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My personal favorite was when the party was fighting a master level Hungry Ghost monk that was about to land a killing blow on a PC when the druid blinded him at the *exact* right moment by dumping two gallons of water on his, preventing him from landing the attackr and giving the rest a chance to take him down.That was your GM fudging the rules to avoid killing anyone.
The rules as written don't always cover every interaction the players will come up with. Such as creative combat uses of non-combat spells. 2nd edition D&D had no rules at all for what happens when you cast Light on the nose guard of a bad guy's helmet. Thus when I did such, the GM was left going "Uh... what?" and having to make up a ruling.
Or Create Water, it's not intended for use in combat. But creative (or desperate) casters will sometimes try using it in combat somehow.
When I used Create Water on the troll in the game I'm in, the GM's reaction was "Erm.... I have no idea how to rule that. What were you hoping for?"
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It's the kind of trick that is innovative enough that I'd allow it to fly at my table as a once-off. But I'd call it a reflex save to avoid being blinded for 1 round, and only once due to the element of surprise.Oh dude, don't tell them... That breaks the feeling of special and cool. And that is that is half the fun. :)My personal favorite was when the party was fighting a master level Hungry Ghost monk that was about to land a killing blow on a PC when the druid blinded him at the *exact* right moment by dumping two gallons of water on his, preventing him from landing the attackr and giving the rest a chance to take him down.That was your GM fudging the rules to avoid killing anyone.
By that logic it would have to work once against every foe who isn't specifically prepared for it.
By that logic it would have to work once against every foe who isn't specifically prepared for it.It's the kind of trick that is innovative enough that I'd allow it to fly at my table as a once-off. But I'd call it a reflex save to avoid being blinded for 1 round, and only once due to the element of surprise.Oh dude, don't tell them... That breaks the feeling of special and cool. And that is that is half the fun. :)My personal favorite was when the party was fighting a master level Hungry Ghost monk that was about to land a killing blow on a PC when the druid blinded him at the *exact* right moment by dumping two gallons of water on his, preventing him from landing the attackr and giving the rest a chance to take him down.That was your GM fudging the rules to avoid killing anyone.
*shrug* Why would it "have" to? Expect table variation.
I said I'd let it work as a once-off if I was GM, not make it a whole new aspect of the spell. It's not like I'm proposing a new rule?
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Clever use of resources should be encouraged. It's what makes things more exciting then "I cast magic missile, six damage" for the billionth time. Instead the player might say "I panic, casting the first spell that comes to mind. Does hitting the ogre with create water do anything?"
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Back in AD&D times, you could blind someone by casting Light directly on their eyes. Continual Light would perma-blind them.The rules as written don't always cover every interaction the players will come up with. Such as creative combat uses of non-combat spells. 2nd edition D&D had no rules at all for what happens when you cast Light on the nose guard of a bad guy's helmet. Thus when I did such, the GM was left going "Uh... what?" and having to make up a ruling.
And when that kind of thing becomes abused, then you make a rule to patch it. In this case I would've probably ruled that the light only emanates outward from the eyes (because magic) so it doesn't blind them. In fact, now they have permanent flashlights that always look right where they look.
A DM's first instinct should always be to say "yes" to zany ideas, saying no only if they have a concrete reason (like you've given) for saying otherwise. It just makes things way more fun.
Back in AD&D times, you could blind someone by casting Light directly on their eyes. Continual Light would perma-blind them.The rules as written don't always cover every interaction the players will come up with. Such as creative combat uses of non-combat spells. 2nd edition D&D had no rules at all for what happens when you cast Light on the nose guard of a bad guy's helmet. Thus when I did such, the GM was left going "Uh... what?" and having to make up a ruling.
And when that kind of thing becomes abused, then you make a rule to patch it. In this case I would've probably ruled that the light only emanates outward from the eyes (because magic) so it doesn't blind them. In fact, now they have permanent flashlights that always look right where they look.
A DM's first instinct should always be to say "yes" to zany ideas, saying no only if they have a concrete reason (like you've given) for saying otherwise. It just makes things way more fun.
It was actually written into the spell description. They got a save. Make the save, and the light doesn't move with your eyes. Fail the save and the light was targeted on the eyes and you were blinded.
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It was actually written into the spell description. They got a save. Make the save, and the light doesn't move with your eyes. Fail the save and the light was targeted on the eyes and you were blinded.Back in AD&D times, you could blind someone by casting Light directly on their eyes. Continual Light would perma-blind them.The rules as written don't always cover every interaction the players will come up with. Such as creative combat uses of non-combat spells. 2nd edition D&D had no rules at all for what happens when you cast Light on the nose guard of a bad guy's helmet. Thus when I did such, the GM was left going "Uh... what?" and having to make up a ruling.
And when that kind of thing becomes abused, then you make a rule to patch it. In this case I would've probably ruled that the light only emanates outward from the eyes (because magic) so it doesn't blind them. In fact, now they have permanent flashlights that always look right where they look.
A DM's first instinct should always be to say "yes" to zany ideas, saying no only if they have a concrete reason (like you've given) for saying otherwise. It just makes things way more fun.
Well, there's no accounting for bad rules design. Then again, this was 2nd ed, so I shouldn't be surprised. That edition from what little I can recall was all about weird (nearly-)auto-win spells and abilities.
Back then, being hit by a fireball was actually a pretty big deal.
A "Downpour" is actually a specific rules effect, not a fudge. It's very minor, but still a nice aspect of versatility for create water.
A "Downpour" is actually a specific rules effect, not a fudge. It's very minor, but still a nice aspect of versatility for create water.
And create water has a duration of instantaneous.
So unless the caster had that spell readied for the moment of the attack, it wouldn't fly at my table.
So do many spells with lingering effects.
Instantaneous is just "summon the water". After that, it's normal water, and it falls at the predetermined rate.
Acid Splash saved the bacon of my players' characters once. They were going through one of Zulkir Zsass Tam's mostly-secret lairs, and ran into a nasty iron golem confined to a lab. None of the party spellcasters had any high-level spells left which could penetrate its magic resistance, and it was pounding the party martials into paste ... until Acid Splash was used at range (they just bombarded it from the open doorway). IIRC, this was a L 12 party. They made a pact not to mention this humiliation ("Saved by Acid Splash!"). :) (It was a 2e FR module adapted to Pathfinder.)
Detect Magic on magical traps. That made the 3e "update" of Tomb of Horrors even more toothless. :(
Prestidigitation (2e version) let a spellcaster bluff his way through the Shrine of the Kuo-Toa in D 2. He made the water in the sacred pools change colour as he passed them, thus leading the kuo-toa to believe that he was some sort of divine messenger from Blibdoolpoolp. (Yes, I spelled that without looking it up!)
A "Downpour" is actually a specific rules effect, not a fudge. It's very minor, but still a nice aspect of versatility for create water.
And create water has a duration of instantaneous.
So unless the caster had that spell readied for the moment of the attack, it wouldn't fly at my table.
+1 from this DM. If readied, it would probably force a 20% miss chance while making that one attack. But only if readied.
"Instantaneous" in this case would be "a huge amount of water appears instantaneously in the air" - but then gravity take over and it immediately falls, drenching anything underneath it.
Prestitigitation used to dry clothes after crossing a river in a cold climate. No reason to risk catching a cold.