D&D 5E Control water and sea battles

[Tonguez]

Nice necro!

I'm always in favor of a saving throw for the victim to attempt to mitigate the effect in some way.

Part Water does mention the trench fills back in slowly over a round, so it could be ruled it parts slowly as well. Vessels not completely in the area of effect might get a save (Water Vessel skill check?) to maneuver to safety (remember, things on a grid are static, in "real" life they're in constant motion). If the vessel is over 50% over the area, the save might be at disadvantage. If you want it to do damage, I'd have (seperate) saves (Dex) for the crew to ride out the fall, and maybe up to 8d4 falling damage on a fail. Success on the crew save indicates they've somehow managed to ride the descent safely. It'll still wreck an no-name NPC vessel pretty badly, but more skilled crews would be able to avoid disaster, as it should be.

Yeah for the dramatic option, I’d go with the water steadily drains down rather than a sudden 100 pit instantly appears- which allows the ship/crew a fighting chance to manoeuvre its way out over the edge before the ship falls back and becomes trapped, Id treat it something like reverse Flood (water going to the centre rather than side to side) and also go with 25% capsize chance - thats especially important if the tactic is used against PC controlled ships.

 

[Stormonu]

Also, I'm not fond of the flat 25% chance of capsize, especially for a PC vessel. I'd probably change that to a Water Vessel skill check for the pilot - 25% chance would indicate a DC 5 or 7 value (more likely the latter).

 

[tomBitonti]

I’m trusting the text at dandwiki.com

In the spell Description is ‘wide’ the width of the parting? Or the width of the body of water which is to be crossed? In the second case, part water coils not be cast on the open sea.

I’d give ships caught in the area of effect a chance to be either stranded, or swept to one side. Maybe with a saving throw. Or possibly, ships would be always pushed to either side, being moved with the water.

The body of water may be up to 500 ft wide and 100 ft. deep. If the body of water is a river, then the water stacks up on the side upriver and drains away on the side down river.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 7th level or higher you may part a body of water 500 ft wider and 100 ft deeper for every extra spell slot used.

TomB

 

[Stormonu]

I’m trusting the text at dandwiki.com

In the spell Description is ‘wide’ the width of the parting? Or the width of the body of water which is to be crossed? In the second case, part water coils not be cast on the open sea.

I’d give ships caught in the area of effect a chance to be either stranded, or swept to one side. Maybe with a saving throw. Or possibly, ships would be always pushed to either side, being moved with the water.



TomB

Not the text I'm seeing on Beyond. What you're seeing may be a different spell. The one we've been working from is a subability of control water

Part Water. You cause water in the area to move apart and create a trench. The trench extends across the spell's area, and the separated water forms a wall to either side. The trench remains until the spell ends or you choose a different effect. The water then slowly fills in the trench over the course of the next round until the normal water level is restored

 

[tomBitonti]

Not the text I'm seeing on Beyond. What you're seeing may be a different spell. The one we've been working from is a subability of control water

Ah, I see.

The Beyond version seems to be a ship killer. What happens if a 10’ wide trench is created across a ship? What if the ship is more than 10’ wide?

TomB

 

[Evilhalfling]

Update:
the PCs didn't take control water. (either druid or cleric could have memorized it.)
and per party tradition as soon as they realized who the enemy caster was they applied focused fire. and she went down hard (100 hp in one round? really guys? but it was rnd 3, and the pirates nearly killed 2 PC so it balances out.

The NPC caster was saving part water for if the battle went bad and they wanted to escape. there was no escape.
So the PCs now have a much larger ship. They are really enjoying being shipowners, and are considering holding a Party for the nobility on their boat when they get home. One player keeps posting "We are on a Boat!" song gifs to discord, it makes me smile.