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Our group ran into some clarification issues last session re: this spell.
Does a flying creature take the fire damage PLUS potentially the falling damage if it fails the Fly check? Or are they treated separately?
If the Fly check is failed, can a flying creature both be knocked down to the ground AND knocked prone (with a failed save), or just knocked down to the ground but not prone?
If the Fly check is passed, can a flying creature still be knocked prone at its current altitude (i.e., with a failed save)?
From the PFRD: A blast of furnace-hot wind blasts downward, inflicting 4d6 fire damage +1 point per caster level to all creatures in the area and knocking them prone. A successful Fortitude save halves the fire damage and negates being knocked prone. Flying creatures forced into the ground by the powerful downdraft take damage as if they fell unless they make a DC 15 Fly check, in which case they remain at their original altitude. Any creature that takes damage from a sirocco becomes fatigued (or exhausted, if already fatigued, such as from a previous round of exposure to a sirocco spell).
- They would take the fire damage and the falling damage. They would be applied separately, of course. Not sure why that matters, as one is energy damage and the other physical damage anyway.
- The rules for falling already cover this. If you take lethal damage from the fall, you land prone. Obviously the flying creature will thus end up prone unless he has enough damage reduction to soak up the falling damage or something. Since winds are forcing the creature down, I would not give them an acrobatics check and certainly they don't get to be considered as "jumping down." The rules are near the bottom of this page:
Creatures that fall take 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet fallen, to a maximum of 20d6. Creatures that take lethal damage from a fall land in a prone position.
If a character deliberately jumps instead of merely slipping or falling, the damage is the same but the first 1d6 is nonlethal damage. A DC 15 Acrobatics check allows the character to avoid any damage from the first 10 feet fallen and converts any damage from the second 10 feet to nonlethal damage. Thus, a character who slips from a ledge 30 feet up takes 3d6 damage. If the same character deliberately jumps, he takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 2d6 points of lethal damage. And if the character leaps down with a successful Acrobatics check, he takes only 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 1d6 points of lethal damage from the plunge.
Falls onto yielding surfaces (soft ground, mud) also convert the first 1d6 of damage to nonlethal damage. This reduction is cumulative with reduced damage due to deliberate jumps and the Acrobatics skill.
A character cannot cast a spell while falling, unless the fall is greater than 500 feet or the spell is an immediate action, such as feather fall. Casting a spell while falling requires a concentration check with a DC equal to 20 + the spell's level. Casting teleport or a similar spell while falling does not end your momentum, it just changes your location, meaning that you still take falling damage, even if you arrive atop a solid surface.
Falling into Water: Falls into water are handled somewhat differently. If the water is at least 10 feet deep, the first 20 feet of falling do no damage. The next 20 feet do nonlethal damage (1d3 per 10-foot increment). Beyond that, falling damage is lethal damage (1d6 per additional 10-foot increment).
Characters who deliberately dive into water take no damage on a successful DC 15 Swim check or DC 15 Acrobatics check, so long as the water is at least 10 feet deep for every 30 feet fallen. The DC of the check, however, increases by 5 for every 50 feet of the dive.
- If it makes the fly check, it is not pushed to the ground and is still flying, and thus cannot be made prone by failing the fort save.