What is Gust of Wind good for?

[AstralFire]

I'm considering having my animal companion get Buffeting Wings as a feat for flavor (short: can use Gust of Wind at will) but I'd like to figure out some potential situations where it might be helpful. Even when people take this spell, I've never actually seen it get used.

[heavyfuel]

It destroys most if not all "Fog" spells, which tend to be pretty strong spells.

[Braininthejar2]

countering fog

countering poison gas

countering insect swarms

blowing small enemies off ledges

giving an extra push the sails of your ship

making the enemies charge upwind

creating a cloud of sand / papers to use as a distraction

helping jump checks?

making sure the fire is spreading away from the party.

messing up complicated rituals

making a memorable entrance

[SLOTHRPG95]

It destroys most if not all "Fog" spells, which tend to be pretty strong spells.

Yeah it's a bit embarrassing when your 8th-level Incendiary Cloud just gets destroyed because "oops someone actually prepared Gust of Wind." That thing even cuts through Solid Fog. It's a great anti-control spell, along with having some control options in its own right.

[heavyfuel]

Yeah it's a bit embarrassing when your 8th-level Incendiary Cloud just gets destroyed because "oops someone actually prepared Gust of Wind." That thing even cuts through Solid Fog. It's a great anti-control spell, along with having some control options in its own right.

Petty much. It's one of those spells that aren't often prepared/learned at the level they become available, but at higher levels it's pretty much mandatory that you at least have a scroll of it. It's just too good to counter high level fog spell with a 2nd level Gust of Wind.

[Troacctid]

Personally, I prefer Darsson's cooling breeze for beating fog effects. It only pushes them away rather than dispersing them, but it's only 1st level and it has a longer duration.

[Bullet06320]

use it to power a wind powered vehicle, usually a ship, ive actually seen it used in a game that way

[noob]

use it to power a wind powered vehicle, usually a ship, ive actually seen it used in a game that way

It lasts one turn but it can make a difference: one turn is so much often the small difference between going splat and not dying.
Or you can have the guard and wards version which have a long duration.

[Eldan]

Our Warlock once held a chokepoint on his own against a small army of goblins, just by constantly blowing through the doorway so they couldn't approach it or fire missiles through.

[CharonsHelper]

Petty much. It's one of those spells that aren't often prepared/learned at the level they become available, but at higher levels it's pretty much mandatory that you at least have a scroll of it. It's just too good to counter high level fog spell with a 2nd level Gust of Wind.

Really - I wish that D&D had more such interactions, though it'd probably get too complex.

It'd be interesting to see a game with a magic system which was built from the ground up so that all of the most potent spells could be countered by someone who is properly prepared - the key being to try to work around your foe's preparation or be defensive and hit them with weaker spells.

[heavyfuel]

Personally, I prefer Darsson's cooling breeze for beating fog effects. It only pushes them away rather than dispersing them, but it's only 1st level and it has a longer duration.

That's a pretty good spell. With a duration of 1hr per level, you can have it up all day long.


Really - I wish that D&D had more such interactions, though it'd probably get too complex.

It'd be interesting to see a game with a magic system which was built from the ground up so that all of the most potent spells could be countered by someone who is properly prepared - the key being to try to work around your foe's preparation or be defensive and hit them with weaker spells.

That's a dream that will never come I'm afraid.

[CharonsHelper]

That's a dream that will never come I'm afraid.

Not in D&D. And I can see why - it adds a lot of player skill which makes the system less accessible - which is the opposite direction that D&D went with 5e. (Which - frankly is good for the TTRPG industry as a whole as D&D is most players' first TTRPG.)

But I could see an indie game doing something along those lines, though likely not with as large of a spell list as D&D has.

[Efrate]

It has interesting applications vs. Vampires in gaseous form as well.

[Bronk]

Really - I wish that D&D had more such interactions, though it'd probably get too complex.

It'd be interesting to see a game with a magic system which was built from the ground up so that all of the most potent spells could be countered by someone who is properly prepared - the key being to try to work around your foe's preparation or be defensive and hit them with weaker spells.

You could almost do that in 3.5, if they had only made those interactions a minigame instead of mostly relying on readied actions and so on.

[liquidformat]

also hampering ranged attacks is of note. It is a great utility spell and becomes pretty powerful when your familiar or in this case animal companion can use it. That is one less thing you have to have at the ready as a party.

[CharonsHelper]

You could almost do that in 3.5, if they had only made those interactions a minigame instead of mostly relying on readied actions and so on.

You could do it in a d20 framework, but it would require much better game balance than 3.5 ever manages to pull off. Hence my previous mention of a more limited spell list. With RPS style interactions it would be virtually impossible to balance past a certain point.

