How would one stat up the use of Control Water in a combat situation?


Advice


PCs will be delving a soggy Osirion tomb, I'm considering putting a few Mummies of the Deep in their path. These mummies have Control Water as an SLA and can be pretty easily placed on the map in a corridor that is about half stepping stones and half deep pools.

As described, the SLA has the potential for combat use- raising water to create difficult terrain/barriers, raising water to trap creatures or shove them off balance, lowering water to make them fall down into deep pits... But the spell doesn't actually give any advice on how to 'stat up' these effects.

Just wondering if anyone had any good ideas on this matter. If water rises up to engulf someone should I stat it as per Reverse Gravity? If it's used to knock them off balance, should I stat it as per Hydraulic Push?


I think all you need is already in the environmental rules (Aquatic Terrain, Underwater Combat, Swimming). The best a single Mummy of the Deep could manage would be a 32' displacement of water over an area 80'x40', impressive but hardly a water cannon. A 32' displacement in a single round is comparable to a fast river as described under Flowing Water so use those rules. If two collaborate, you could arguably treat it as a Swept Away condition. Either way, any PC that didn't ready an action to dive and swim against the current (if you even permit that), is going for a ride. The direction of that ride would be mostly vertical unless the victim is already on the periphery, since the spell doesn't create a river per se. Once they're in the water, underwater combat and drowning rules probably come into play.

I'd like to offer a word of caution though. Mummies of the Deep have a mere 6 Int and probably won't be getting overly fancy with the spell.


Look at the swimming and drowning rules carefully.

Control water really is a terrain changer rather than an attack/damage/move-the-PCs spell. It's hugely powerful if properly employed, but you have to be clever about using it.

If you want to have the PCs moved about by the rising (or falling) water, you'll mostly need to houserule the effects.

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