Gust of Wind and Fog Cloud

[HappyDaze]

I have an encounter that is going to feature a few lizardfolk shamans and a young black dragon in a large room. The shamans have a number of spells that will aid the dragon, most significantly is fog cloud which will greatly benefit the dragon, especially if upcast to cover a huge area.

One of the PCs is a Tempest Cleric and he will probably use gust of wind to clear out the fog. How exactly does this work?

As I read it, only the fog in the area of the gust of wind--so 60'x10' is cleared out, not the entire cloud. This is easy enough to figure with the initial casting, but then there's movement. The gust of wind can stay around for up to 10 rounds with Concentration, but when would it clear fog, at one point in the character's turn, or from each square along the caster's path of movement (possibly with a direction change one per turn)?

[sandmote]

All the turns are theoretically taking place in the same 6 second period, so I would suppose the wind clears fog cloud from each square along the caster's path of movement. It doesn't explicitly mention the caster's turn, but it certainly applies on everyone else's. This would also be a 1st level spell being countered by a 2nd level one.

I would personally break the large room up to contain a series of walls jutting out, which block the spell and turning the fight into a game of cat and mouse. I think another compromise would be to say the wind clears fog cloud from the space it covers at the end the cleric's turn, but that it reduces the fog (to lightly obscuring the space) from each square along the caster's path of movement. This would give some form of consistent wind effect, without having the wind effect completely clear a fog cloud in one turn.

[HappyDaze]

Well, it's not like the 3 shamans can't keep re-fogging some or all of the 100' x 50' room (it has some columns, but no interior walls). Besides, if the Cleric wants to keep up gust of wind, he's not going to be murdering everything with spirit guardians, so it's a tactical decision.

[SLOTHRPG95]

I'd say that after the first turn that you cast it, it disperses/pushes if/when you use your bonus action to re-direct it, or failing that, at the end of your turn. Either way, only once per turn, with no "strafing" effect. Essentially, if you're moving it continuously over a six-second period, it's in no one place long enough to disperse fog or push creatures.

[Christew]

I'd say that after the first turn that you cast it, it disperses/pushes if/when you use your bonus action to re-direct it, or failing that, at the end of your turn. Either way, only once per turn, with no "strafing" effect. Essentially, if you're moving it continuously over a six-second period, it's in no one place long enough to disperse fog or push creatures.
I vote for the strafing effect.
Gust of Wind: "A line of strong wind 60 feet long and 10 feet wide blasts from you in a direction you choose for the spell's Duration."
Fog Cloud: "It lasts for the Duration or until a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10 miles per hour) disperses it."
Gust of Wind is a persistent concentration effect that generates wind that is more than strong enough to disperse the fog generated by Fog Cloud. The line is there for the duration; if you move, you move the line. It's like a leaf blower and it is designed to be a hard counter to Fog Cloud.

[Tanarii]

As I read it, only the fog in the area of the gust of wind--so 60'x10' is cleared out, not the entire cloud.
I've always read it as a hard counter to the entire cloud.

[HappyDaze]

I've always read it as a hard counter to the entire cloud.

I'm going by the text in gust of wind where the clearing only applies within the area of the gust.

[Tanarii]

I'm going by the text in gust of wind where the clearing only applies within the area of the gust.
Fair enough. I go by Fog Cloud, which seems to indicate that a strong wind disperses it as a whole.

[HappyDaze]

Fair enough. I go by Fog Cloud, which seems to indicate that a strong wind disperses it as a whole.

I think that, under normal circumstance (i.e., normal environmental wind) it's area would generally cover the area of the whole cloud, thus dispersing it entirely. With gust of wind, you have a 'beam/stream' of directed wind that cuts into the fog.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Fair enough. I go by Fog Cloud, which seems to indicate that a strong wind disperses it as a whole.

I've always rationalized it this way, I don't have a problem with the spell being broken by a strong breeze.

The same way that even the smallest amount of a powerful light spell overlapping with darkness dispels the entire thing.

It doesn't have to be realistic, although if we're aiming for realistic we'd have to account for the force of the air displaced around the gust of wind aoe, not just inside it.

[HappyDaze]

The same way that even the smallest amount of a powerful light spell overlapping with darkness dispels the entire thing.


It's not really the same way though; spells like daylight have specific text saying that explicitly. OTOH, fog cloud says a wind can disperse it and gust of wind says it disperses fog "in the area" but it doesn't dispel the spell. To me that's an important difference.

[SLOTHRPG95]

I vote for the strafing effect.
Gust of Wind: "A line of strong wind 60 feet long and 10 feet wide blasts from you in a direction you choose for the spell's Duration."
Fog Cloud: "It lasts for the Duration or until a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10 miles per hour) disperses it."
Gust of Wind is a persistent concentration effect that generates wind that is more than strong enough to disperse the fog generated by Fog Cloud. The line is there for the duration; if you move, you move the line. It's like a leaf blower and it is designed to be a hard counter to Fog Cloud.

It does help counter everything from the humble fog cloud all the way up to incendiary cloud, but it's a good enough spell in its own right even without the strafing ruling. It punches a large hole into whichever cloud BFC spell, providing a way through, and can punch further holes if/when you change directions as a BA on subsequent turns. Furthermore, it's a form of BFC in and of itself, which is arguably its main use.

[Christew]

It does help counter everything from the humble fog cloud all the way up to incendiary cloud, but it's a good enough spell in its own right even without the strafing ruling. It punches a large hole into whichever cloud BFC spell, providing a way through, and can punch further holes if/when you change directions as a BA on subsequent turns. Furthermore, it's a form of BFC in and of itself, which is arguably its main use.
Agreed. I just think the fact that the strafing interpretation lets a base Gust of Wind clear a base Fog Cloud is intentional. I don't like the auto counter interpretation because it would defeat the purpose of upcasting Fog Cloud. A 2nd level spell should hard counter a 1st level spell, it shouldn't hard counter a 3rd level spell (strafing allows for both).

I would argue that the BFC aspect of Gust of Wind is more of a rider effect to make it less niche than just a cloud counter.