Weather is important, right?

[Treebore]

Reading Nelzie's story post about their game session made me think about the weather issue. I ignore it way too much, even though it can be a very important "tool".

Not only for adding to the mood of the moment, like Nelzie used it in the post. Its also important as potential modifers for sneaking into buildings, sneaking up on a guard in a downpour, or past all the puddles without making a sound before you slit your targets throat, etc...

Not to mention snow, even tornadoes. I think everyone in the US has been vividly reminded how destructive, and game altering, let alone life altering, such weather conditions can be. Not to mention hurricanes. Flooding from Hurricanes or exceptionally heavy rains.

All kinds of stuff.

So I am going to make a concerted effort to start using weather in my campaigns.

To remind myself, and to remind and clue in my players, I am adding a new spell to my games. One I don't remember seeing anywhere else (but it has in all likelihood been done somewhere).

A simple divination spell called:
Weather Forecasting, Level 2 by any spellcasting class except Illusionist, Level one for Druids or priests of nature oriented deities.
CT Variable, see below R: 20 mile radius (or variable, read below)
SV: None SR: No
D: Variable, see below Comp: V, S, and M

This spell is used most often for farming issues and war battles. It is important to know what kind of weather you are going to have for your crops, and what kind of battlefield your battle will take place on, dry and firm or wet and muddy being the most common.

Others may use it to decide if they want to wait for better or worse weather before they do something, such as sneak into a castle or go on a long boat voyage.

Casting time, duration, and even area of effect of this spell are highly variable. This is because the spell can be used in many ways to determine many kinds of information about weather forecasts.

The CT and duration are bound together, as are CT and Range. This is because the longer the spellcaster casts the spell, the more information they can get. Kind of like Detect Magic.
How the spell can be used: For simple predicting about weather in a 20 mile radius, the CT is one round for every hour in the future the caster wants to know about the weather. So for 24 hour predictions (the most common) the caster would have to be involved in casting the spell for 24 rounds.

Perhaps the most complex and taxing use of the spell is to predict weather along trade routes on land or at sea.

This is because for each hour and 20 mile "block" the spellcaster wants to predict adds 1 round to the CT. So say the caster wants to know what the weather is going to be like over the next 24 hours along a 120 mile long, 40 mile wide corridor of a trade route the casting time would be 30. 24 for the number of hours and 6 more for the mileage. (40 miles wide because the range of the spell is 20 mile radius, so they would essentially be mentally walking a line from which the spell would look out 20 miles to their left and right as the caster moves ahead.)

Material components: A bowl of water (the larger the better), plus putting a feather or some other buoyant object in/on the water will help with understanding the wind conditions the spell gives, for temperature the water temperature indicates it (by sticking your finger in it, or seeing it turn to ice), or the caster can put their hand above the surface of the water while casting the spell. Be careful of the lightning strikes, they can be painful enough to disrupt your spell. Also be careful if tornadoes or hurricanes appear. Even though very small, they can effect you and objects nearby. So keep a clear workspace.

[serleran]

I wouldn't bother with a spell, unless its for clerics and wizards, since a druid or ranger should just be able to "predict" based on perceptible clues, such as cloud cover, animal behavior, and the like. Probably a Wisdom check, subsumed by the Nature Lore ability. Heck, barbarians can probably do it too. As for what level it should be... well, that depends on how accurate it is; the more precise, the more likely its a little higher on the food chain of spell level seeing as nature is rather unpredictable by, umm, nature.

I suppose your placement makes sense, but I'd never use it. There are much easier ways to get the information... like precisely worded auguries (is it a good idea to take winter clothing?) and other divinations that are lower level.

[Treebore]

serleran wrote:
I wouldn't bother with a spell, unless its for clerics and wizards, since a druid or ranger should just be able to "predict" based on perceptible clues, such as cloud cover, animal behavior, and the like. Probably a Wisdom check, subsumed by the Nature Lore ability. Heck, barbarians can probably do it too. As for what level it should be... well, that depends on how accurate it is; the more precise, the more likely its a little higher on the food chain of spell level seeing as nature is rather unpredictable by, umm, nature.