And frankly - I'm not sure if Vancian casting would be the best system for it either. Maybe one with a much more limited # of spells known with some sort of mana, and learning what your foe knows how to cast gives a major advantage when you can prep for it.

[Ramza00]

Personally, I prefer Darsson's cooling breeze for beating fog effects. It only pushes them away rather than dispersing them, but it's only 1st level and it has a longer duration.

Ohh shiney!!!:smallbiggrin::smallcool:

I did not know of this spell, and I am making a weather / thunder focused evoker and I was complaining in my mind that I had no good evocation 1st level spells that were not damage spells besides blood wind. Why do 1st level damage spells when elemental darts just works so much better as a 2nd level slot!

Thank You, this will be a slight rebuild of my spell selection for this planned build.

[liquidformat]

You could do it in a d20 framework, but it would require much better game balance than 3.5 ever manages to pull off. Hence my previous mention of a more limited spell list. With RPS style interactions it would be virtually impossible to balance past a certain point.

And frankly - I'm not sure if Vancian casting would be the best system for it either. Maybe one with a much more limited # of spells known with some sort of mana, and learning what your foe knows how to cast gives a major advantage when you can prep for it.

Diablo style mana pool with a more spontaneous style rather than prepared style of casting and enough spells to adjust on the fly. Plus turn based style play really doesn't work unless you are just holding your turn until the other casts every round...

[CharonsHelper]

Diablo style mana pool with a more spontaneous style rather than prepared style of casting

Why is mana inherently "Diablo style"? A LOT of TTRPGs use some sort of mana system, not to mention the vast majority of video games - not just Diablo.


and enough spells to adjust on the fly.

Having enough spells to adjust them on the fly would pretty much be the opposite of the draw of such an RPS system. If you could adjust on the fly it would basically just remove the RPS aspect aside from being extra bookkeeping.


Plus turn based style play really doesn't work unless you are just holding your turn until the other casts every round...

No - you wouldn't be. Gust of Wind doesn't have to be used as a readied action to cancel fog - it can be done during your turn.

Plus - in such a system you wouldn't necessarily have to stick to the same Actions. Perhaps everyone can case spells as a move action for extra mana on the fly etc.

But like I said - such a system would need to be built with it in mind from the ground up - not slapped on top of 3.5.

[Troacctid]

Ohh shiney!!!:smallbiggrin::smallcool:

I did not know of this spell, and I am making a weather / thunder focused evoker and I was complaining in my mind that I had no good evocation 1st level spells that were not damage spells besides blood wind. Why do 1st level damage spells when elemental darts just works so much better as a 2nd level slot!

Thank You, this will be a slight rebuild of my spell selection for this planned build.
What, no love for Tenser's floating disk?

[AvatarVecna]

Because the first panel has a good point. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0604.html) I was recently playing an old high-level control wizard build for NWN (which basically stacked bunches of round/lvl AoE spells on top of a group of enemies and watched them kill themselves trying to come through it to melee me), and even ignoring the Obscuring Mist/Fog Cloud/Solid Fog issues that OOTS comic brings up, I would frequently have at least one of Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill, Incendiary Cloud, or Acid Fog up. While the latter two of those are hardly top-tier damage spells, the fact remains that all seven of the spells mentioned are core spells that create a giant cloud that at least locks down visibility and targeting, with two cloud effects imposing on the target's action economy, and three of them actively hurting anybody inside. Because of both this playstyle resulting in every battle in NWN ending with giant clouds everywhere, and the fact that most 2nd lvl spells were garbage in NWN, I ended up almost exclusively preparing Gust Of Wind just so I would never have to deal with my own Extended Stinking Clouds or Maximixed Acid Fogs or whatever.

The fact remains that BFC is one of the easiest and most effective ways for wizards to make their mark on the battlefield, and the litany of cloud-creation spells gives wizards a wide variety of options on this front that can do even more than just block sight. Gust Of Wind is the core answer to problems like this: if a smartass wizard has filled the corridor between him and the party with a bunch of stacked clouds, you can potentially counter multiple 6th+ lvl spells with one 2nd lvl spell, which is very clearly advantageous for you in the slots expended department.

[Ramza00]

What, no love for Tenser's floating disk?

That is what ponies are for!

[liquidformat]

Why is mana inherently "Diablo style"? A LOT of TTRPGs use some sort of mana system, not to mention the vast majority of video games - not just Diablo.

Diablo is one of the earlier games that used and perfected the mana pool and it also has a d20 game that came with it with rules already set up. So while yes it isn't the only one it is a decent baseline. A lot of the earlier mana pool games I can think of are stuff like manasword and zelda that are more focused around gish than pure casters and don't have the system fleshed out for use in d20.
Also I haven't played any of the ttrpgs that have a manapool system, so used what I know as the baseline.


