Gaseous Form

[Talya]

...looking at this spell (or ability, inthe case of a vampire)...i'm struck by how silly it is.

Am I reading this right that gaseous form gives no incorporeality (miss chance), no extra armor class (and in fact, usually drops your armor class), and only gives you a pathetic 10/magic DR? Being insubstantial provides no actual protection to you?

[Dr Bwaa]

I think it's more useful for accessibility purposes. It's great in the ToH =D

But yes, combat-wise (even in fleeing from same) it sucks.

[Zincorium]

Well, in the case of vampires, they can't be reduced past 0 in gaseous form. But at a fly speed of 20, the vampire has to be pretty darn crafty to escape pursuit in 2 hours, otherwise it's toast.

[Toliudar]

Yup, that's my sense too, Talya. Both times I've tried having NPC non-vampires use Gaseous Form (once an escaping Ogre Mage, once a sorcerer in the middle of a fog cloud, combining still spell and silent spell), they had their butts handed to them easily by the PC's. If you've got a low to mid level party, it's a flavourful substitute for dimension door, but past that...yeesh.

[Dode]

Well, in the case of vampires, they can't be reduced past 0 in gaseous form. But at a fly speed of 20, the vampire has to be pretty darn crafty to escape pursuit in 2 hours, otherwise it's toast.

Flies straight up until the party can't see it anymore. If the party doesn't have Overland Flight, it's pretty tough to deal with.

[senrath]

Out of curiosity, what would happen if you forced yourself into someone's lungs while in gaseous form? By that I mean, what would happen when the spell ended.

[Zincorium]

Flies straight up until the party can't see it anymore. If the party doesn't have Overland Flight, it's pretty tough to deal with.

If you fight vampires at night, when they can do that kind of thing, yes, I suppose they could fly up for an hour and then down for the remaining hour.

On the other hand, if they're not all stereotypical half-orcs, they will probably fight the vampire during the day when it's options are limited.

[Chronos]

You can, however, fly through a grating in the floor into a narrow labyrinth of ducts which gives no indication to the party in which direction your well-hidden coffin lies. All vampires should build something like that into their lairs.

[Zincorium]

You can, however, fly through a grating in the floor into a narrow labyrinth of ducts which gives no indication to the party in which direction your well-hidden coffin lies. All vampires should build something like that into their lairs.

Like I said, crafty. Capable of misdirection, stage tricks, and the occasional home renovation.

Vampires are intended to be extremely tricky foes to actually destroy, but since they're certainly defeated in the encounter, the PCs still get a jolt of triumph and at least partial xp.

[Talya]

The vampire's in a caro hold on a ship, so it's a little harder to slip through grates into the tunnels below. It's just a spawn, anyway.

[senrath]

Like I said, crafty. Capable of misdirection, stage tricks, and the occasional home renovation.

Vampires are intended to be extremely tricky foes to actually destroy, but since they're certainly defeated in the encounter, the PCs still get a jolt of triumph and at least partial xp.

Of course, that's when the party sorcerer/wizard/whatever starts chuckling and throwing around Sunburst spells.

[TheOOB]

Out of curiosity, what would happen if you forced yourself into someone's lungs while in gaseous form? By that I mean, what would happen when the spell ended.

No, the spell doesn't work like that. If the spell doesn't say you can affect creatures, you can't...period. This is magic, not physics, it's doesn't have to make sense.

[Mewtarthio]

Out of curiosity, what would happen if you forced yourself into someone's lungs while in gaseous form? By that I mean, what would happen when the spell ended.

You would be forcibly expelled from their body (possibly with a violent cough) and fall prone adjacent to them. Unless, of course, they are two size categories larger than you and have the "Swallow Whole" ability, in which case they cough you up into their mouth and swallow you.

[Nebo_]

My party once dispelled a Vampire's Gaseous form as he was seeping under a door. That was fun.

[Prometheus]

I've always interpreted the "Vampire -> Gaseous Form" rule to mean that anything that wouldn't outright destroy the vampire in corporal form still doesn't, and therefore the party must capture it or expose it to sunlight.

A Belker has the special quality Smoke Form and the special attack Smoke Claws. This would seem to imply that a gaseous form needs to be able to move at a speed of 50 ft to force itself into another in a harmful manner. Maybe an appropriate level for a spell that mimics the ability would be 4th or 5th, depending mostly on how much havoc you let the player wrack with Smoke Claws.

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

My party once dispelled a Vampire's Gaseous form as he was seeping under a door. That was fun.

Which would actually be possible if the Vampire's Gaseous Form wasn't (Su) and therefore undispellable.

[Nebo_]

Which would actually be possible if the Vampire's Gaseous Form wasn't (Su) and therefore undispellable.

I know that, but the DM didn't. And besides, cool **** is cool.