MrStabby
2018-07-03, 08:56 AM
I have pretty much never seen any PC take the spell warding wind. Sometimes this is understandable - for a bard with limited spells known for example it might be a bit niche.
Still it seems worth preparing for a number of casters - it's effects are all niche but it has enough of those effects and those effects are sufficiently powerful.
1) Deafens creatures in 10 ft, including yourself. OK, this is niche but you might have ad DM that would give disadvantage on perception checks to detect sneaking rogues for someone who is deafened, so some general utility from party makeup. A lot of enchantment spells require the target to hear them so it can provide some defence there. Sadly they can probably switch to other spells.
2) Extinguishes unprotected flames. If you have a lot of darkvision in the party being able to snuff out torches can be good. Darkvision gets a bit more prevalent at higher levels but you might be playing in a human NPC heavy campaign. It is efficient - the flames just have to be in the area, not in the area at the start/end of anyone's turn so you can run round extinguishing all the torches in the room. 10ft range means you should be able to avoid opportunity attacks most of the time.
3) Hedges out vapour/gas/fog. Sometimes useful against a lot of spells - unfortunately not a reaction so you have to expect this effect beforehand (although with a 10 min duration you have quite a bit of time to use it). Unfortunately the "that can be dispelled by strong wind" clause reduces it's effect and can't let it protect you from things like Green Dragon breath (poison gas - but no dispersed by strong wind clause).
4) The area is difficult terrain for creatures other than you. Most of us know how awesome this effect is on spirit guardians - getting this effect on a lower level spell slot available to different classes is pretty cool. Now from level 3 you could be positioning yourself to protect your softer party members stopping them sprinting by. Throw in other elements of control like shoving prone, or repelling blast and you lave a long lasting, cheap and effective source of control.
5) The attack rolls of ranged weapon attacks have disadvantage if they pass into or out of the wind. Not useful in every encounter but a powerful effect. This works nicely with 4 as in both cases you may be wanting to interpose yourself between the softest people in your party and the enemy.
A few positive notes:
Duration - 10 minutes. This can last for a bundle of fights
Classes - there is a class representing every mental stat, if you multiclass for some supporting spells you can do it from any mental attribute
Casting stat - casting stat only matters for getting the spell, there is no dependency on that stat for the spells effect.
I was pretty down on this spell until I had some enemies with random buffs and rolled for this spell. It turned out to be much better than I expected. I am considering a Hexblade/Eldritch Knight for an upcoming campaign and am tempted by this spell - with the mobility feat I should be able to effectively disengage from most enemies and keep them out of reach, make them ineffective at range and be able to control the battlefield with eldritch blast/repelling blast till I wan't to engage a bit closer.
Still it seems worth preparing for a number of casters - it's effects are all niche but it has enough of those effects and those effects are sufficiently powerful.
1) Deafens creatures in 10 ft, including yourself. OK, this is niche but you might have ad DM that would give disadvantage on perception checks to detect sneaking rogues for someone who is deafened, so some general utility from party makeup. A lot of enchantment spells require the target to hear them so it can provide some defence there. Sadly they can probably switch to other spells.
2) Extinguishes unprotected flames. If you have a lot of darkvision in the party being able to snuff out torches can be good. Darkvision gets a bit more prevalent at higher levels but you might be playing in a human NPC heavy campaign. It is efficient - the flames just have to be in the area, not in the area at the start/end of anyone's turn so you can run round extinguishing all the torches in the room. 10ft range means you should be able to avoid opportunity attacks most of the time.
3) Hedges out vapour/gas/fog. Sometimes useful against a lot of spells - unfortunately not a reaction so you have to expect this effect beforehand (although with a 10 min duration you have quite a bit of time to use it). Unfortunately the "that can be dispelled by strong wind" clause reduces it's effect and can't let it protect you from things like Green Dragon breath (poison gas - but no dispersed by strong wind clause).
4) The area is difficult terrain for creatures other than you. Most of us know how awesome this effect is on spirit guardians - getting this effect on a lower level spell slot available to different classes is pretty cool. Now from level 3 you could be positioning yourself to protect your softer party members stopping them sprinting by. Throw in other elements of control like shoving prone, or repelling blast and you lave a long lasting, cheap and effective source of control.
5) The attack rolls of ranged weapon attacks have disadvantage if they pass into or out of the wind. Not useful in every encounter but a powerful effect. This works nicely with 4 as in both cases you may be wanting to interpose yourself between the softest people in your party and the enemy.
A few positive notes:
Duration - 10 minutes. This can last for a bundle of fights
Classes - there is a class representing every mental stat, if you multiclass for some supporting spells you can do it from any mental attribute
Casting stat - casting stat only matters for getting the spell, there is no dependency on that stat for the spells effect.
I was pretty down on this spell until I had some enemies with random buffs and rolled for this spell. It turned out to be much better than I expected. I am considering a Hexblade/Eldritch Knight for an upcoming campaign and am tempted by this spell - with the mobility feat I should be able to effectively disengage from most enemies and keep them out of reach, make them ineffective at range and be able to control the battlefield with eldritch blast/repelling blast till I wan't to engage a bit closer.