Having enough spells to adjust them on the fly would pretty much be the opposite of the draw of such an RPS system. If you could adjust on the fly it would basically just remove the RPS aspect aside from being extra bookkeeping.

If you are looking to make researching your opponent a large part of the game then yes that is true. However, if you are looking just at a system where you can counter what gets thrown at you in a smooth and efficient way then large list spontaneous works well. Either way the number of spells would need to be dropped quite a bit and their interactions would need to be very detailed.



No - you wouldn't be. Gust of Wind doesn't have to be used as a readied action to cancel fog - it can be done during your turn.

Plus - in such a system you wouldn't necessarily have to stick to the same Actions. Perhaps everyone can case spells as a move action for extra mana on the fly etc.

But like I said - such a system would need to be built with it in mind from the ground up - not slapped on top of 3.5.

Sure turn based works well for counters like fog cloud to gust or darkness to light where you drop a multi round spell that you can then dispelled/countered the next round but it falls apart when we start talking about instantaneous affects like Ray of Stupidity. I mean seriously how is that supposed to be countered in a turn based system without using a readied action?
dm- The enemy who goes before you casts Ray of Stupidity
player - I counter Ray of Stupidity with x spell
dm- sorry it has already taken affect and you are to stupid to cast spell x now... Though that explains your attempt.
The only option you would have is the current one to use Ray Deflection before the fight starts.

I really don't see how you could keep turn based for this kind of interaction unless spells are no longer standard action but take an entire round. Even then it only works if the second caster can start casting slightly after the first but finish his spell before it has taken affect.

[noob]

That is what ponies are for!

ponies does not fly.

[CharonsHelper]

Sure turn based works well for counters like fog cloud to gust or darkness to light where you drop a multi round spell that you can then dispelled/countered the next round but it falls apart when we start talking about instantaneous affects like Ray of Stupidity. I mean seriously how is that supposed to be countered in a turn based system without using a readied action?
dm- The enemy who goes before you casts Ray of Stupidity
player - I counter Ray of Stupidity with x spell
dm- sorry it has already taken affect and you are to stupid to cast spell x now... Though that explains your attempt.
The only option you would have is the current one to use Ray Deflection before the fight starts.

I really don't see how you could keep turn based for this kind of interaction unless spells are no longer standard action but take an entire round. Even then it only works if the second caster can start casting slightly after the first but finish his spell before it has taken affect.

As I said - such a system would need to be designed from the ground up. You're right that that spell would break it.

You would need all of the most powerful spells to be multi-round effect and/or take multiple rounds to cast, while the faster spells may not be able to be countered well if at all, but they are weaker and less mana efficient.

[Ramza00]

ponies does not fly.

We are talking the 1st level Tenser Disk which can only float and is stuck at floating 3 feet above the ground.

The 4th level Greater (Tenser) Floating Disk is in my planned Focused Evoker build once I can cast 4th level spells.

[liquidformat]

As I said - such a system would need to be designed from the ground up. You're right that that spell would break it.

You would need all of the most powerful spells to be multi-round effect and/or take multiple rounds to cast, while the faster spells may not be able to be countered well if at all, but they are weaker and less mana efficient.

Ya, it is hard to say if it would be better to start with the most powerful spells or the least. One concern with that type of system is if a very powerful spell takes multiple rounds to pull off it might end up being a case where the best spell choice are those low level fast spells that may be harder to block.

[noob]

We are talking the 1st level Tenser Disk which can only float and is stuck at floating 3 feet above the ground.
Stack 4 such disks and you are out of melee range of spears carried by medium creatures.(so either the opponent all goes ranged against you and stops benefiting from str mod or they worry about other people first)
(by the way that is countered by gust of wind!)
Also having a disk is an easy way to have two opposed anchor points for being allowed to cast web which is a game changer(and I do not think a mule is a valid anchor but you can try but then the anchor restriction would be kind of pointless if you can decide an opponent and the ground makes two valid opposed anchors)

[Jack_Simth]

Sure turn based works well for counters like fog cloud to gust or darkness to light where you drop a multi round spell that you can then dispelled/countered the next round but it falls apart when we start talking about instantaneous affects like Ray of Stupidity. I mean seriously how is that supposed to be countered in a turn based system without using a readied action?
dm- The enemy who goes before you casts Ray of Stupidity
player - I counter Ray of Stupidity with x spell
dm- sorry it has already taken affect and you are to stupid to cast spell x now... Though that explains your attempt.
The only option you would have is the current one to use Ray Deflection before the fight starts.
There's a couple of ways to arrange to counterspell as an immediate action; Reactive Counterspell, Battlemagic Perception, Ring of Spell Battle, Celerity, et cetera.

[Deophaun]

ponies does not fly.
https://image.ibb.co/mOLOWy/Pony_Believe.png

[Nifft]

So, on the subject of flying.

incorporeal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#incorporealSubtype) creatures fly. This means they are disproportionately affected by gust of wind, which is neither damage nor a solid object.