I suppose your placement makes sense, but I'd never use it. There are much easier ways to get the information... like precisely worded auguries (is it a good idea to take winter clothing?) and other divinations that are lower level.

I agree, but if I remember correctly Auguries are vey short term. This spell allows for days, even weeks in advance, if the caster can stand casting for that long. Plus Druids, reading the creatures and other "signs" is for only the next few hours or day, at most.

So I agree there are other ways, but when knowing the weather is critically important, this would be the best spell for getting the information.

[serleran]

And I'd argue that augury and other spells like it are better because they are both faster, lower-level (meaning more castings over all) and "on the fly" as they are needed. Weather is prone to change, depending on the climate (some areas predicting the weather is rather useless as its nearly always the same), so knowing what it might be like in 3 days isn't going to help you when you're out on the field and its snowing, despite the fact your spell told you it was going to be overcast and cold (no snow.) If you had an augury, you could cast it just before the battle (assuming you know when and where it'll be) and have all that time you didn't spend casting the weather prediction spell to prepare for what's coming.

There are a few instances I can think of this spell being useful, and they do not involve battles. As a PC, I don't think I'd ever use it... but I can imagine NPCs using it to determine if a drought will end, or whatever. Combined with control weather, it would be more useful, perhaps, as then you could know what to expect, and how to make it your advantage... so in that way, maybe... just maybe, I'd find a use for it.

As for the "only works for a few hours" I totally disagree. Animals and plant life starts acting "odd" days before severe weather changes, and there are other perceptible changes as well, such as wind direction, amount of clouds, humidity and pressure changes (some people have inner ear problems and act as a sort of barometer, and are far more sensitive to low and high pressure than the average person.)

Anyway, on the whole, I agree that weather effects can be fun to use in a game, but I wouldn't use them all the time. They're especially fun when they ead to natural disasters, like flash fires and floods, or other disasters which the PCs then get to help rebuild from... or, sometimes, even cause.

[Philotomy Jurament]

Did you see my post in the Jungle Travel/Tropical Setting thread? Looking at possibilities for weather made me realize that the 0-level "Endure Elements" spell is way cool... (heh)

[Treebore]

Philotomy Jurament wrote:
Did you see my post in the Jungle Travel/Tropical Setting thread? Looking at possibilities for weather made me realize that the 0-level "Endure Elements" spell is way cool... (heh)

I didn't read the thread, but yes, endure elements can be a very favorite spell. If I played characters "realisitically" that is probably one of the first enchanted items they would seek out. At least I would.

As for Druids, I am aware of how animals can give days worth of warning, but that can also be a regional thing. Storms pass through here with maybe an hours notice, plus they can literally be pouring water across the street from me and be totally dry on my side of the road (happend to me last year, first time I ever saw such a distinct line in my life). So my horses, goats, dogs, and chickens don't tell me anything I haven't already figured out.

Augury is a second level spell, is good only for the "immediate future", and only has a percentage chance of success. Plus it costs 25 GP every time you cast it.

This spell is first or second level and the components are reusable (guess I should spell that out in the description) and can tell you hours or days in advance. Plus the spell is meant to be completely accurate. So if the prediction turns out wrong it will be because of magical manipulations.

As for battles, yes it won't necessarily be good for encounters, but for major planned battles it can be critical to know. Even if it just lets you know what is magically caused by your enemy.

Like you say, it may not be the spell best suited for what you need to know, but when you want to know what the weather is "supposed" to be like for the next 24 or hours, or 120 miles away, etc... Its a good spell to have available.

The real question is if the players will see its usefulness and think to use it when it would help..

[Nelzie]

Druids need inclement weather, at times, in order to really shine.

The thunderstorm that is in full swing at the end of my last session is specifically to allow the druid to pull off his Lightning Strike spell. He just hit 5th level and the past few adventures have unfortunately been a little "meh" for him.

With this storm, he's really going to have a chance to shine.
_________________
Earned the following:

50 Useless Trivia Points from Serleran