A whirlwind of potential

[Signmaker]

Mother Nature, in all of her glory, is a cruel mistress.

Acknowledging such, we shall look at the four cardinal elements and pick one that can fully display her wrath. Let's go with...oh I don't know, air.

Wait, air, you say? Why not fire, which burns entire forests and communities, or earth, which destroys structures and violently shakes? Just cause.

Control Winds is a fifth level spell, allowing you to alter the current wind category by 1 for each 3 caster levels you pump in to the spell. That is to say, a caster level of 18 grants 6 category increases, which is enough to turn no wind in to a tornado. Unfortunately, the save DC of Control Winds is dependant, as usual, on the caster, so a tornado by itself is not all that potent, despite being roughly equivalent to a CR 10 encounter.

Pandemonic Silver is a weapon enhancement which can be added to slashing or piercing weapons. It functions like alchemical silver except for one key attribute: when drawn in at least light wind, it emits a sound which causes those nearby the user to cower for 1d4 rounds. Even better, the Will Save DC to fight this effect is dependant on the strength of the wind. Therefore, drawing a Pandemonic Silver weapon in the middle of the aforementioned tornado forces those who hear it (within 30 feet) to make a save DC. Versus 28. Not too shabby.

The Call Lightning spells allow the user to fire off bolts of lightning each round as a standard action. It is notable that their powers are augmented in stormy weather, which includes the tornado conjured by Control Winds, from d6 to d10 damage.


Unfortunately, this is as far as I've come on the subject. Any suggestions?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Air Elementals are incredible. Make them Whirlwind, and the results are hilarious. Especially if you give them Fly-by attack.

Also, you forgot Control Weather. 3 miles of actual Tornados. Watch the carnage.

[Signmaker]

Air Elementals are incredible. Make them Whirlwind, and the results are hilarious. Especially if you give them Fly-by attack.

Also, you forgot Control Weather. 3 miles of actual Tornados. Watch the carnage.

The problem with Control Weather, while potent, is that it takes a good amount of time before it actually starts to work, whereas you can instantly conjure a tornado as a Standard Action with Control Winds.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Storm Elementals in MM3 can be summoned with Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Mother Nature, in all of her glory, is a cruel mistress.

Acknowledging such, we shall look at the four cardinal elements and pick one that can fully display her wrath. Let's go with...oh I don't know, air.

Wait, air, you say? Why not fire, which burns entire forests and communities, or earth, which destroys structures and violently shakes? Just cause.

Control Winds is a fifth level spell, allowing you to alter the current wind category by 1 for each 3 caster levels you pump in to the spell. That is to say, a caster level of 18 grants 6 category increases, which is enough to turn no wind in to a tornado. Unfortunately, the save DC of Control Winds is dependant, as usual, on the caster, so a tornado by itself is not all that potent, despite being roughly equivalent to a CR 10 encounter.

Pandemonic Silver is a weapon enhancement which can be added to slashing or piercing weapons. It functions like alchemical silver except for one key attribute: when drawn in at least light wind, it emits a sound which causes those nearby the user to cower for 1d4 rounds. Even better, the Will Save DC to fight this effect is dependant on the strength of the wind. Therefore, drawing a Pandemonic Silver weapon in the middle of the aforementioned tornado forces those who hear it (within 30 feet) to make a save DC. Versus 28. Not too shabby.

The Call Lightning spells allow the user to fire off bolts of lightning each round as a standard action. It is notable that their powers are augmented in stormy weather, which includes the tornado conjured by Control Winds, from d6 to d10 damage.


Unfortunately, this is as far as I've come on the subject. Any suggestions?

Make a Gnomish Quickrazor out of Pandemonic Silver for forcing opponents to make that DC 28 check an arbitrary number of times per round

[Signmaker]

Make a Gnomish Quickrazor out of Pandemonic Silver for forcing opponents to make that DC 28 check an arbitrary number of times per round

I am not all too sure as to whether Pandemonic Silver would work if resheathed and unsheathed.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I am not all too sure as to whether Pandemonic Silver would work if resheathed and unsheathed.

It only states that it forces a Will save when unsheathed. It says nothing about the possibility of being unsheathed multiple times in a round...

[Chronos]

The most important thing to realize about Control Winds is that the area of effect is friggin' huge. Even with the low DC, your opponents are almost certain to fail a save and get blown away before they're able to reach you, and you can hit an entire army at once.

[Zaq]

I may be pointing out the obvious, but you do have a way of making this not hit your allies too, right? By "this" I mean both the tornado and the Pandemonic Silver effect. Either of them can make your buddies just as unhappy as they make your enemies. You have the advantage, of course, of setting up this trick on your own terms, so you get to prepare for it while your enemies do not, but you still need to actually prepare for it. How are you going to keep your friends from being blown away or from cowering in terror?

[Fishy]

If you're a druid, Complete Mage has that alternate class feature that grants you an Air Elemental Companion. At level 10, your companion can become Large sized, which means it is powerful enough for its whirlwind form to count as a tornado for the purposes of Call Lightning and Pandemonic Silver.

If you're a Spirit Shaman, you get free Concentration checks, which allows you to do interesting things while simultaneously commanding the winds and calling the lightning.

