message and decided not to reply, or if the message never arrived. The info on the Sending Stone does say "If no creature bears the other stone, you know that fact as soon as you use the stone and don't cast the spell." So being able to use the stone would indicate the other stone is viable and being carried by someone else. But that's all the person would know.
These are all excellent questions to consider, so that way you can be consistent in your responses to your players as they'll have a lot of the same questions! There's a lot of lovely wiggle room to come to your own decisions about things! Have fun!
I think about having my players find one of two Sending Stones on a slain enemy.
The main antagonist will then later send a message using the other stone intended for the slain enemy.
How I read the Sending Stone magic items is, that its sending stone where the recipient would whoever is in possesion of the other stone.
So my 3 questions to you:
1. I intend this antagonist to be a orc warlock. None of them speak orc. Do they still understand the message? My guess would be yes since the sending spell indicates that it work down to really low intelligence scores, and doesn't talk about languages at all.
2. If they understand it. Can they in any way sense who send or what send the message using the stones? Like do they know the message was in "orcish"?
3. Does the sender know that the recipient is someone else than he intended. Is there any kind of feedback in case they dont send a response?
Any input would be appreciated.
1. Yes they understand.
2. Only if they know the Orc Warlock. As you stated before, there is no mention of language. The receiver simply knows the message.
3. The sender has no idea who receives the message. If the receiver replies, the original sender would know if they knew who sent the reply or not.
One way to do this is to use passphrase coding, so when the slain enemy doesn't reply/report in with the correct phrasing and/or time, the antagonist will know something is amiss. Of course players might be very suspicious of any messages they receive from a sending stone off a known enemy...
re point 1: I read it as the person recieving the message understands it as there is no requirement to share a language, so should not be a problem if the PC's don't speak orc.
re point 2: I would say they do not know the person who sent the message or that it was sent in orc, you could give them the impression it was sent in a different language, use pidgeon english and slang terms like a sterotypical orc speaking common...even better, if the orc sending the message is a warlock have the patrons voice overlay with the orc so it sounds like two people speaking at the same time or a ghostly echo.
re pont 3: the message goes to the bearer of the other stone so the sender will know a message has been recieved but will have to use their own guile to determine their minion is not in posession of the stone, this could be as simple as a code word being spoken or a title being used in the reply, for expample, the warlock may require his minion to say "master" before replying to the message so if the players do not say maser before replying the orc knows something is up and may then have access to a scry spell (depending on level) to spy on the party and find out who has his stone.
On those points
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InsiderSome of your questions are not answered by the rules as written for casting Sending, so it's going to be up to you as the DM to decide! Which is, frankly, a lot of fun.
Here's the basic info on the Sending spell:
You send a short message of twenty-five words or less to a creature with which you are familiar. The creature hears the message in its mind, recognizes you as the sender if it knows you, and can answer in a like manner immediately. The spell enables creatures with Intelligence scores of at least 1 to understand the meaning of your message.
1. You're right that there's no talk of languages, but meaning still is conveyed. So it sounds like someone who doesn't speak orc would still get the meaning behind the message even if they don't understand all of the words. How you want to roleplay that is up to you, but I would consider making sure the receiver knows they are hearing a language they don't understand.
2. The spell says "recognizes you as the sender if it knows you" so I would say the receiver would not know who the person sending the message was at first, and would need to become more familiar with them. In the short term that might just be "that person who has the other sending stone who speaks orc". But the spell doesn't convey details about the other person. I think of it like calling a stranger...just hearing your voice won't tell the stranger anything about you, but if you called the stranger several times they'd recognize your voice as the same person.
3. The spell itself gives no indication that the message was received. You can cast Sending and receive no response but not know if the other person got the message and decided not to reply, or if the message never arrived. The info on the Sending Stone does say "If no creature bears the other stone, you know that fact as soon as you use the stone and don't cast the spell." So being able to use the stone would indicate the other stone is viable and being carried by someone else. But that's all the person would know.
These are all excellent questions to consider, so that way you can be consistent in your responses to your players as they'll have a lot of the same questions! There's a lot of lovely wiggle room to come to your own decisions about things! Have fun!
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Thanks for all your answers. Really usefull for me. :-)