I suspect that by an RAW purist reading, you could use gust of wind to blow a possessing fiend right out of a host body.

[noob]

https://image.ibb.co/mOLOWy/Pony_Believe.png
The flying stuff is pegasi (or whatever was the plural of pegasus) and not ponies
So I am sorry but mlp is all about racism and killing friends when they duplicate themselves.(especially if that friend is a pony instead of being an unicorn or a pegasi because racism)

[Deophaun]

So I am sorry but mlp is all about racism and killing friends when they duplicate themselves.
Hey, that pony was engaged in wide-scale data collection of every pony in the kingdom without anypony's knowledge or consent. Also, target was known to possess Weapons of Mass Celebration.

[AstralFire]

So, on the subject of flying.

incorporeal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#incorporealSubtype) creatures fly. This means they are disproportionately affected by gust of wind, which is neither damage nor a solid object.

I suspect that by an RAW purist reading, you could use gust of wind to blow a possessing fiend right out of a host body.

While a really clever reading, I feel like the (Ex) nature of the feat would kill it, sadly.

I do appreciate all the suggestions re: fog spells but we're in a campaign where we deal with enemy artillery rather than enemy spellcasting for the most part, so the only fog we've had to move is smoke inhalation (but that is one of the reasons I got it! just need something for our non-battlefield maps...)

[Jack_Simth]

While a really clever reading, I feel like the (Ex) nature of the feat would kill it, sadly.

I do appreciate all the suggestions re: fog spells but we're in a campaign where we deal with enemy artillery rather than enemy spellcasting for the most part, so the only fog we've had to move is smoke inhalation (but that is one of the reasons I got it! just need something for our non-battlefield maps...)

Not related to the subject, but something you may find useful: Tiny Hut (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/tinyHut.htm): "Although the force field is opaque from the outside, it is transparent from within. Missiles, weapons, and most spell effects can pass through the hut without affecting it, although the occupants cannot be seen from outside the hut (they have total concealment)."
3rd level spell, 2 hours/level, and total concealment for everyone in a 20 foot radius. Shuffle around slightly after casting so they don't even know what squares folks are in. Then fire out at your leisure.

[CharonsHelper]

Ya, it is hard to say if it would be better to start with the most powerful spells or the least. One concern with that type of system is if a very powerful spell takes multiple rounds to pull off it might end up being a case where the best spell choice are those low level fast spells that may be harder to block.

Oh - definitely. It would be very hard to build well and could easily end up being an unbalanced mess - hence my suggestion of having a much smaller spell list making it easier to handle.

But if it WAS done well - it could be super cool.

[Ramza00]

So, on the subject of flying.

incorporeal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#incorporealSubtype) creatures fly. This means they are disproportionately affected by gust of wind, which is neither damage nor a solid object.

I suspect that by an RAW purist reading, you could use gust of wind to blow a possessing fiend right out of a host body.

Most incorporeal creatures are undead and gust of wind has a fort save, would the undead immunity to certain types of Fort saves apply? Gust of wind affect certain objects but it is a different type of effect with objects vs effect on creatures.

[Nifft]

Most incorporeal creatures are undead and gust of wind has a fort save, would the undead immunity to certain types of Fort saves apply? Gust of wind affect certain objects but it is a different type of effect with objects vs effect on creatures.

1 - Fiends who can possess are mostly not Undead, they're Outsiders. I don't mind talking about Undead instead of Fiends but it is a different subject from what I'd posted.

2 - Since gust of wind does affect objects, the Undead immunity cannot be applied. Doesn't matter if the effect differs -- which it doesn't in this case, but if you look at a spell like disintegrate where the effect does differ between creature and object, an undead creature is affected, and moreover is subject to the creature specific effect.

[AstralFire]

Not related to the subject, but something you may find useful: Tiny Hut (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/tinyHut.htm): "Although the force field is opaque from the outside, it is transparent from within. Missiles, weapons, and most spell effects can pass through the hut without affecting it, although the occupants cannot be seen from outside the hut (they have total concealment)."
3rd level spell, 2 hours/level, and total concealment for everyone in a 20 foot radius. Shuffle around slightly after casting so they don't even know what squares folks are in. Then fire out at your leisure.

Thanks, our wizard has evocation as a banned school but that could be really useful as a sniper nest for some missions. I think in a battlefield it's too dangerous due to said artillery -- half-bludgeoning fireballs every round basically.

[PhantasyPen]

http://i.imgur.com/I72ou.jpg This

[noob]

Hey, that pony was engaged in wide-scale data collection of every pony in the kingdom without anypony's knowledge or consent. Also, target was known to possess Weapons of Mass Celebration.
I do not think it is a valid reason to kill people.