[Signmaker]

If you're a druid, Complete Mage has that alternate class feature that grants you an Air Elemental Companion. At level 10, your companion can become Large sized, which means it is powerful enough for its whirlwind form to count as a tornado for the purposes of Call Lightning and Pandemonic Silver.

I'm having issues finding the text for that last bit. Care to help?

As for allies, this isn't meant to be a party-based build. What with a three-hour long tornado with several hundred feet in radius, I don't think it'd be a good idea to have them.

[AstralFire]

Any suggestions?

Don't skip fire.

Everyone overlooks it as 'oh it just burns stuff'.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I may be pointing out the obvious, but you do have a way of making this not hit your allies too, right? By "this" I mean both the tornado and the Pandemonic Silver effect. Either of them can make your buddies just as unhappy as they make your enemies. You have the advantage, of course, of setting up this trick on your own terms, so you get to prepare for it while your enemies do not, but you still need to actually prepare for it. How are you going to keep your friends from being blown away or from cowering in terror?

Mind Blank for the silver... it's a mind-affecting ability. Freedom of Movement for the winds.

[Darrin]

Pandemonic Silver is a weapon enhancement which can be added to slashing or piercing weapons. It functions like alchemical silver except for one key attribute: when drawn in at least light wind, it emits a sound which causes those nearby the user to cower for 1d4 rounds. Even better, the Will Save DC to fight this effect is dependant on the strength of the wind. Therefore, drawing a Pandemonic Silver weapon in the middle of the aforementioned tornado forces those who hear it (within 30 feet) to make a save DC. Versus 28. Not too shabby.

I was working on getting a pandemonic silver combo to work a while back... I think Control Winds is the only reliable way to get up to tornado-level winds. However, just a Gust of Wind spell gets up to 50 mph, which is a Will save DC of 19 for only a 2nd level spell. It's also easily available as a cheap magic item: feather token (fan) or wind fan.

Wind Wall doesn't specify a wind speed, by we can try to compare the effects to wind speeds listed in the DMG. Since tiny and small creatures are blown away, it sounds similar to a windstorm (51-74 mph).

Whirlwind (the spell and the Djinni/air elemental abilities) is harder to match up. While the effects on medium/small creatures might suggest a windstorm (51-74 mph), the total penalty on ranged attacks (-4 dex and -2 attack = -4 ranged penalty) is similar to severe winds (31-50 mph). On the other hand, these whirlwinds can lift medium characters off the ground and do physical damage, which sounds closer to the Tornado end of things. You'll probably need a DM call there... but once you have one:

Pick up an Instrument of the Winds (MoF p. 161, 11000 GP) and whenever you make a DC 15 Perform check, you can summon a large air elemental at will.

Checking the Spell Compendium for wind spells...

Binding Wind (Druid 2). -2 ranged penalty, so sounds like strong wind (21-30 mph)
Blood Sirocco (Druid 6). Specifically says windstorm (51-74 mph).
Capricious Zephyr (Druid 3). Specifies "gale-force winds" but no specific speed. Is gale-force the same as a windstorm or hurricane? No way to tell.
Cyclonic Blast (Sor/Wiz 5). Specifically mentions "not unlike a tornado", so we might have a 175+ mph winner here. Unfortunately, the instantaneous duration makes the timing of drawing a weapon a little problematic.
Defenestrating Sphere (Sor/Wiz 4). Based on the ability to knock medium/small sized creatures prone, sounds like a windstorm (51-74 mph).
Eye of the Hurricane (Dru 4). Exactly what it says (75-174 mph).
Reality Maelstrom (Sor/Wiz 9). If you can toss this spell around, very few people are going to care all that much about the windstorm effect or the save for Pandemonic silver.
Storm of Elemental Fury (Dru 7). See "Reality Maelstrom" above.
Whirlwind, Greater (Dru 9). Sounds like tornado-level (175+ mph).

Magic items that can affect winds:

Bracers of Wind (MIC, 10000 GP). Complete waste of money. Feather token or wind fan is a heckuva lot cheaper.

Pouch of Winds (Shining South, 12000 GP). Only goes up to strong (21-30 mph) but duration is pretty nice (2d12 hours).

Everful Sails (Stormwrack, 12000 GP). Strong wind again (21-30 mph) but no limit on duration, so much better than the Pouch of Winds. You need one set per mast, however, so it could get expensive on a large ship.

Living Figurehead (Stormwrack, 45000 GP). The Purpleheart Kraken can cast control winds (CL = 15), but only once per week for 10 minutes. See if your DM will let you mount one of these on a folding boat.

Jug of Whirlwinds (Sandstorm, 64800 GP). Whirlwind 1/day. Instrument of the Winds still beats the pants off it.

The Call Lightning spells allow the user to fire off bolts of lightning each round as a standard action. It is notable that their powers are augmented in stormy weather, which includes the tornado conjured by Control Winds, from d6 to d10 damage.

Much easier to just cast Cloudburst (Dru 1, Spell Compendium).

[Fishy]

I'm having issues finding the text for that last bit. Care to help?

My pleasure.

If you are outdoors and in a stormy area—a rain shower, clouds and wind, hot and cloudy conditions, or even a tornado (including a whirlwind formed by a djinni or an air elemental of at least Large size)—each bolt deals 3d10 points of electricity damage instead of 3d6.