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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Inspiration from UA to replace Gust. New spell: Draft of Air



Segev
2020-04-16, 10:41 AM
Gust has been...a disappointing spell, at least to me, for a long while. Weak movement, only away from you, or a poorly-defined (if not anemically weak) sensory effect. Inconsistent in its potence, as well. Compared to the other elemental cantrips, it falls flat. Even without them to compare to, it's generally something that looks like a waste of a cantrip slot to learn.

Recently, the psionic UA was released (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/psionic-options-revisited). In it is a nifty feat that - admittedly - requires either particular subclasses or a prerequisite feat to take that has as a sub-ability something that seems more fitting for what a useful cantrip might do. That feat is "Telekinetic."

Along with giving you the mage hand cantrip, letting you make it invisible, and, if you already know said cantrip, extending its range by 30 feet, it gives you the following ability:


As a bonus action, you can try to telekinetically
shove one creature you can see within 30 feet
of you. When you do so, roll your Psionic
Talent die, and the target must succeed on a
Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency
bonus + the ability modifier of the score
increased by this feat) or be moved toward
you or away from you a number of feet equal
to 5 times the number you rolled. A creature
can willingly fail this save.

I won't go into detail on the psionic die here (read the article if you care), but it's usually a d6, sometimes a d4. This means you're looking at 5-30 feet of movement towards or away from you if they fail a Strength save.

This seems closer to the kind of power I'd like to see from gust, so here, I'm not going to rewrite it so much as invent a new spell that would overshadow it. I'll be giving it the ability to move target creatures up to 15 feet (could be persuaded down to 10), a hefty range, and some more elaborate stunts you can pull with manipulating the air. It's meant to be comparable to control flames, mold earth, and shape water in utility and power.

Draft of Air
Evocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous

You seize the air and compel it to create one of the following effects at within range:

One creature within range that you can see must make a Strength saving throw or be pushed by the sudden wind up to 15 feet in a direction you choose, so long as they also end within range of the spell.
You create a draft that can push an object you can see in a direction you choose, so long as it remains within range. Make an ability check with proficiency using your casting stat. The object is moved if you make the DC set by its size: Tiny = 4, Small = 6, Medium = 10, Large = 14, Huge = 18, Gargantuan = 24. It moves a maximum of 5 feet plus the amount by which you exceed the DC. The DM may determine that particularly light or dense objects for their size count as a different size category than their volume would indicate.
You create a strong breeze with fine control, enabling you to scatter small and light objects, or gather and move them from within the area to another point therein. The DM determines if the objects are suitably light, but you could use this to scatter a deck of cards, gather papers strewn about into a pile, kick up a dust cloud provided sufficient particulate material (creating a region of light obscurement if the DM deems there is enough available), or shove nonmagical particulate matter out of the area (or onto the ground), clearing the air. Similar stunts may be possible at the DM's discretion.
You create a harmless sensory effect using air, such as causing leaves to rustle, wind to slam shutters shut, or your clothing to ripple in a breeze.

None of these effects can cause anything to move with enough force to cause damage based on impact, nor be used to make any sort of weapon attack.

Segev
2020-04-17, 11:02 AM
One of the things I'm waffling on is whether it should be able to affect all air in range, or be confined to air in a single 5 ft. cube (or equivalent volume...and just how liberal "equivalent volume" should be; a sphere vs. a cube is one thing, while a pair of smaller spheres connected by a narrow tube, for instance, is another).

It's unclear if shape water or even control flames are meant to be precisely confined to a five foot cube, or if they are meant to control an amount of water/fire that would fit in a volume represented by a 5-ft. cube.

I am unsure if this spell is overpowered if it affects air (and particulate matter therein) within its full range, or underpowered if it can only do so in a five foot cube.

I do like the mental image of gathering up scattered papers and stacking them on a desk or even in the caster's hands, for example.