If the basic gist of Cloudkill is to generally move downhill, what if it falls into a corner? I don't *think* it climbs the walls, but I can't really be sure. Would it climb 100' up a tower to get over it? Or just remain sunken against its base? My hunch is for the latter. Where do you draw the line against upward movement?
cloudkill and movement
- Thread starter Bad Paper
- Start date
Infiniti2000
First Post
It moves "along the surface of the ground," so no climbing walls. Also, the fact that "they sink to the lowest level of the land" could be construed as not going uphill. It's a little vague, but I think that that's how I'd rule it.
...but you didn't actually say how you would rule it. That is: horizontal (0 degrees) means the cloud moves. vertical (90 degrees) means the cloud does not move. Would it climb up a 45 degree slope? 80? 10?
Perhaps it stops at a 90-degree "slope," and simply moves more slowly up an 80-degree one. Therefore it moves more quickly down a (-80 degree) slope. OK, I'm treading into houserule territory, but...one of my players has memorized Cloudkill and I can tell he's itching to use it.
The party is deep in one of the WotC adventure-series modules, at a part where the entire structure is canted 30 degrees off from horizontal (seek the pun here). There are no vertical walls; there are no horizontal floors. Even if he launches said cloud along the most horizontal line (say, where left is 30 degrees down and right is 30 degrees up), the cloud still moves straight, and does not veer left, yeah? and if he launches it to his right (30 degrees up), it moves along and stops at the wall (since the wall is 120 degrees from the horizontal, treading into ceiling territory). and if he launches it to his left (30 degrees down), it moves down, and upon reaching the far wall (which is 60 degrees from horizontal), does it climb?
Perhaps it stops at a 90-degree "slope," and simply moves more slowly up an 80-degree one. Therefore it moves more quickly down a (-80 degree) slope. OK, I'm treading into houserule territory, but...one of my players has memorized Cloudkill and I can tell he's itching to use it.
The party is deep in one of the WotC adventure-series modules, at a part where the entire structure is canted 30 degrees off from horizontal (seek the pun here). There are no vertical walls; there are no horizontal floors. Even if he launches said cloud along the most horizontal line (say, where left is 30 degrees down and right is 30 degrees up), the cloud still moves straight, and does not veer left, yeah? and if he launches it to his right (30 degrees up), it moves along and stops at the wall (since the wall is 120 degrees from the horizontal, treading into ceiling territory). and if he launches it to his left (30 degrees down), it moves down, and upon reaching the far wall (which is 60 degrees from horizontal), does it climb?
According to the Climb skill, a wall is an incline at an angle of 60 degrees or more.
The rules make no mention of a cloudkill refusing to moving uphill, or in fact deviating from the initial line away from the caster regardless of changes in slope. The cloudkill will travel down an opening of less than 60 degrees slope because it's the lowest ground surface in the direction of travel, or fall down a drop-off of greater than 60 degrees slope. Note that only the location of the centre of the cloudkill is relevant for its progress - its edges can spread over empty space or scrunch in against a wall without any effect.
The rules make no mention of a cloudkill refusing to moving uphill, or in fact deviating from the initial line away from the caster regardless of changes in slope. The cloudkill will travel down an opening of less than 60 degrees slope because it's the lowest ground surface in the direction of travel, or fall down a drop-off of greater than 60 degrees slope. Note that only the location of the centre of the cloudkill is relevant for its progress - its edges can spread over empty space or scrunch in against a wall without any effect.
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