I was wondering what the general interpretation of the audible sound effect caused by the Shatter spell?
I'm playing a 6th level Tempest Cleric who is particularly fond of his amped (Destructive Wrath) Shatter. Unfortunately, there is a concern at the table that the noise might attract unwanted attention from theoretical patrols.
Comparing Shatter to Thunderwave as written, I believe that Shatter is a more localized sound, only affecting the actual sphere and/or the immediate area. The idea being that the sphere is an intense echo chamber, which causes the destruction.
On the other hand, I read Thunderwave as an actual explosive shockwave blasting outward, causing damage and pushing away objects and creatures. As specified in the spell, the sound of this explosion is audible out to 300 ft.
So imagine standing next to a speaker that is cranked to 11 while playing some death metal. It hurts your ears. Now walk sixty feet away from said speaker. You can still hear it, but it isn't painful anymore. That is how I interpret shatter. That being said, it doesn't have it actually written that it does make sound beyond its area of effect and its very plausible(since its magic) that it creates this very brief bubble where inside its just this loud an obnoxious thing. Finally, while it might create that echo chamber that doesn't mean that the things that it hits emit zero sound. Armor breaking, some might say even shattering, causes sound.
As a DM, and one who has received multiple Shatters cast upon my minions, I give it a bit of realism. I treat it like a 10ft orb breaking into many pieces, so the sound would travel, but no where near the 300ft mark. I give it, depending on the area, 30-60ft area of noise. Something akin to the sound of a mirror shattering, or the sound you get from stepping on a large sheet of ice. For any creature that may be familiar with the spell, it's the equivalent of hearing someone rack a shotgun...it just sounds menacing.
1) It doesn't say it's silent outside of the area.
2) It *does* say that the sound "erupts from a point".
So, if sound erupts from a point, how does the volume normally decrease over distance? It drops 6db (decibels, the measure of volume) per doubling of distance. So if at 10m, it's still say 140db, at 20m it's 134db, at 40m it's 128db, at 80m it's 122db, etc. In short, if it's loud enough to deal damage, it's loud enough to be heard hundreds of meters away. Think of it this way- a car alarm isn't loud enough to cause significant injury. Yet how far away can you be and still hear that?
In my game, shatter would absolutely be audible for a long, long distance away. It's described as "loud" and "painfully intense" after all. If it were just the frequency vibrations, shoot, it needn't necessarily be audible, but it's specifically described as being audible, so there we are. That's my game though. If you want to know how it works for your game, ask your DM, or just have your party line up at various distances away, and then cast it, and see who can hear what.
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I was wondering what the general interpretation of the audible sound effect caused by the Shatter spell?
I'm playing a 6th level Tempest Cleric who is particularly fond of his amped (Destructive Wrath) Shatter. Unfortunately, there is a concern at the table that the noise might attract unwanted attention from theoretical patrols.
Comparing Shatter to Thunderwave as written, I believe that Shatter is a more localized sound, only affecting the actual sphere and/or the immediate area. The idea being that the sphere is an intense echo chamber, which causes the destruction.
On the other hand, I read Thunderwave as an actual explosive shockwave blasting outward, causing damage and pushing away objects and creatures. As specified in the spell, the sound of this explosion is audible out to 300 ft.
Thanks!
So imagine standing next to a speaker that is cranked to 11 while playing some death metal. It hurts your ears. Now walk sixty feet away from said speaker. You can still hear it, but it isn't painful anymore. That is how I interpret shatter. That being said, it doesn't have it actually written that it does make sound beyond its area of effect and its very plausible(since its magic) that it creates this very brief bubble where inside its just this loud an obnoxious thing. Finally, while it might create that echo chamber that doesn't mean that the things that it hits emit zero sound. Armor breaking, some might say even shattering, causes sound.
As a DM, and one who has received multiple Shatters cast upon my minions, I give it a bit of realism. I treat it like a 10ft orb breaking into many pieces, so the sound would travel, but no where near the 300ft mark. I give it, depending on the area, 30-60ft area of noise. Something akin to the sound of a mirror shattering, or the sound you get from stepping on a large sheet of ice. For any creature that may be familiar with the spell, it's the equivalent of hearing someone rack a shotgun...it just sounds menacing.
1) It doesn't say it's silent outside of the area.
2) It *does* say that the sound "erupts from a point".
So, if sound erupts from a point, how does the volume normally decrease over distance? It drops 6db (decibels, the measure of volume) per doubling of distance. So if at 10m, it's still say 140db, at 20m it's 134db, at 40m it's 128db, at 80m it's 122db, etc. In short, if it's loud enough to deal damage, it's loud enough to be heard hundreds of meters away. Think of it this way- a car alarm isn't loud enough to cause significant injury. Yet how far away can you be and still hear that?
In my game, shatter would absolutely be audible for a long, long distance away. It's described as "loud" and "painfully intense" after all. If it were just the frequency vibrations, shoot, it needn't necessarily be audible, but it's specifically described as being audible, so there we are. That's my game though. If you want to know how it works for your game, ask your DM, or just have your party line up at various distances away, and then cast it, and see who can hear what.