Cloud of Bewilderment (SC) - Too strong for a 2nd level spell?

[Olaf the Stout]

In my current campaign one of the players has a 3rd level Conjurer PC. His best spell is Cloud of Bewilderment from Spell Compendium (pg 48). It has become a bit of a show stopper in our game. So far in 2 climactic combats it has turned what were difficult fights (with a fair chance of character death) into something just above a speed bump.

CoB is a 2nd level Conjuration spell that creates a 10ft cube cloud. Anyone within the cloud has to make a Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds.

Here is what Nauseated does for those unable to remember.
[sblock=Nauseated]Experiencing stomach distress. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention. The only action such a character can take is a single move action per turn.[/sblock]

So basically if you fail the save vs this spell you can't fight back for 1d4+1 rounds. All you can do really is run away (well, move away actually, since you can only take move actions) or just stand there and hope that you don't get hit.

I'm running the Shackled City AP. The first combat it was used was against the Grell in Jzadirune. The Grell had grabbed one of the PC's and was trying to fly off to eat him at its leisure. However one failed Fortitude save later and the Grell was stuck in mid-air, unable to move (since the Grell was grappling he couldn't even move away unless he dropped the PC). The PC's were then able to take the Grell down in a couple of rounds before it could do anything.

The second combat was the climax to the first adventure, a fight against a Half-Troll and his pet Howler. Both the Half-Troll and the Howler failed their Fortitude saves and were taken down by the PC's while they were throwing up and unable to fight back.

To make things worse, the PC in question has the Sculpt Spell Metamagic feat. This means that instead of 1 10ft cube, he can create 4 10ft cubes (I'm really surprised that Sculpt Spell doesn't have any errata but that's another topic). This allows him to control a lot of the battlefield or catch a lot of enemies in the spell.

Thoughts? Does it seem too powerful for a 2nd level spell or is it just my player being really effective in his character and spell choices?

At the current level the spell basically mean death for anyone who fails their save, unless they have a high enough AC to avoid the blows. The fact that it limits you to a move action means that the affected creature can't even take a defensive action to increase his AC a little. He either moves away until the spell wears off (not always possible), or just hopes he doesn't get hit.

Olaf the Stout

Note: In case you're wondering how the PC is using Sculpt Spell on a 2nd level spell when he is only 3rd level, here's how. He has taken a feat from Complete Mage called Metamagic School Focus. It reduces the spell level cost of Metamagic feats of a chosen school by 1 level. He can do this for up to 3 spells per day. Sculpt Spell is only a +1 level adjustment so Metamagic School Focus makes it a +0 level adjustment.

 

[moritheil]

Sorry, but I can't see how this is worse than Glitterdust (also a 2nd level spell), which blinds multiple enemies.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Sorry, but I can't see how this is worse than Glitterdust (also a 2nd level spell), which blinds multiple enemies.

If you are blinded you can still take make attacks, run away (somewhat blindly! ) or at least take a total defense action to increase your AC a little bit. With this spell you can't even fight back.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Joshua Randall]

Actually, you cannot run away while blinded as you can only move at half speed.

Blinded

The character cannot see. He takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), moves at half speed, and takes a -4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) to the blinded character. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Actually, you cannot run away while blinded as you can only move at half speed.

I stand corrected!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Vegepygmy]

Does it seem too powerful for a 2nd level spell or is it just my player being really effective in his character and spell choices?

A little of the latter, and a lot of bad luck on your saving throws. It doesn't seem too powerful to me.

 

[Jack Simth]

Sorry, but I can't see how this is worse than Glitterdust (also a 2nd level spell), which blinds multiple enemies.

... so you say it's balanced based on comparing it to what is arguably one of the strongest spells of it's level in Core?

Interesting choice of approach.

Mind you, a Blinded character can take a full attack against an opponent (with a 50% miss chance, so it's not a very effective attack, but it's still an attack), cast escape spells (teleport, Dimension Door, anything not requiring line of sight), cast offensive spells (area ones, anyway), cast a "fix it" spell (like Dispel Magic, or Cure Blindness) on themselves, and so on. A Nauseous character can't. Nauseous is the worse status condition. By a lot.

A better comparison would be Stinking Cloud (Sor/Wiz 3) that has the same status effect. How does Cloud of Bewilderment compare to that?

 

[Joshua Randall]

You're allowing SpC spells, and feats from Complete Mage. A certain level of brokenness should be expected.

Anyway, Shackled City is a notoriously hard adventure path. The PCs can probably use all the hlep they can get.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

... so you say it's balanced based on comparing it to what is arguably one of the strongest spells of it's level in Core?

Interesting choice of approach.

Mind you, a Blinded character can take a full attack against an opponent (with a 50% miss chance, so it's not a very effective attack, but it's still an attack), cast escape spells (teleport, Dimension Door, anything not requiring line of sight), cast offensive spells (area ones, anyway), cast a "fix it" spell (like Dispel Magic, or Cure Blindness) on themselves, and so on. A Nauseous character can't. Nauseous is the worse status condition. By a lot.

A better comparison would be Stinking Cloud (Sor/Wiz 3) that has the same status effect. How does Cloud of Bewilderment compare to that?

Ok, CoB is basically a 10ft cube version of Stinking Cloud. The mechanics of the spell are pretty much identical. The fact that my player has a sculpted version of CoB makes it as good as Stinking Cloud, if not better in my opinion.

On the plus side, he can place it in 4 separate 10-foot cubes, rather than 1 spread. He can also make use of the other sculpting options if he wants. On the con side, the save DC is 1 lower for CoB as it is a 2nd level spell.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Olaf the Stout]

You're allowing SpC spells, and feats from Complete Mage. A certain level of brokenness should be expected.

Anyway, Shackled City is a notoriously hard adventure path. The PCs can probably use all the hlep they can get.

Yes, I was aware of both your points. This one spell just happened to stand out amongst everything else so far. The player of the PC in question knows how to make really effective PC's, no matter what class he picks, so I'm not too surprised.

I let players pick from the Spell Compendium and Complete series because the Shackled City AP had such a reputation as a meat grinder. So far my players have done pretty well. I'm not pulling any of my punches (and the players are aware of that) yet in 8 sessions I've had no PC deaths. The PC's have been into negative HP's 10 times but they've avoided death so far.

Olaf the Stout