Frostburn Spells III: Boreal Wind

[Ogrork the Mighty]

So the third and (hopefully!) final spell is boreal wind (FB, p. 89).

It's a 4th-lvl druid spell that creates a gust of wind 20 ft. wide by 20 ft. high by 400 ft. + 40 ft. per level long. It lasts 1 round + 1 round/2 levels.

It extinguishes open flames like gust of wind, deals 1d4 cold dam per caster level, and pushes creatures back 3 feet per caster level. A successful Fort save negates the spell's effects, but a new save must be made each round a target is within the area of effect. The direction of the wind can be changed as a move action.

IMO, this spell is worded very badly. You can argue one way or the other that the spell only (potentially) deals damage once or that it deals damage every round. 1d4/level seems too powerful if it deals damage (potentially) every round for the spell's duration (i.e., if the target creatures can't get out of the area of effect). The area is also huge (albeit narrow).

Thoughts?

 

[javcs]

Why wouldn't you be able to get out? You can just go sideways (perpendicular to the gust).

If it is that unclear about dealing damage, then yeah, it needs fixing.

Now for the thing that just makes me scratch my head, 400ft+40ft/2 levels long? It's probably supposed to be able to be placed anywhere within that radius with an unknown length. I could see 100ft+10ft/2 levels, but not this.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Why wouldn't you be able to get out? You can just go sideways (perpendicular to the gust).

Dungeon corridors are pretty common

 

[javcs]

Dungeon corridors are pretty common

I was thinking outside ... but in retrospect, as they can simply shift the direction, you still wind up screwed.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Yeah, it's 20 feet wide so every round the caster can just shift it to hit the targets again.

 

[griff_goodbeard]

A little off topic, but I'm surprised you're conducting discussion on broken Frostburn spells without bringing up the granddaddy of brokenness Shivering Touch and its greater kin.

 

[foxwick]

A little off topic, but I'm surprised you're conducting discussion on broken Frostburn spells without bringing up the granddaddy of brokenness Shivering Touch and its greater kin.

That would be because it isn't a Druid spell, and the source of the issues is a Druid with the spells. (me)