Had V been able to prepare and cast Horrid Wilting...

[ZerglingOne]

Is there even a remote possibility the battle of Azure City could have been won by the hobbos? Having been a Baldur's Gate player for many years, and never really getting to 8th level spells in P&P, I always had just assumed it was a medium-large AoE spell. However, upon reading it in 3.5 I realized it's more like dealing a minimum of 15d6 to an unlimited number of targets as long as no more than 60 feet separate them like a super powerful chain-lightning.

I realize how powerful 8th level spells are supposed to be, I realize V has selected necromancy as one of his banned schools, and I realize s/he couldn't have cast it at the time unless from a scroll even if it wasn't banned. But when it comes to mook slaying, I feel like 1-3 castings of this spell could have stopped the invasion in just a few rounds by obliterating the vast majority if not all of the basic hobgoblin soldiers.

[eilandesq]

For killing large numbers of 1 HD hobgoblins, it's not much better than a fireball. Fireball covers a 40' diameter circle, and horrid wilting a 60' circle, and will kill every low level hobgoblin in its area in either case. If V. had the Widen Spell feat, he could prepare fireballs with sixth level slots that would cover an 80' diameter, which would kill every 1 HD hobgoblin in its area. Unfortunately, V can't use conjuration spells or a Widened Cloudkill spell (40' radius, 40' high) would have nicely plugged that gap with an eighth level slot for quite a while and fatally poisoned any hobgoblins that tried to rush the breach.

[Cavenskull]

Is there even a remote possibility the battle of Azure City could have been won by the hobbos? Having been a Baldur's Gate player for many years, and never really getting to 8th level spells in P&P, I always had just assumed it was a medium-large AoE spell. However, upon reading it in 3.5 I realized it's more like dealing a minimum of 15d6 to an unlimited number of targets as long as no more than 60 feet separate them like a super powerful chain-lightning.

I realize how powerful 8th level spells are supposed to be, I realize V has selected necromancy as one of his banned schools, and I realize s/he couldn't have cast it at the time unless from a scroll even if it wasn't banned. But when it comes to mook slaying, I feel like 1-3 castings of this spell could have stopped the invasion in just a few rounds by obliterating the vast majority if not all of the basic hobgoblin soldiers.
I get the impression that you assume one casting could target every goblinoid massed together in one army. I'd read that 60-foot requirement as meaning that all the targets must fit within a 60-foot circle, thus no two targets would be more than 60 feet from each other.

[ZerglingOne]

I get the impression that you assume one casting could target every goblinoid massed together in one army. I'd read that 60-foot requirement as meaning that all the targets must fit within a 60-foot circle, thus no two targets would be more than 60 feet from each other.

Aaah, well in that case, math says it's -technically- a 30' radius. However, one would think they would just say hits any and/or all designated creatures within a 30' radius of the initial target. That being said, it seems underpowered now :(... Sad. Anyway, on a side note, it appears to be the spell (other than potentially Familicide) that killed the Draketooths in the pyramid. The corpses are dessicated after all (potentially because of desert conditions of course) and ADHW does remove water from its enemies.

[Kish]

Yes, it functions in D&D exactly the same way it does in Baldur's Gate 2. Except that Vaarsuvius would, if s/he were able to cast it, have been able to make it treat Belkar as an enemy, instead of it automatically going, "He has a green circle, he doesn't get hit."

[NerfTW]

Yes, it functions in D&D exactly the same way it does in Baldur's Gate 2. Except that Vaarsuvius would, if s/he were able to cast it, have been able to make it treat Belkar as an enemy, instead of it automatically going, "He has a green circle, he doesn't get hit."

Friendly fire is turned on in the higher difficulty levels. You just needed to nudge it up another notch and you wouldn't be able to fire a fireball into your melee attackers.

[Douglas]

Friendly fire is turned on in the higher difficulty levels. You just needed to nudge it up another notch and you wouldn't be able to fire a fireball into your melee attackers.
Assuming it's worded the same as in 3.5, Horrid Wilting is specifically a no-friendly-fire spell regardless of difficulty settings. It technically hits selected targets rather than an area, it just has a requirement about how close those targets are to each other.

Anyway, regarding the distance wording, it says:

no two of which can be more than 60 ft. apart

The meaning of that is that if you pick two targets of the spell then, no matter which two you pick, they will be at most 60 feet apart.

[Tulya]

Cloudkill's movement properties make it interesting for defending a city. Cast towards the city's outer walls, it should get stuck and form a border of deadly gas, given due allowance for the limited range and volume of the spell.

Of course, the gas seeps in to turn the city into a deathtrap if the enemies destroy sections of the wall.

[Kish]

Friendly fire is turned on in the higher difficulty levels. You just needed to nudge it up another notch and you wouldn't be able to fire a fireball into your melee attackers.
You're confusing Baldur's Gate with some other game. Friendly fire exists in all difficulty levels, for spells which hit party members, of which Horrid Wilting is not one of them.

You can never cast a fireball into your melee attackers (or innocent bystanders) with impunity. You can always cast a Horrid Wilting into your melee attackers (or innocent bystanders) with impunity.

[Chronos]

I'd just like to note that a 60' diameter (like Horrid Wilting) is not quite the same thing as a 30' radius. You could have three people standing in an equilateral triangle with sides of 60', and Horrid Wilting could hit them all, but there's no 30' radius that can hit more than two of them.

And there were other spells that V really should have had access to that have even larger areas of effect, anyway. Wall of Fire, for instance, is a 4th-level evocation spell (V's specialty), and would have had an area of 260 feet by 10 feet where it'd probably kill any hob caught in it, and another 10 feet where it'd significantly injure them, plus blocking off the battlefield for 13 rounds plus as long as e concentrated on it.

[Anarion]

You're confusing Baldur's Gate with some other game. Friendly fire exists in all difficulty levels, for spells which hit party members, of which Horrid Wilting is not one of them.

You can never cast a fireball into your melee attackers (or innocent bystanders) with impunity. You can always cast a Horrid Wilting into your melee attackers (or innocent bystanders) with impunity.

Oh phew. I thought I was totally misremembering Baldur's gate as I started reading this thread. All that time with the melee guys firing crappy bows until the enemy closed with you.


@Chronos: Considering that V has never used wall of fire and that it would have been excellent for blocking off the hole in the wall, I think we can infer that V simply didn't know the spell. Of course it's also possible that she just wanted to use magic that would actually kill hobgoblins rather than let them walk around to another section of wall and scale it.