Stormtower
First Post
I haven't been able to piece together a full and correct RAW ruling on this yet, largely because I'm an Amazon orphan and haven't perused all the books, so I'm throwing it to the collective rules knowledge of ENWorld.
From the Game Day scenario "Against the White Dragon" on the Hailstorm Tower. Party is getting beaten down by the flying dragon's breath, when the wizard decides to bring it to the ground with Icy Terrain (Wizard 1 Encounter). On a hit, this creates a zone of difficult terrain in a 2x2 area and causes the target to fall prone. So how does this work?
First, we dig into the DMG and discover that flying creatures crash when made to fall prone. Okay, no problem so far. Then, I checked the power description of Icy Terrain and noted no exceptions for flying creatures or aerial "terrain." Only in the flavor text does it mention casting the spell "creat[ing] a treacherous patch of ice on the ground." Therefore I interpreted the power to be able to be used on flying creatures, knocking them prone and to the ground (crashing) if it hits, and leaving a 2x2 square plane of "difficult aerial terrain" at the elevation of the flying target at the time the spell was cast.
Then I bring up another question. Icy Terrain is a spell with the Cold keyword. And the white dragon has Resist Cold 15... so the spell can't really do HP damage to the dragon. However, when I looked up Resistances I could find no rules exception which stated that creatures who reduce damage from an attack to 0 from resistances are also unaffected by the spell's other effects. Therefore, I concluded that the spell would do no damage, but WOULD still knock the dragon prone/crashed if it hit.
The wizard rolled, hit, the dragon crashed, and the party beat it senseless and took its stuff. Good times! But this question lingers about resistances: has anyone else found any indication that reducing damage inflicted by a power to 0 also cancels its other effects on the target? Also, do others feel my interpretations of the spell's effect(s) on flying creatures and "aerial terrain" are correct or incorrect?
From the Game Day scenario "Against the White Dragon" on the Hailstorm Tower. Party is getting beaten down by the flying dragon's breath, when the wizard decides to bring it to the ground with Icy Terrain (Wizard 1 Encounter). On a hit, this creates a zone of difficult terrain in a 2x2 area and causes the target to fall prone. So how does this work?
First, we dig into the DMG and discover that flying creatures crash when made to fall prone. Okay, no problem so far. Then, I checked the power description of Icy Terrain and noted no exceptions for flying creatures or aerial "terrain." Only in the flavor text does it mention casting the spell "creat[ing] a treacherous patch of ice on the ground." Therefore I interpreted the power to be able to be used on flying creatures, knocking them prone and to the ground (crashing) if it hits, and leaving a 2x2 square plane of "difficult aerial terrain" at the elevation of the flying target at the time the spell was cast.
Then I bring up another question. Icy Terrain is a spell with the Cold keyword. And the white dragon has Resist Cold 15... so the spell can't really do HP damage to the dragon. However, when I looked up Resistances I could find no rules exception which stated that creatures who reduce damage from an attack to 0 from resistances are also unaffected by the spell's other effects. Therefore, I concluded that the spell would do no damage, but WOULD still knock the dragon prone/crashed if it hit.
The wizard rolled, hit, the dragon crashed, and the party beat it senseless and took its stuff. Good times! But this question lingers about resistances: has anyone else found any indication that reducing damage inflicted by a power to 0 also cancels its other effects on the target? Also, do others feel my interpretations of the spell's effect(s) on flying creatures and "aerial terrain" are correct or incorrect?
