Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Specific Beats General doesn't apply here. The creature or object it's centered on is just the only valid target, so the point of origin is limited in that it can only be a point on one of those two things (rather than being free-floating).
An Emanation then extends from that creature or object. This part IS a Specific Beats General interaction.
But the rules for an Emanation don't say the Emanation must extend from every part of the creature or object. The Tube of Darkness thing is just as insane of a reading as saying the aura would stretch when an affected Plasmoid reaches out 10 ft. with Shape Self. Rather, a common sense reading would be that, if the Plasmoid has a 5' emanation, that 10 ft. appendage would move outside the Emanation.
The same would apply if a rope were extended: The Emanation would extend from a designated area of the rope.
It's not insane, it's what the rules say.
"An Emanation is an area of effect that extends in straight lines from a creature or an object in all directions." In all directions from the creature or object. That is, in fact, every part of the creature or object. That's what 'in all directions' means. Not 'in all directions from a point', "in all directions" "from a creature or an object". If you measure between a point and the closest part of the creature or object, and that distance is less than the emanation's distance, that point is in the emanation. There is no other way to legitimately read that language.
And no, i think a Plasmoid gets to extend emanations by extruding a pseudopod. That's part of its body. The creature can, by definition, not move any part of itself outside the emanation, because the emanation extends from it.
That's the natural reading of the language and the technical reading of the language. It is common sense. That's how you measure from a creature or object. There's a trivial mathematical proof of this reading. (By contradiction. If you have a 10' emanation from a creature, and you find a point within 10' of a creature that's not in the emanation, that's a contradiction, because all points within 10' of the creature are defined as being in the emanation, which means there can be no such point that is within 10' of the creature and not in the emanation. It's tautological).
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If a creature can change its shape/size for some reason then yes that would also change the shape/size of an Emanation that is emanating from them. This is no different to how such effects have always worked. Paladin aura's or spells like Spirit Guardians or Antimagic Field and similar effects have always radiated outwards from the creature, not from any single point. And this is also what the current rules for emanations say, "extends in straight lines from a creature or an object in all directions".
Yes using an emanation for objects in the Darkness was a crappy design idea but if that specific interaction irks anyone that much just houserule it away (I know I will). It really is quite the overreaction to demand that every other Emanation in the game should be wonky/broken just because you don't like the Rope of Darkness™.
The rules do in fact say that the emanation must extend from every part of the creature or object. There is a plausible argument that the intent is that it extends from a creature's space, because having the aura change shape when you extend your arms is annoying, but as written and as used, it extends from all parts equally.
Eh, the rules pretty clearly show that an emanation is a still a sphere --- even if it's a bigger sphere than the one originating at a zero-dimensional point. Creature morphology is only mechanically defined in terms of space, anyway, so "extends from their space" is mechanically identical to "extends from the creature." This keeps creatures and AoEs playable on a battlemap.
Thus, for the purposes of emanations, limiting objects to the creature space rules is a fine ruling that would actually solve this internet argument.
Also, given that the books show emanations to be spherical, the stupid/broken thing for a Rope of Darkness would be "create a spherical emanation with a radius equal to half the length of the rope plus the emanation range" which would make the reductio ad absurdum way more obviously wrong.
It's a problem for objects, because a lot of objects do not occupy a space. It's definitely the intended behavior for creatures.