[3.5]Abusing Solid Fog

[kabof]

Hello good folks from the playground

I'm trying to find a way to make the spell Solid Fog (and Acid Fog) the main combat strategy for a character. As far as I can see, there are 3 major problems in that:

1- The character must be able to see in the fog. The best way I found to solve this is Mindbender/Mindsight, but I'm unsure if the combination fits with the character flavor. Is there any other easy way to gain a similar ability?

2- The character must be able to move normally in the fog. RAW, the feat Extraordinary Spell Aim would solve this, but it may be hard to make the DM buy that the gap walks with the caster. I believe that the Spellguard of Silvermoon PrC has a ability that generates a similar effect, but I'm AFMB.

3- Is the strategy viable to a whole party or is it going to be boring? Is there a way to make more people ignore the spell effects?

And that's it. Thanks for reading.

[Skorj]

Rings of Freedom of Movement are the traditional approach to this sort of thing, WBL permitting. Perhaps a wand at lower level.

[Nich_Critic]

Freedom of movement is likely your best bet for moving through it, and letting your allies do so as well. It lasts 10 minutes/level, so you should be able to have it well in advance of any fighting.

I'm not sure how you would deal with concealment, however. You could simply rely on things that don't take attack rolls (Acid fog, and then spam fireballs on whatever you have trapped).

The best use of acid fog for a party, in my mind, is to cut off half your enemies, kill the other half, and then deal with the ones that were in the fog afterwards. However, that isn't really specializing in it. And your party members are going to have trouble killing things in the fog for the same reasons that things in the fog have trouble killing you.

[jiriku]

Veeeerrryy few abilities grant the ability to see through fog.

Are you open to homebrew? I can think of three classes offhand from the homebrew forum that can do it (and two of them are mine).

[Reynard]

Tremorsense/blindsense?

[ericgrau]

Those don't grant actual sight though; they're roughly as good as detection through good hearing. You're thinking of blindsight. There are a few ways to get blindsight, though the only way I remember at the moment is to be a grimlock.

[Keld Denar]

A couple of tricks. If you are a Shadowcraft Mage, your Solid Fogs are subject to Spell Resistance due to being based on Silent Image. With that in mind, you can share a pair of Spellguard Rings (CMage) with your BDF. Spellguard Rings give him immunity (defined as unbeatable SR) against 3 of your spells on any given day. That means he can operate in the Solid Fog as if it weren't there, and it wouldn't block sight or restrict movement for him. Wind him up and let him go!

Another trick is to use it on flying things with an average mobility score or lower, like most big dragons. You cast it on them so that only 2 of their squares are overlapping. Because of maneuverability requirements, the dragon has to fly forward the 10' (since it can't turn), and because it didn't meet its minimum forward movement requirement for the turn, stalls and falls ~180'. If it doesn't recover from the stall, the next turn it would fall another what, 240' or so? I don't remember the exact rules there. Anyway, the dragon will take a LARGE amount of damage, depending on height, and will also be grounded so that your melee support friends can surround it and shank the bajebus out of it.

[Person_Man]

Diadem of Pure Light soulmeld bound to your Crown chakra negates all forms of concealment, with the exception of total concealment (Invisibility), within it's radius. It's radius is 20 ft + 10 ft for every point of essentia invested in it. Unfortunately, it negates concealment for everyone within it's radius. So it's great as a party buff to dispel the concealment of casters, psions, Displacer Beasts, etc, but sucks if you're trying to keep the concealment generated by your magic against enemies. There's also the Pierce Magical Concealment feat, which negates all magical concealment. But it also nerfs your caster level.

I would argue that you don't need to negate it though. Just use area of effect spells.

On the mobility front, you can get all day every round Dimension Door with the Blink Shirt soulmeld, albeit with a very limited 10 ft + 10 ft per point of essentia invested range. If bound to your Totem chakra, it's only a Move Action, which means you can Move and cast every round.


Totemist 2/Wizard 3/Soulcaster 10 would work fine.

[Tetrasodium]

Those don't grant actual sight though; they're roughly as good as detection through good hearing. You're thinking of blindsight. There are a few ways to get blindsight, though the only way I remember at the moment is to be a grimlock.

blindfold of true darkness I think it's called, magic item compendium I believe. Gives you blindsight out to 30ft.

[Starbuck_II]

Hello good folks from the playground

I'm trying to find a way to make the spell Solid Fog (and Acid Fog) the main combat strategy for a character. As far as I can see, there are 3 major problems in that:

1- The character must be able to see in the fog. The best way I found to solve this is Mindbender/Mindsight, but I'm unsure if the combination fits with the character flavor. Is there any other easy way to gain a similar ability?

2- The character must be able to move normally in the fog. RAW, the feat Extraordinary Spell Aim would solve this, but it may be hard to make the DM buy that the gap walks with the caster. I believe that the Spellguard of Silvermoon PrC has a ability that generates a similar effect, but I'm AFMB.

3- Is the strategy viable to a whole party or is it going to be boring? Is there a way to make more people ignore the spell effects?

And that's it. Thanks for reading.

Here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20050311a

1) Cloud Cloak: See through mist/fogs as if thin air (meaning no block your vision). Also move through them as if Freedom of movement (no block your movemernt)
Cost: 31,500

[Glimbur]

Listening Lorecall from Spell Compendium can give you blindsight 15' if you have enough ranks in listen. It's Druid or Ranger only in that iteration (Complete Adventurer version was also sorc/wiz and 30').

It's a lot easier to drop clouds so you just split up the encounter, not fill the encounter with cloud. For example, if you are fighting an orc war band, drop the solid fog on their archers and then fight their melee with other spells.

[kabof]

Woa, thank you guys for all the feedback. The Cloud Cloak looks like an awsome item for this character and the idea with the Totemist sounds very sweet too, like a monster in the mists. I'm going to work in the build and problably come back asking for more help soon.

Thanks again.