Red Snow

[ImaDeadMan]

I've become very interested in a spell called Blood Snow from Frostburn. The issue is that it requires areas of snow but I can't seem to find a spell that allows me to create areas of snow. Does anyone know of a spell that creates areas of snow? I know Fimbulwinter and Avalanche create snow but they're high level and Avalanche is only on the druid spell list so those two are out of the question.

[Someonelse]

If you're in a climate that is capable of producing snow at some point during the year then Control Weather would do it.

Otherwise, on page 81 of Tome and Blood, which I think is a 3.0 book, there are rules for creating new spells. Consult your friendly neighborhood dungeon master and see if you can use these rules to create a new spell.

I would say that a simple spell to summon snow could be a Lv0 spell as long as it didn't do anything except cover the ground in a 20ft radius around the caster with snow, perhaps 1 inch deep per caster level; if you wanted to instead conjure the snow I would raise it to Lv1, since conjuring anything is more useful than summoning it.

Here's an interesting idea, Summon Spell Components; a swift spell you cast right before casting another spell and it summons enough of a given spell component to cast the spell once. It should have a small XP cost and of course if it summons any material compoentn with a gold cost you would have to pay the equivelant XP cost (something like 1 XP to 5 gold I think? or maybe 5XP to 1 gold, I can never remember). But I digress...

If you want to add some mechanical effects you could increase the level to 1 or 2, maybe even 3.
Perhaps the deep snow slows movement to half speed except for characters with the woodland stride ability.
Maybe the shallow snow is slick and anyone attempting to walk across it at full speed needs a reflex save or they will fall prone, but walking at half speed requires a DC10 balance check and walking at quarter speed requires no check at all.
Maybe before it hits the grounds the snow blows around like a blizzard for a few rounds, obscuring vision (much like a fog cloud spell).
Maybe the blowing snow is cold enough that anyone in the area needs a fort save to negate cold damage.

These are all things to consult with your DM about.

[KingAtomsk]

The Spell Component Pouch from the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm) "is assumed to have all the material components and focuses needed for spellcasting, except for those components that have a specific cost, divine focuses, and focuses that wouldn’t fit in a pouch."

A small handfull of snow has no specific cost. Bam. It's in the spell component pouch. If you have trouble convincing your DM that you have snow in your pouch, just remind him that you're a spellcaster and it would be ridiculous to assume that you didn't have snow in your pouch.

[eggynack]

The Spell Component Pouch from the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm) "is assumed to have all the material components and focuses needed for spellcasting, except for those components that have a specific cost, divine focuses, and focuses that wouldn’t fit in a pouch."

A small handfull of snow has no specific cost. Bam. It's in the spell component pouch. If you have trouble convincing your DM that you have snow in your pouch, just remind him that you're a spellcaster and it would be ridiculous to assume that you didn't have snow in your pouch.
The snow in blood snow is a requirement of the area you cast the spell in, rather than a component or focus. Thus, the material component pouch does not contain it.

[Fax Celestis]

PHB-II has drifts of the shalm, which is unfortunately a druid 2 spell. Maybe get it on a wand?


You call upon the power of Obad-Hai and conjure forth a great drift of snow, leaves, or smoldering ash. Druids of Obad-Hai routinely evoke the drifts of their lord to delay their enemies, to buy themselves time in the face of a sudden threat, and simply to decorate their groves.

You create drifts of snow, leaves, or ash 3 feet thick. It costs 2 squares of movement to enter a drift-covered square. Additional effects apply based on the type of drift.

A snow drift ripples with freezing energy. Anyone moving through or located in a snow drift takes 3 points of cold damage each round.

If any part of a leaf drift comes in contact with fire (anything from a torch to a fireball will do), the whole drift instantly ignites. The heat from the burning leaves deals 2d6 points of fire damage to anyone in the inferno.

An ash drift smolders with dying embers. Anyone moving through or located in an ash drift takes 3 points of fire damage each round.

[Optimator]

There's the Blizzard spell from Frostburn. It's something crazy like a foot a round for rounds/level.

[Hamste]

The snow in blood snow is a requirement of the area you cast the spell in, rather than a component or focus. Thus, the material component pouch does not contain it.

Snow casting, while the feat requires you to collect snow from the surrounding environment to use it, it does call it a material component.

[eggynack]

Snow casting, while the feat requires you to collect snow from the surrounding environment to use it, it does call it a material component.
That's snowcasting. This is blood snow. They're two different things.

Edit: The pouch also likely does not contain snow for snowcasting, incidentally. The pouch strictly contains components and focuses needed for casting various spells. This is a component desired for casting spells. The difference between need and want is a critical one here, and the mention of snow as an additional component puts this in the latter category.

[Hamste]

That's snowcasting. This is blood snow. They're two different things.

Any spell with snowcasting can use snow as a material component so that means snow must be in the spell component pouch (and it never runs out). Just spread out this snow on the ground and cast blood snow on it.


The need thing beats this though...time to look through for a spell that naturally has it.

[eggynack]

A any spell with snowcasting can use snow as material component so that means snow must be in the spell component pouch (and it never runs out). Just spread out this snow on the ground and cast blood snow on it.
In that case, we move to the second objection, that snowcasting doesn't put snow in the pouch at all. Also a third objection, that while you can certainly spread snow on the ground, it looks like you'd be limited to your own square, which could prove potentially troublesome. Not massively so, as you can presumably move around, but at least somewhat.